Roles With Privilege escalation
More Info:
IAM User or Role can be leveraged to escalate privileges and can present higher risk.Risk Level
MediumAddress
SecurityCompliance Standards
CISGCP,HIPAA,SCO2,NISTCSF,NIST,AWSWAF,ISO27001,HITRUSTTriage and Remediation
Remediation
Using Console
Using Console
To remediate the “Roles With Privilege Escalation” misconfiguration in GCP using the GCP console, follow these step-by-step instructions:
- Log in to the GCP Console (console.cloud.google.com) using your credentials.
- Navigate to the “IAM & Admin” section by clicking on the navigation menu (☰) and selecting “IAM & Admin”.
- In the IAM & Admin page, click on “IAM” from the left-hand side menu. This will display a list of all the IAM roles and members in your project.
- Identify the roles that have privilege escalation potential. These roles typically include roles like “Owner”, “Editor”, or any custom roles with excessive permissions.
- Click on the role that you want to remediate. This will open the “Role details” page.
- On the “Role details” page, review the permissions assigned to the role and identify any unnecessary or excessive permissions.
- To remediate the misconfiguration, click on the “Edit” button at the top of the page.
- In the “Edit role” dialog, review the permissions and remove any unnecessary or excessive permissions by clicking on the “x” button next to each permission.
- After removing the permissions, review the remaining permissions to ensure that the role has the minimum necessary privileges for its intended purpose.
- Once you are satisfied with the changes, click on the “Save” button to save the modified role.
- Repeat the above steps for any other roles with privilege escalation potential.
- Finally, regularly review and monitor the IAM roles in your project to ensure that they continue to have the appropriate permissions and to prevent future privilege escalation misconfigurations.
Using CLI
Using CLI
To remediate the misconfiguration of roles with privilege escalation in GCP, you can follow these step-by-step instructions using the GCP CLI:
-
Identify the affected service account or user:
- Use the
gcloudcommand to list all service accounts in your project: - Identify the service account with the privilege escalation issue.
- Use the
-
Revoke the unnecessary roles:
- Use the
gcloudcommand to revoke the unnecessary roles from the service account:ReplacePROJECT_IDwith your project ID,SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAILwith the email address of the service account, andROLEwith the unnecessary role you want to revoke. - Repeat this command for each unnecessary role that needs to be revoked.
- Use the
-
Grant the minimum required roles:
- Determine the minimum required roles for the service account based on its functionality.
- Use the
gcloudcommand to grant the minimum required roles to the service account:ReplacePROJECT_IDwith your project ID,SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAILwith the email address of the service account, andROLEwith the minimum required role. - Repeat this command for each minimum required role that needs to be granted.
-
Verify the changes:
- Use the
gcloudcommand to verify the updated IAM policy for the service account:ReplacePROJECT_IDwith your project ID. - Ensure that only the necessary roles are assigned to the service account.
- Use the
Using Python
Using Python
To remediate the misconfiguration of roles with privilege escalation in GCP using Python, follow these steps:
- Identify the roles with privilege escalation: Use the GCP SDK or API to list all the roles in your project or organization. Look for roles that have excessive permissions or can lead to privilege escalation.
- Review role permissions: For each identified role, review the permissions assigned to it. Ensure that the role only includes the necessary permissions required for the intended purpose.
- Create a Python script: Use a Python script to automate the remediation process. Ensure that you have the necessary permissions to manage roles and permissions in GCP.
- Retrieve the existing roles: Use the GCP SDK or API to retrieve the existing roles in your project or organization. Store the roles in a data structure for further processing.
- Identify roles with privilege escalation: Analyze the retrieved roles to identify the ones that have privilege escalation potential. You can use different criteria, such as excessive permissions, roles with the ability to grant other roles, or roles with sensitive permissions.
- Remove excessive permissions: For each role identified with excessive permissions, modify the role to remove unnecessary privileges. Use the GCP SDK or API to update the role and remove the specific permissions.
- Restrict role granting ability: If any roles have the ability to grant other roles, modify them to remove this privilege. This will prevent potential privilege escalation. Again, use the GCP SDK or API to update the role.
- Monitor and audit: Regularly monitor and audit the roles in your GCP environment. Implement a process to review and update roles as necessary to ensure ongoing security and compliance.
- Automate the process: Consider automating this process using a scheduler or continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline. This will help ensure that any new misconfigurations are promptly remediated.