cloud-security

Cloud Security & Attack

When to Activate

• Cloud penetration test / red team against AWS, Azure (Entra ID), or GCP
• IAM / identity privilege escalation and cross-account or cross-tenant pivoting
• Compromised web app or SSRF reachable from cloud compute — harvest metadata credentials
• Kubernetes / container assessment, node breakout, cluster takeover
• CI/CD and IaC review: Terraform state, OIDC federation trust policies, pipeline secrets
• Post-exploitation: secret extraction, lateral movement, persistence in cloud control plane

Technique Map

| Technique | ATT&CK | CWE | Reference | Script |

|-----------|--------|-----|-----------|--------|

| AWS IAM privesc (CreatePolicyVersion, PassRole, AttachPolicy) | T1098.001 | CWE-269 | references/aws-iam-privesc.md | scripts/aws_privesc_enum.py |

| AWS sts:AssumeRoot member-account escalation | T1078.004 | CWE-269 | references/aws-iam-privesc.md | scripts/aws_privesc_enum.py |

| Cross-account confused deputy / missing ExternalId | T1078.004 | CWE-441 | references/aws-iam-privesc.md | scripts/oidc_trust_auditor.py |

| IMDS / metadata SSRF credential theft (AWS/Azure/GCP) | T1552.005 | CWE-918 | references/imds-metadata-ssrf.md | scripts/imds_harvester.py |

| EKS node creds → IRSA / Pod Identity pivot | T1552.007 | CWE-668 | references/imds-metadata-ssrf.md | scripts/imds_harvester.py |

| Entra device-code phishing → PRT / device join | T1528 | CWE-287 | references/azure-entra-attacks.md | scripts/entra_device_code_phish.py |

| FOCI refresh-token family abuse | T1550.001 | CWE-613 | references/azure-entra-attacks.md | scripts/entra_device_code_phish.py |

| Azure Managed Identity / App-Admin → SP escalation | T1098.001 | CWE-269 | references/azure-entra-attacks.md | scripts/imds_harvester.py |

| GCP actAs + resource create impersonation chain | T1078.004 | CWE-269 | references/gcp-attacks.md | scripts/gcp_impersonation_mapper.py |

| GCP serviceAccountTokenCreator token chains | T1528 | CWE-269 | references/gcp-attacks.md | scripts/gcp_impersonation_mapper.py |

| Vertex AI P4SA / Ray head-node escalation | T1078.004 | CWE-732 | references/gcp-attacks.md | scripts/gcp_impersonation_mapper.py |

| Container escape (runc Leaky Vessels CVE-2024-21626) | T1611 | CWE-668 | references/kubernetes-container-escape.md | - |

| IngressNightmare (CVE-2025-1974) cluster takeover | T1190 | CWE-94 | references/kubernetes-container-escape.md | scripts/k8s_can_i_abuse.py |

| K8s RBAC privesc (pods/exec, token mount, node proxy) | T1078 | CWE-269 | references/kubernetes-container-escape.md | scripts/k8s_can_i_abuse.py |

| Terraform state secret extraction | T1552.001 | CWE-312 | references/iac-secrets-ci-cd.md | scripts/oidc_trust_auditor.py |

| OIDC federation trust-policy abuse (GitHub/TF Cloud) | T1199 | CWE-441 | references/iac-secrets-ci-cd.md | scripts/oidc_trust_auditor.py |

Quick Start

# --- 0. Identify where you are ---
aws sts get-caller-identity                       # AWS
az account show && az ad signed-in-user show      # Azure
gcloud auth list && gcloud config get-value project  # GCP

# --- 1. AWS: enumerate then map privesc paths ---
python3 scripts/aws_privesc_enum.py --profile compromised --json paths.json
cloudfox aws --profile compromised all-checks      # alt: broad inventory
pacu  # > run iam__enum_permissions ; run iam__privesc_scan

# --- 2. SSRF / metadata: harvest creds from a reachable compute target ---
python3 scripts/imds_harvester.py --ssrf "https://app/fetch?url=" --provider aws
python3 scripts/imds_harvester.py --local --provider azure --resource https://vault.azure.net/

