Lateral movement

EC2 Instance with secrets in UserData Attribute

Platform(s)
Compliance Frameworks
  • CCPA
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  • CPRA
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  • Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) Best Practices
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  • iso_27001_2022
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  • iso_27002_2022
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  • Mitre ATT&CK
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  • NIST 800-171
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  • NIST 800-53
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  • PDPA
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  • UK Cyber Essentials

Description

Instance metadata can be used to access user data that was specified when launching the instance. For example, a parameter can be specified for configuring the instance, or include a simple script. The user data is not protected by authentication or cryptography, and therefore, anyone with access to the instance can view it. Secrets were found for the instance {AwsEc2Instance} in the user data attribute. A malicious actor may use the secrets to compromise additional assets in the account