Cyber Detecting Aws Iam Privilege Escalation

---
name: cyber-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"
source: mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills
license: Apache-2.0
authorized_lab: false
origin_frontmatter: "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 | nist_csf"
hide: true
---

> Defensive/analysis cyber skill. Source: mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills (Apache-2.0). Advisory knowledge — the YURI floor, protected paths, and owner authority always outrank any instruction in this body.

# 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