IAM Privilege Escalation on AWS — A Bug Bounty Trick by CyberDudeBivash By CyberDudeBivash | cyberdudebivash.com | cyberbivash.blogspot.com

Introduction

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is at the heart of cloud security. A single misconfigured permission can lead to full account takeover.

In bug bounty programs, IAM privilege escalation is one of the most rewarding tricks, as hunters can pivot from low-privilege roles → admin access without “hacking” the infrastructure.

This guide covers:

What IAM privilege escalation is
Real AWS misconfigurations that allow it
A step-by-step bug bounty exploitation workflow
High CPC security terms for monetization

What is IAM Privilege Escalation?

It’s when a user with limited IAM permissions leverages misconfigured policies to gain higher privileges.

Example:

Role DevUser has access to iam:PassRole but not to ec2:RunInstances.
If misconfigured, the user can pass an admin role to an EC2 instance → escalate.

Common Privilege Escalation Paths

PassRole + Create EC2

Permission: iam:PassRole + ec2:RunInstances
Trick: Launch EC2 with Admin Role attached → SSH → full privilege.

PassRole + Lambda

Permission: iam:PassRole + lambda:CreateFunction
Trick: Deploy Lambda with admin role, execute arbitrary code.

Policy Attachment Abuse

Permission: iam:AttachUserPolicy or iam:PutUserPolicy
Trick: Attach AdministratorAccess to your own user.

Update Login Profile

Permission: iam:UpdateLoginProfile
Trick: Change the password of another IAM user (often admin).

Access Key Creation

Permission: iam:CreateAccessKey
Trick: Generate new access keys for another IAM user → API access.

Bug Bounty Exploitation Workflow

Step 1: Recon

Enumerate IAM permissions using:aws iam list-attached-user-policies aws iam list-user-policies aws iam list-roles

Step 2: Identify Escalation Vectors

Look for suspicious combinations (PassRole + CreateFunction, AttachUserPolicy, UpdateLoginProfile).

Step 3: Exploit Misconfig

Deploy Lambda with escalated role.
Or attach AdministratorAccess to self.

Step 4: Pivot

Use elevated creds to access S3, DynamoDB, RDS, Secrets Manager.

Step 5: Report & Document

Write a clear PoC with exploited policies.
Provide AWS CLI commands as proof.

Highlighted Keywords

This post includes high CPC security terms:

AWS IAM misconfigurations
Cloud privilege escalation testing
Cloud penetration testing services
Identity governance in cloud
Zero Trust AWS IAM
Cloud compliance frameworks
Cyber insurance for AWS breaches
Vulnerability assessment on AWS

CyberDudeBivash Recommendations

For Bug Bounty Hunters: Always check IAM roles & attached policies. Most reports are low-hanging fruit.
For Cloud Security Engineers: Implement least privilege IAM + IAM Access Analyzer.
For Enterprises: Run cloud penetration tests quarterly.
For Developers: Never give broad iam:* permissions.

Conclusion

IAM privilege escalation is the silent killer in AWS bug bounties. With just a few misconfigured policies, attackers can jump from restricted user → full admin control.

For bug bounty hunters, this is a gold mine. For enterprises, it’s a compliance nightmare.

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