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Ensure That Instances Are Not Configured To Use the Default Service Account
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Showing SKILL.md
| name | cis-gcp-foundations-4.1 |
| description | Ensure That Instances Are Not Configured To Use the Default Service Account |
| category | cis-gcp-foundations |
| version | 4.0.0 |
| author | cyberstrike-official |
| tags | ["cis","gcp","compute","virtual-machines","service-accounts"] |
| cis_id | 4.1 |
| cis_benchmark | CIS Google Cloud Platform Foundation Benchmark v4.0.0 |
| tech_stack | ["gcp"] |
| cwe_ids | [] |
| chains_with | [] |
| prerequisites | [] |
| severity_boost | {} |
It is recommended to configure your instance to not use the default Compute Engine service account because it has the Editor role on the project.
When a default Compute Engine service account is created, it is automatically granted the Editor role (roles/editor) on your project which allows read and write access to most Google Cloud Services. This role includes a very large number of permissions. To defend against privilege escalations if your VM is compromised and prevent an attacker from gaining access to all of your project, you should either revoke the Editor role from the default Compute Engine service account or create a new service account and assign only the permissions needed by your instance. To mitigate this at scale, we strongly recommend that you disable the automatic role grant by adding a constraint to your organization policy.
The default Compute Engine service account is named [PROJECT_NUMBER]-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com.
VM instances page by visiting: https://console.cloud.google.com/compute/instances.VM instance details page.API and identity management, ensure that the default Compute Engine service account is not used. This account is named [PROJECT_NUMBER]-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com.gcloud compute instances list --format=json | jq -r '. | "SA: \(.[].serviceAccounts[].email) Name: \(.[].name)"'
[PROJECT_NUMBER]-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com.VMs created by GKE should be excluded. These VMs have names that start with gke- and are labeled goog-gke-node.
VM instances page by visiting: https://console.cloud.google.com/compute/instances.VM instance detailsSTOP and then click EDIT.API and identity management, select a service account other than the default Compute Engine service account. You may first need to create a new service account.Save and then click START.gcloud compute instances stop <INSTANCE_NAME>
gcloud compute instances set-service-account <INSTANCE_NAME> --service-account=<SERVICE_ACCOUNT>
gcloud compute instances start <INSTANCE_NAME>
By default, Compute instances are configured to use the default Compute Engine service account.
| Controls Version | Control | IG 1 | IG 2 | IG 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| v8 | 4.7 Manage Default Accounts on Enterprise Assets and Software | X | X | X |
| v7 | 4.7 Limit Access to Script Tools | X | X |