AWS EC2 Attack and Defend:

The Battle for the Cloud's Beating Heart

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is the pulsing heart of modern cloud infrastructure, powering everything from simple web servers to complex machine learning workloads across millions of virtual machines. Think of EC2 as a vast digital metropolis—each instance is a building in this city, with streets (networks), gates (security groups), and residents (applications) all interconnected. Like any metropolis, it can be incredibly secure when properly managed, with multiple layers of protection: strong authentication, network segmentation, and vigilant monitoring. However, a single misconfigured security group, an overlooked patch, or a compromised credential can transform your digital city into an attacker's playground.

This article transcends typical EC2 hardening guides. It's an immersive exploration of the perpetual war for EC2 security, narrated through the eyes of two adversaries: Morgan, a cunning attacker from the Red Team who sees every EC2 instance as a potential stepping stone, and Casey, a meticulous defender from the Blue Team who treats each instance as a fortress to protect. We'll navigate through the sophisticated techniques attackers employ to discover, compromise, and leverage EC2 instances. Then, we'll pivot to the defender's perspective, methodically building an impenetrable security architecture using AWS's comprehensive defense ecosystem.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this deep dive, you will:

• Master Advanced EC2 Vulnerabilities: Understand sophisticated attack vectors including IMDS exploitation, privilege escalation through PassRole, and lateral movement techniques.

• Decode Attacker Methodologies: Learn how adversaries discover, compromise, and persist in EC2 environments, including specific TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures).

• Architect Robust Defense Systems: Gain expertise in implementing layered security using IAM, Security Groups, Systems Manager, GuardDuty, and other AWS services.

• Navigate Real-World Scenarios: Analyze detailed breach and remediation scenarios, applying learned concepts in practical contexts.

• Deploy Practical Security Tools: Master AWS CLI commands, CloudQuery investigations, and automation frameworks for EC2 security management.

• Embrace Continuous Security: Recognize that EC2 security requires ongoing vigilance, monitoring, and adaptation.

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The EC2 Ecosystem: Power, Complexity, and Vulnerability

Before diving into the battle between Morgan and Casey, let's explore the EC2 features that make it both powerful and a complex security challenge.

Core EC2 Concepts:

• Instances: Virtual servers running in the cloud, each with specific compute, memory, and network capabilities.

• AMIs (Amazon Machine Images): Pre-configured templates containing operating systems and applications.

• Security Groups: Virtual firewalls controlling inbound and outbound traffic at the instance level.

• Instance Metadata Service (IMDS): A service providing instance-specific data accessible from within the instance.

• IAM Instance Profiles: Mechanism to grant AWS permissions to applications running on EC2 instances.

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Why EC2 is a Prime Target:

Attackers focus on EC2 for several compelling reasons:

1. Gateway to AWS: EC2 instances often have IAM roles with broad permissions, serving as springboards for lateral movement.

2. Data Richness: Instances contain applications, databases, configuration files, and cached credentials.

3. Network Access: Compromised instances provide internal network access, bypassing perimeter defenses.

4. Compute Resources: Instances can be leveraged for cryptomining, botnet activities, or attack infrastructure.

5. Persistent Foothold: Unlike serverless functions, EC2 provides stable, long-lived access points.

Understanding these features and attack motivations sets the stage for our security battle between Morgan and Casey.

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The Attacker's Arsenal: Morgan's Methodical Assault on EC2

Morgan approaches EC2 attacks with military precision, following a structured methodology that maximizes impact while minimizing detection. Let's explore Morgan's comprehensive attack playbook.

Phase 1: Reconnaissance & Discovery – Mapping the Digital Terrain

Morgan's reconnaissance phase is methodical and multi-pronged, designed to build a comprehensive map of the target's EC2 infrastructure.

1.1. Public Instance Discovery:

Morgan begins by identifying publicly accessible EC2 instances through various reconnaissance techniques.

Shodan/Censys Scanning:

# Shodan queries for EC2 instances

shodan search "Server: Apache" country:US org:"Amazon"

shodan search "ssh" port:22 org:"Amazon Technologies"

shodan search "rdp" port:3389 org:"Amazon"

  

# Censys queries for EC2 infrastructure

censys search "services.service_name: HTTP" and "location.country: US" and "autonomous_system.organization: Amazon"

Certificate Transparency Mining:

# Using crt.sh to find EC2 instances via SSL certificates

curl -s "https://crt.sh/?q=%.compute.amazonaws.com&output=json" | jq -r '.[].name_value' | sort -u

  

# Using ctfr for comprehensive CT log analysis

python ctfr.py -d targetcompany.com -o ct_results.txt

grep -i "compute\|ec2\|aws" ct_results.txt