Serverless Tokens in the Cloud: Exploitation and Detections
1 min read
Summary
The move to public cloud platforms has increased the adoption of serverless computing, but these environments are not immune to security risks.
Serverless functions are often exposed to the internet and authenticate using cloud identities that use tokens to gain scoped access.
Attackers target serverless functions to exploit authentication issues and misconfiguration, with the potential to gain unauthorized read/write access to sensitive data and critical infrastructure.
It is important to understand the security risks associated with serverless functions and to apply best practices to protect these cloud identities to safeguard the integrity of cloud environments that use them.
Serverless functions are vulnerable to token exfiltration via exploited identity and access management (IAM) roles, insecure cloud configuration and extracted environment variables.
To secure serverless functions, it is essential to apply strong authentication, enforce least privilege, implement robust auditing and monitoring capabilities, and ensure consistent, secure configuration practices.
Applying these measures will help to detect abnormal activity, such as unauthorized token usage and indications of potential attacks.
It is crucial to consistently monitor for and react to emerging threats to secure serverless functions and the cloud services they access.