# --- 3. Azure Entra: device-code phish for tokens (authorized phishing only) ---
python3 scripts/entra_device_code_phish.py --resource https://graph.microsoft.com \
    --client-id 29d9ed98-a469-4536-ade2-f981bc1d605e   # Auth Broker -> PRT path

# --- 4. GCP: build the service-account impersonation graph ---
python3 scripts/gcp_impersonation_mapper.py --project TARGET --out gcp_graph.json

# --- 5. Kubernetes: what can this token do, and can we break out? ---
python3 scripts/k8s_can_i_abuse.py --kubeconfig ./kubeconfig
kubectl auth can-i --list ; peirates

# --- 6. CI/CD + IaC: audit federation trust + dump state secrets ---
python3 scripts/oidc_trust_auditor.py --profile compromised
aws s3 cp s3://tf-state/prod/terraform.tfstate - | jq '.. | .password? // empty'

OPSEC & Detection (summary)

| Technique | Telemetry / IOC | Detection (Sigma / EDR / cloud) | OPSEC note |

|-----------|-----------------|---------------------------------|------------|

| IAM privesc API calls | CloudTrail CreatePolicyVersion, AttachUserPolicy, CreateLoginProfile | Alert on IAM write by non-IAM-admin principal; GuardDuty PrivilegeEscalation:IAMUser/* | Use existing admin sessions; avoid bulk enum that trips anomaly detection |

| sts:AssumeRoot | CloudTrail AssumeRoot (regional only) | Elastic "AssumeRoot by Rare User and Member Account" (new-terms rule) | Rare-event detection fires on first use per (principal, member account) |

| IMDS SSRF | VPC flow to 169.254.169.254 from web tier; STS use from new ASN | GuardDuty UnauthorizedAccess:IAMUser/InstanceCredentialExfiltration* (creds used off-instance) | Use creds from same egress IP where possible; creds expire — refresh fast |

| Entra device-code phish | Sign-in logs authenticationProtocol=deviceCode; Auth Broker client 29d9ed98-...; new device registration | Sentinel device-code anomaly; CA "block device code flow" | Tokens valid even after password reset; device-join = MFA-resistant persistence |

| GCP impersonation | GenerateAccessToken / generateAccessToken in Admin Activity + Data Access logs | Alert on impersonation by principal lacking a documented chain | Requires Data Access (DATA_READ) audit logs enabled to see token minting |

| Container escape (runc) | New process from /proc/self/fd/* cwd; host binary writes; nsenter in container | Falco Container escape/Drop and execute new binary; runc ≤1.1.11 inventory | Overwrites host runc → noisy; prefer read-only host FS read for stealth |

| IngressNightmare | NGINX ingress pod loads .so from /proc; outbound from controller | Falco/Sysdig "IngressNightmare" shared-lib load; ingress-nginx < 1.11.5/1.12.1 | Exploit hits admission webhook (often internal-only) — low external noise |

| OIDC trust abuse | CloudTrail AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity from unexpected sub/repo | Alert on web-identity assume with mismatched aud/sub; RCP block | Wildcard sub (org:foo*) still exploitable; no creds needed |

Deep Dives

• references/aws-iam-privesc.md — Classic + 2024 IAM escalation chains, sts:AssumeRoot, cross-account confused deputy / ExternalId, Cognito, secrets harvesting; detection per API.
• references/imds-metadata-ssrf.md — IMDSv1/v2 mechanics, SSRF bypasses, Azure & GCP metadata token theft, EKS node-cred → IRSA/Pod Identity lateral movement.
• references/azure-entra-attacks.md — Storm-2372 device-code → PRT → device-join chain, FOCI token families, Managed Identity abuse, Application Administrator → service principal → Global Admin.
• references/gcp-attacks.md — actAs + resource-create impersonation, serviceAccountTokenCreator chains, Cloud Functions takeover, Vertex AI ModeLeak/P4SA/Ray escalation.
• references/kubernetes-container-escape.md — runc Leaky Vessels (CVE-2024-21626), privileged/hostPID/Docker-socket escapes, IngressNightmare (CVE-2025-1974), RBAC primitives, kubelet/etcd.
• references/iac-secrets-ci-cd.md — Terraform state secret extraction, OIDC federation trust-policy abuse (GitHub Actions / Terraform Cloud), pipeline secret theft, RCP/SCP defenses.