Researchers from Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 have uncovered a major cyber attack targeting cloud environments by exploiting sensitive secrets stored in .env files. The investigation concluded that a…

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Researchers from Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 uncovered a large-scale cyber attack targeting cloud environments by exploiting secrets in .env files. The attack involved five phases: Initial Access, Account Discovery, Privilege Escalation, Malicious Execution, and Data Exfiltration. The attackers gained access to AWS environments, escalated privileges, executed malicious code, and exfiltrated data from S3 buckets, leaving ransom notes. Understanding the structure of AWS IAM roles and implementing security best practices are critical to mitigate such threats.

Large-Scale Data Exfiltration: Exploiting Secrets in .env Files to Compromise Cloud Accounts and Inflict Severe Business Degradation

3.1. Structure of an AWS IAM Role — Trust and Permission Policies

3.2. Escalating Privileges using CreateRole and AttachRolePolicy