name: aws-iam-enum description: Enumerate AWS IAM policies, detect privilege escalation paths per Rhino Security Labs canonical 21 primitives. metadata: subdomain: cloud when_to_use: "aws iam enumeration privesc rhino security labs 21 primitives policy escalation" mitre_attack: - T1087.004 - T1069.003 - T1078.004 - T1098.003
AWS IAM Enumeration + Privesc
1. Identity check
aws sts get-caller-identity
aws iam get-account-summary
2. Attached policies
aws iam list-attached-user-policies --user-name ME --output json > /tmp/attached.json
aws iam list-user-policies --user-name ME --output json > /tmp/inline.json
aws iam list-groups-for-user --user-name ME --output json > /tmp/groups.json
For each attached policy ARN:
aws iam get-policy --policy-arn ARN --query 'Policy.DefaultVersionId'
aws iam get-policy-version --policy-arn ARN --version-id VID > /tmp/policy.json
Then:
iam_policy_audit(open("/tmp/policy.json").read())
3. Check each privesc primitive
Rhino Security's canonical 21 paths — any Allow on these is a chain step:
- iam:CreateAccessKey (other user)
- iam:CreateLoginProfile
- iam:UpdateLoginProfile
- iam:AttachUserPolicy / iam:AttachGroupPolicy / iam:AttachRolePolicy
- iam:PutUserPolicy / iam:PutGroupPolicy / iam:PutRolePolicy
- iam:CreatePolicyVersion (if SetAsDefault=true)
- iam:SetDefaultPolicyVersion
- iam:PassRole + lambda:CreateFunction + lambda:InvokeFunction
- iam:PassRole + ec2:RunInstances
- iam:PassRole + ecs:RunTask / UpdateService
- glue:CreateDevEndpoint / UpdateDevEndpoint
- cloudformation:CreateStack with iam:PassRole
- datapipeline:CreatePipeline
- lambda:UpdateFunctionCode (existing function with priv role)
- iam:AddUserToGroup
- iam:UpdateAssumeRolePolicy
- iam:CreateRole + sts:AssumeRole
- codebuild:CreateProject with iam:PassRole
- sagemaker:CreateTrainingJob with iam:PassRole
- aws-marketplace:Subscribe (rare, but noted)
- sts:AssumeRole (direct)
4. Graph promotion
kg_add_node(kind="vulnerability", label="IAM:CreateAccessKey → account takeover", props={"severity":"critical","source":"aws-iam"})
kg_add_node(kind="crown_jewel", label="AWS Account 1234")
kg_add_edge(src=<vuln>, dst=<crown_jewel>, kind="grants", weight=0.3)
5. Common chains
- Dev user has
iam:PassRole+lambda:CreateFunction+ a Lambda role with admin → create malicious Lambda → assume admin iam:UpdateLoginProfile+sts:GetFederationToken→ temporary console access as another user