detecting-aws-iam-privilege-escalation

---
name: detecting-aws-iam-privilege-escalation
description: Detect AWS IAM privilege escalation paths using boto3 and Cloudsplaining policy analysis to identify overly permissive policies, dangerous permission combinations, and least-privilege violations
domain: cybersecurity
subdomain: cloud-security
tags: [aws, iam, privilege-escalation, cloudsplaining, boto3, policy-analysis, least-privilege]
version: "1.0"
author: mahipal
license: Apache-2.0
---

# Detecting AWS IAM Privilege Escalation

## Overview

This skill uses boto3 and Cloudsplaining-style analysis to identify IAM privilege escalation paths in AWS accounts. It downloads the account authorization details, analyzes each policy for dangerous permission combinations (iam:PassRole + lambda:CreateFunction, iam:CreatePolicyVersion, sts:AssumeRole), and flags policies that violate least-privilege principles.


## When to Use

- When investigating security incidents that require detecting aws iam privilege escalation
- When building detection rules or threat hunting queries for this domain
- When SOC analysts need structured procedures for this analysis type
- When validating security monitoring coverage for related attack techniques

## Prerequisites

- Python 3.8+ with boto3 library
- AWS credentials with IAM read-only access (iam:GetAccountAuthorizationDetails)
- Optional: cloudsplaining Python package for HTML report generation

## Steps

1. **Download IAM Authorization Details** — Call iam:GetAccountAuthorizationDetails to retrieve all users, groups, roles, and policies
2. **Analyze Policies for Privilege Escalation** — Check each policy for known escalation permission combinations
3. **Identify Wildcard Resource Policies** — Flag policies using Resource: "*" with dangerous actions
4. **Map Principal-to-Policy Relationships** — Build a graph of which principals can access which escalation paths
5. **Score and Prioritize Findings** — Rank findings by severity based on escalation vector type
6. **Generate Report** — Produce structured JSON report with remediation guidance

## Expected Output

- JSON report of privilege escalation findings with severity scores
- List of dangerous permission combinations per principal
- Wildcard resource policy audit results
- Remediation recommendations for each finding