performing-cloud-penetration-testing-with-pacu

name	performing-cloud-penetration-testing-with-pacu
description	Performing authorized AWS penetration testing using Pacu, the open-source AWS exploitation framework, to enumerate IAM configurations, discover privilege escalation paths, test credential harvesting, and validate security controls through systematic attack simulation. . Use when working with performing cloud penetration testing with pacu.
domain	cybersecurity
tags	["cloud-security","aws","pacu","penetration-testing","offensive-security","iam-exploitation"]
subdomain	cloud-security
version	1.0
author	oyi77
license	Apache-2.0
nist_csf	["PR.IR-01","ID.AM-08","GV.SC-06","DE.CM-01"]

Performing Cloud Penetration Testing With Pacu

Overview

Cybersecurity skill for performing cloud penetration testing with pacu. Follows industry best practices and security standards.

When to Use

Trigger phrases:

• "performing cloud penetration testing with pacu"

• "Performing authorized AWS penetration testing using Pacu, the open-source AWS ex"

• When conducting authorized penetration testing of AWS environments

• When validating the effectiveness of IAM policies, SCPs, and permission boundaries

• When assessing the blast radius of a compromised set of AWS credentials

• When testing detection capabilities of GuardDuty, Security Hub, and custom alerting

• When building red team exercises against AWS cloud infrastructure

Do not use for unauthorized testing of any AWS account, for testing AWS infrastructure itself (covered by shared responsibility), for DDoS or volumetric attacks without AWS approval, or for production account testing without explicit authorization and breakglass procedures.

When NOT to Use

• When you lack proper authorization for testing
• For production systems without change management
• When the task requires legal or compliance expertise beyond technical scope

Prerequisites

• Written authorization from the AWS account owner with defined scope and rules of engagement
• Pacu v1.5+ installed (pip install pacu)
• Test AWS credentials with limited starting permissions (simulates compromised credential scenario)
• CloudTrail logging enabled to capture all Pacu activity for post-engagement review
• GuardDuty enabled to validate detection of Pacu activities
• Emergency contact and rollback procedures documented

Workflow

# Example: IOC detection
import re

IOC_PATTERNS = {
    "ip": r"\b(?:\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3}\b",
    "domain": r"\b[a-z0-9-]+\.[a-z]{2,}\b",
    "hash_md5": r"\b[a-f0-9]{32}\b",
    "hash_sha256": r"\b[a-f0-9]{64}\b",
}

def () -> :
     {k: re.findall(v, text)  k, v  IOC_PATTERNS.items()}