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العربيةRead Secrets Manager secret
Can read a Secrets Manager secret value.
Grants escalation on its own.
secretsmanager:GetSecretValueOn its own, secretsmanager:GetSecretValue can read a Secrets Manager secret value. On a wide resource scope that alone reaches the data itself.
Why it is dangerous
A principal can call secretsmanager:GetSecretValue to read the secret, verified against both the principal's identity policy and the secret's resource policy. A secret frequently holds another principal's long-term credentials (DB passwords, API keys, IAM access keys), so reading it is both the objective and a lateral-movement multiplier, control of the secret can become control of a new identity.
In MITRE ATT&CK terms this maps to T1555.006, Credentials from Password Stores: Cloud Secrets Management Stores, under the credential access tactic. AWS records it in CloudTrail as GetSecretValue. The call is quiet against normal activity, so it is easy to miss without a rule for it.
Detection
GetSecretValuePrerequisites
secretsmanager:GetSecretValue on the secret (from identity OR the secret's resource policy); kms:Decrypt on the encrypting key for a customer-managed CMK.
Tactic
Credential Access
A control that would remove it: Scope the secret's resource policy and the principal's secretsmanager:GetSecretValue; rotate exposed secrets.
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 secretsmanager:GetSecretValue allow?
Can read a Secrets Manager secret value.
Can secretsmanager:GetSecretValue escalate privileges on its own?
Yes. Held on a broad enough resource it reaches the data itself with no other permission.
How is read Secrets Manager secret detected?
Watch for GetSecretValue 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: Scope the secret's resource policy and the principal's secretsmanager:GetSecretValue; rotate exposed secrets. 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?
T1555.006, Credentials from Password Stores: Cloud Secrets Management Stores, under the credential access tactic.
Related paths
References
Find this in your own account
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