Cloud IAM misconfiguration
Cloud IAM misconfiguration means a user, a service account, an application or a role holds more rights than it needs. In the cloud an identity is not merely a login. An identity is permission to read data, spin up resources, change networks, assume roles and delete backups.
Term
description · examples · notesCloud IAM misconfiguration means a user, a service account, an application or a role holds more rights than it needs. In the cloud an identity is not merely a login. An identity is permission to read data, spin up resources, change networks, assume roles and delete backups.
Description
The usual pattern is convenience: give it full rights so it works, and we will narrow them later. Later is often forgotten. A temporary administrator permission stays, a service account gets an over-broad role, an access key ends up in code, and a role can be assumed from a wider scope than was planned.
When an attacker reaches an identity like that, they do not have to hack much. They use what is already permitted. Cloud incidents are therefore often not great hacking feats but an inheritance of wrongly assigned rights.
Examples
- An application reachable from the internet uses a service account with administrator rights over the entire cloud environment.
- Temporary administrator rights given to a developer stay active for months after the migration.
- An access key in a public repository belongs to an account allowed to read data and delete backups.
Notes
- In the cloud it is often not the server that is taken but an identity with too many rights.
- Full rights just to make something work are the most expensive shortcut once a key leaks.
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Techniques
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Defenses
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