AWS EC2 instance can assume multiple roles with administrative privileges cross-account
Description
In AWS environments, some IAM permissions can lead to privilege escalation, where an identity can gain access to another, more privileged identity. This rule identifies when a given EC2 instance can use sts:AssumeRole
to assume multiple IAM roles with administrative privileges in different accounts in your AWS environment. By assuming these more privileged roles, an adversary can leverage their permissions for further access.
Rationale
The identity which triggered this detection can assume multiple IAM roles with administrative privileges in different accounts in your AWS environment, giving them access to the privileges of that role.
Datadog recommends reducing the permissions attached to an EC2 instance to the minimum required for the role to fulfill its function. To remediate the issue, either remove the sts:AssumeRole
permission entirely, or modify the resources specified in the IAM policy.