# Unable to perform a Regex Search for Asterisk

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-perform-a-regex-search-for-asterisk/291036>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [December 6, 2021, 12:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-perform-a-regex-search-for-asterisk/291036 "2021-12-06T12:16:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GreenBlueSkys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f8ce5/32.png) [@GreenBlueSkys](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/GreenBlueSkys)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 12:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-perform-a-regex-search-for-asterisk/291036/1 "2021-12-06T12:16:53Z")

</div>

[Edit: Elastic parsed out the Asterisk, the proper log is now visible]

I am trying to perform a search against an AWS CloudTrail log identifying different instances of the asterisk (or escaped wildcard).

To do this I am attempting to use Lucene Queries (because KQL does not treat the \* as a string, instead as a wildcard).

The log in question is:  
{\"Records\":[{\"awsRegion\":\"us-east-1\",\"eventCategory\":\"Management\",\"eventID\":\"95c655dc-ec80\",\"eventName\":\"CreatePolicy\",\"eventSource\":\"[iam.amazonaws.com](http://iam.amazonaws.com)\",\"eventTime\":\"2021-11-30T15:27:55Z\",\"eventType\":\"AwsApiCall\",\"eventVersion\":\"1.08\",\"managementEvent\":true,\"readOnly\":false,\"recipientAccountId\":\"\",\"requestID\":\"3921499e\",\"requestParameters\":{\"path\":\"/service-role/\",\"policyDocument\":\"{\\n \\\"Version\\\": \\\"2012-10-17\\\",\\n \\\"Statement\\\": [\\n {\\n \\\"Effect\\\": \\\"Allow\\\",\\n \\\"Action\\\": \\\"logs:CreateLogGroup\\\",\\n \\\"Resource\\\": \\\"arn:aws:logs:eu-west-2:082:\*\\\"\\n },\\n {\\n \\\"Effect\\\": \\\"Allow\\\",\\n \\\"Action\\\": [\\n \\\"logs:CreateLogStream\\\",\\n \\\"logs:PutLogEvents\\\"\\n],\\n \\\"Resource\\\": [\\n \\\"arn:aws:logs:eu-west-2:082:log-group:/aws/lambda:\*\\\"\\n]\\n }\\n ]\\n}\",\"policyName\":\"AWSLambda-c3a8\"},\"responseElements\":{\"policy\":{\"arn\":\"arn:aws:iam::082:policy/service-role/AWSLambda-c3a8\",\"attachmentCount\":0,\"createDate\":\"\",\"defaultVersionId\":\"v1\",\"isAttachable\":true,\"path\":\"/service-role/\",\"policyId\":\"WEP\",\"policyName\":\"AWSLambda-c3a8\",\"updateDate\":\"\"}},\"sourceIPAddress\":\"\",\"userAgent\":\"aws-internal/1.1\",\"userIdentity\":{\"accessKeyId\":\"33W\",\"accountId\":\"082\",\"arn\":\"arn:aws:sts::082:assumed-role/access-role/roleSessionName\",\"principalId\":\"RVR:roleSessionName\",\"sessionContext\":{\"attributes\":{\"creationDate\":\"\",\"mfaAuthenticated\":\"true\"},\"sessionIssuer\":{\"accountId\":\"082\",\"arn\":\"arn:aws:iam::082:role/\",\"principalId\":\"RVR\",\"type\":\"Role\",\"userName\":\"access-role\"},\"webIdFederationData\":{}},\"type\":\"AssumedRole\"}}]}

Please excuse the redundant backspaces but I am trying to focus on the instance of `:*`.

Previous attempts do not return any results such as: /._:\*._/

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dokmic](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dokmic/32/96761_2.png) [@dokmic](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dokmic)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-perform-a-regex-search-for-asterisk/291036/2 "2021-12-09T16:44:18Z")

</div>

Hey @GreenBlueSkys,

Thanks for bringing this here.

First of all, I would like to assure you that KQL does support asterisk in the wildcard matching:  
You can match your sample record something like that:

```auto
Resource: *\:\*

```

or:

```auto
Resource: arn\:aws\:logs\:eu-west-2\:082\:\*

```

You just need to escape `:` and `*`.

Concerning Lucene, you can achieve that by escaping the asterisk symbol only:

```auto
Resource: /.*:\*/

```

Please let us know if that works.

Best regards,  
Mike

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-perform-a-regex-search-for-asterisk/291036/3 "2022-01-06T16:44:31Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.