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العربيةPass role to Auto Scaling group
Can launch an Auto Scaling instance with a role and run code as it.
Grants escalation only in combination. All of these are needed together:
iam:PassRoleautoscaling:CreateLaunchConfigurationautoscaling:CreateAutoScalingGroupiam:PassRole can launch an Auto Scaling instance with a role and run code as it, but only when it is held together with autoscaling:CreateLaunchConfiguration, autoscaling:CreateAutoScalingGroup. Held together they reach administrator access.
Why it is dangerous
A principal holds iam:PassRole on the target role plus autoscaling:CreateLaunchConfiguration and autoscaling:CreateAutoScalingGroup, so it can define a launch configuration that attaches the target role as the instance profile and create an Auto Scaling group that boots an EC2 instance from it, the instance runs attacker-supplied user-data as the target role and exposes the target role's credentials via IMDS. Because the target role trusts ec2.amazonaws.com the pass is accepted; if the target role is privileged this is full account-level privilege escalation, the Auto Scaling control-plane variant of launching an instance.
In MITRE ATT&CK terms this maps to T1578.002, Modify Cloud Compute Infrastructure: Create Cloud Instance, under the privilege escalation tactic. AWS records it in CloudTrail as CreateLaunchConfiguration, CreateAutoScalingGroup. The call is loud in CloudTrail and stands out from normal activity.
Detection
CreateLaunchConfigurationCreateAutoScalingGroupPrerequisites
Target role must be usable as an EC2 instance profile and trust ec2.amazonaws.com.
Tactic
Privilege Escalation
A control that would remove it: Remove iam:PassRole for this role or scope it with iam:PassedToService.
Whether to apply it depends on how the permission is used in your environment, so it is a business decision rather than an automatic fix. The same permission can be load-bearing in one account and pure risk in another.
Pathbreak confirms whether this path resolves in your account, ranks it against the others by how much it opens up, and uses your threat model and business context to show which paths are worth cutting.
Questions
What does iam:PassRole allow?
Can launch an Auto Scaling instance with a role and run code as it.
What else is needed for iam:PassRole to be dangerous?
It becomes an escalation only when held together with autoscaling:CreateLaunchConfiguration, autoscaling:CreateAutoScalingGroup. On its own it is not enough, which is what makes the combination easy to miss.
How is pass role to Auto Scaling group detected?
Watch for CreateLaunchConfiguration, CreateAutoScalingGroup in CloudTrail. The call is loud in CloudTrail and stands out from normal activity.
How do you break this path?
A control that would remove it is: Remove iam:PassRole for this role or scope it with iam:PassedToService. Whether to apply it depends on how the permission is used in your account, so it is a business decision rather than an automatic fix.
Which MITRE ATT&CK technique is this?
T1578.002, Modify Cloud Compute Infrastructure: Create Cloud Instance, under the privilege escalation tactic.
Related paths
References
Find this in your own account
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