Cloud attack paths

Cloud attack paths are identity graphs. A principal reaches an objective through permissions, credentials, workload identities, federation, and resource policy. An allow statement is one input to that graph, not proof that the edge works.

Use this skill only inside written authorization. Mapping a possible path does not authorize credential retrieval, role assumption, deployment, data access, or any other validation action.

When to Use

• An authorized cloud penetration test when tracing how a starting identity could assume roles, use credentials, execute workloads, cross providers, or reach sensitive data.
• Use only within explicit authorization and the stated rules of engagement.

When NOT to Use

• Do not treat this skill as permission to access, test, or change a target.
• Do not convert missing evidence into a clean result or a stronger claim.

Build the map

1. Define the endpoints. State the starting identity, target resource or data, the cloud boundaries in scope, and the smallest proof the engagement requires.
2. Record evidence before conclusions. Classify each source as observed, reported current, reported stale, or inferred. Names such as prod-admin-key suggest provenance; they do not establish it.
3. Normalize the graph. Represent identities, credentials, services, resources, and data as nodes. Represent authorization, impersonation, credential material, federation, workload execution, and resource access as directed edges.
4. Resolve effective access. Account for identity and resource policies, explicit denies, conditions, permission boundaries, session restrictions, organization policy, encryption controls, service enablement, and network or perimeter controls that apply. Keep unresolved layers visible.
5. Classify every edge. Use:
   • validated when current evidence establishes the transition;
   • candidate when the transition is plausible but has unverified facts;
   • blocked when a known control prevents it;
   • unknown when available evidence cannot support a direction.
6. Make boundary crossings explicit. For every account, tenant, project, provider, or on-premises crossing, name the trust mechanism and its evidence. Credential files, federation, and workload identity are separate transitions.
7. Assemble continuous paths. Each edge must begin where the previous edge ended. Include blocked branches because they explain why apparent privilege does not produce a route.
8. Plan minimum validation. Prefer metadata and policy reads. Classify each validation step and compare it with written authorization. Mark credential reads, content access, active execution, and state changes as requiring separate approval when they are not already allowed.
9. State only what the path proves. A path is:
   • proven only when every edge is validated;
   • plausible when at least one edge is a candidate and none is blocked or unknown;
   • blocked when any edge is blocked;
   • unknown when uncertainty prevents a stronger result.

Provider semantics to preserve

• AWS: an identity allow may still lose to an SCP, permissions boundary, session policy, resource policy, KMS policy, condition, or explicit deny. PassRole needs a permitted service action that can consume the role.
• Azure: distinguish Entra directory roles from Azure resource RBAC. Resolve assignment scope, deny assignments, managed identities, vault mode, and conditional access or network restrictions relevant to the transition.
• GCP: serviceAccounts.actAs lets a workload run as a service account; it does not itself mint a token. Resolve allow and deny policies, conditions, service enablement, service agents, and perimeter controls.
• Hybrid and multi-cloud: treat a credential or assertion as one node and the identity it may represent as another. The mapping between them needs its own evidence.

Judgment calls

The script cannot interpret live provider policy or determine whether a counterfactual deployment would succeed. It verifies the normalized record: references, continuity, evidence strength, boundary declarations, deny precedence, authorization classes, and claim strength. A clean result means the assessment is honest about its inputs, not that the attack path is executable.

Rationalizations to reject

Thought	Reality
"The policy says Allow, so the edge is proven."	Effective access is the result of every applicable policy and condition. Record unresolved layers.
"The secret name tells us which identity it belongs to."	A name is inferred provenance. Use a key ID, application ID, deployment record, or other non-secret evidence.
"PassRole means I can become that role."	It only matters with an allowed service action that accepts the role.
"actAs is direct impersonation."	GCP workload attachment and token creation are different permissions.
"We can deploy a harmless function to verify it."	Deployment changes state and creates telemetry. Authorization decides whether it is permitted.
"The final object permission proves the whole chain."	Every preceding identity and trust transition must also hold.
"the record is complete, so the path works."	It passed structural and evidentiary checks over supplied facts. Provider behavior still requires authorized validation.