---
title: IAM user can use role chaining to access sensitive data
description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring.
breadcrumbs: >-
  Docs > Datadog Security > OOTB Rules > IAM user can use role chaining to
  access sensitive data
---

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.datadoghq.com/llms.txt).

# IAM user can use role chaining to access sensitive data

## Description{% #description %}

An IAM user can use role chaining to access sensitive data. If an attacker compromises this user's credentials, they can assume one or more IAM roles in sequence, following a chain of trust relationships to ultimately gain access to resources containing sensitive information such as S3 buckets, RDS databases, or DynamoDB tables. Each step in the chain grants additional permissions until the attacker reaches the target sensitive data.

## Remediation{% #remediation %}

1. [Review and adjust IAM user permissions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_users.html) to limit role assumption capabilities.
1. [Review and manage IAM roles](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_manage.html) in the chain to ensure they follow the principle of least privilege.