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العربيةConnect to RDS with IAM auth token
Can authenticate to an RDS instance with an IAM-issued database token.
Grants escalation on its own.
rds-db:connectOn its own, rds-db:connect can authenticate to an RDS instance with an IAM-issued database token. On a wide resource scope that alone reaches the data itself.
Why it is dangerous
A principal can call rds-db:connect to obtain a short-lived IAM authentication token for RDS the instance and log in as a database user, with no stored DB password. When the instance has IAM database authentication enabled, control of the IAM principal becomes data-plane access to the database - direct exfiltration of whatever it holds.
In MITRE ATT&CK terms this maps to T1530, Data from Cloud Storage, under the collection tactic. AWS records it in CloudTrail as connect. The call is quiet against normal activity, so it is easy to miss without a rule for it.
Detection
connectPrerequisites
rds-db:connect on the dbuser resource ARN; the instance has IAM database authentication enabled and a DB user mapped to the IAM identity; network reachability to the DB endpoint.
MITRE ATT&CK
T1530 · Data from Cloud StorageTactic
Collection
A control that would remove it: Disable IAM database authentication where unused; scope rds-db:connect to specific dbuser resource ARNs; prefer least-privilege DB users.
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 rds-db:connect allow?
Can authenticate to an RDS instance with an IAM-issued database token.
Can rds-db:connect escalate privileges on its own?
Yes. Held on a broad enough resource it reaches the data itself with no other permission.
How is connect to RDS with IAM auth token detected?
Watch for connect in CloudTrail. The call is quiet against normal activity, so it is easy to miss without a rule for it.
How do you break this path?
A control that would remove it is: Disable IAM database authentication where unused; scope rds-db:connect to specific dbuser resource ARNs; prefer least-privilege DB users. 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?
T1530, Data from Cloud Storage, under the collection tactic.
Related paths
References
Find this in your own account
We run a read-only scan of one AWS account and show you which of these paths exist, ranked by blast radius, with the change that breaks each one. First validated paths within the hour.