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العربيةDisable GuardDuty detector
Can disable a GuardDuty detector without deleting it.
Grants escalation on its own.
guardduty:UpdateDetectorOn its own, guardduty:UpdateDetector can disable a GuardDuty detector without deleting it. On a wide resource scope that alone reaches blinded detection or removed guardrails.
Why it is dangerous
A principal can call guardduty:UpdateDetector on the detector with enable=false (or lengthen the finding-publishing frequency) to quietly turn off threat detection. Unlike DeleteDetector the detector still exists, so a config review sees it present but blind.
In MITRE ATT&CK terms this maps to T1562.001, Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools, under the defense evasion tactic. AWS records it in CloudTrail as UpdateDetector. The call is quiet against normal activity, so it is easy to miss without a rule for it.
Detection
UpdateDetectorPrerequisites
guardduty:UpdateDetector on the detector.
Tactic
Defense Evasion
A control that would remove it: Restrict guardduty:UpdateDetector to a break-glass role; deny via SCP and alarm on the event.
Whether to apply it depends on how the permission is used in your environment, so it is a business decision rather than an automatic fix. The same permission can be load-bearing in one account and pure risk in another.
Pathbreak confirms whether this path resolves in your account, ranks it against the others by how much it opens up, and uses your threat model and business context to show which paths are worth cutting.
Questions
What does guardduty:UpdateDetector allow?
Can disable a GuardDuty detector without deleting it.
Can guardduty:UpdateDetector escalate privileges on its own?
Yes. Held on a broad enough resource it reaches blinded detection or removed guardrails with no other permission.
How is disable GuardDuty detector detected?
Watch for UpdateDetector in CloudTrail. The call is quiet against normal activity, so it is easy to miss without a rule for it.
How do you break this path?
A control that would remove it is: Restrict guardduty:UpdateDetector to a break-glass role; deny via SCP and alarm on the event. Whether to apply it depends on how the permission is used in your account, so it is a business decision rather than an automatic fix.
Which MITRE ATT&CK technique is this?
T1562.001, Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools, under the defense evasion tactic.
Related paths
References
Find this in your own account
We run a read-only scan of one AWS account and show you which of these paths exist, ranked by blast radius, with the change that breaks each one. First validated paths within the hour.