Cloud Penetration Testing: What It Covers and How It Works
Most breaches in cloud environments do not involve breaking the cloud provider. They involve customers configuring their own resources insecurely. Cloud penetration testing focuses on exactly that: how an attacker could reach and abuse your cloud resources.
The shared responsibility model
Cloud providers secure the underlying infrastructure: data centres, hardware and hypervisors. You are responsible for what you build on top:
- Identity and access management.
- Network configuration and exposure.
- Storage and database access policies.
- Operating systems and applications on your instances.
- Secrets, encryption keys and logging.
A cloud pentest tests your side of that line.
What a cloud pentest covers
External exposure
- Public storage buckets and blobs.
- Databases, caches and search clusters reachable from the internet.
- Exposed management interfaces and dashboards.
- Open ports on compute instances.
Identity and access management
- Overly permissive roles and policies.
- Long-lived access keys for users and services.
- Privilege escalation paths, such as a role that can modify its own policy.
- Cross-account trust relationships.
Application-to-cloud paths
- SSRF reaching instance metadata services.
- Credentials in environment variables, code or container images.
- Serverless functions with excessive permissions.
Logging and detection
- Whether audit logging is enabled.
- Whether suspicious actions would raise alerts.
Rules of engagement
AWS, Azure and Google Cloud allow customers to test their own resources without prior approval for most common services, but each has policies on prohibited activities, such as denial of service testing. Check the current policy for each provider before testing, and only test accounts you own or are authorised to test.
Most common findings
| Finding | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Public storage containing sensitive files | Direct data exposure |
| Overly broad IAM permissions | Small compromise becomes full compromise |
| Long-lived access keys | Leaked keys stay valid indefinitely |
| Instance metadata reachable via SSRF | Credential theft from the app layer |
| Internet-facing databases | Data theft and ransom |
| Disabled audit logging | Attacks go unnoticed |
Configuration review vs penetration testing
A configuration review checks settings against benchmarks like the CIS Foundations Benchmarks. A penetration test goes further, chaining findings to show real impact, for example: SSRF in the app, to metadata credentials, to a role that can read every bucket. Both are useful; the pentest shows what an attacker can actually do.
Continuous cloud testing
Cloud environments change daily. SecurityInfinity tests your external cloud attack surface continuously, including exposed services, storage, metadata access through application flaws and leaked keys, and verifies each finding. Start free.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need permission from AWS to pentest?
For most services, AWS does not require prior approval for testing your own resources, but prohibits certain activities. Review AWS's current penetration testing policy before starting.
What is the difference between CSPM and cloud pentesting?
Cloud security posture management continuously checks configuration against rules. Pentesting actively attempts exploitation to show real-world impact.
Can cloud pentests break production?
Well-planned tests avoid destructive actions. Agree on scope and limits in advance, and avoid denial of service testing.