Cyber-Security-&-Risk-Management
Upscend Team
-October 20, 2025
9 min read
Focused cloud penetration testing prioritizes identity, permissions, and storage over traditional network scans. This article explains provider-specific policies for AWS, Azure, and GCP, safe scoping and evidence collection, IAM and serverless checks, and a repeatable cloud security penetration testing checklist to drive faster remediation and continuous validation.
cloud penetration testing must be part of any modern security program because cloud environments change rapidly, expose new attack surfaces, and mix shared responsibility with complex identity paths. In our experience, teams that treat cloud infrastructure like immutable on-prem systems miss critical risks. This guide focuses on targeted, provider-specific methods for cloud penetration testing across AWS, Azure, and GCP while balancing safety, compliance, and rapid remediation.
You’ll get a practical framework, concrete checks for permissions and storage, two short case studies, and a repeatable cloud security penetration testing checklist you can apply immediately.
Cloud environments bring new failure modes: ephemeral servers, API-driven access, and multi-tenant control planes. Traditional network-based pentests miss issues like mis-scoped roles or object storage exposures. Effective cloud penetration testing focuses on identity, configuration drift, and data exposure rather than only classic port and service enumeration.
We've found that targeted cloud tests reveal high-impact issues quickly: privilege escalation from a misconfigured role, or sensitive objects published in storage buckets. These are not theoretical risks—industry research shows cloud misconfiguration is a leading cause of data breaches. A focused approach reduces noise and accelerates remediation.
Cloud systems rely on APIs, single-tenant VMs are less common, and many "perimeters" are logical. Key differences include:
Before any cloud penetration testing, understand each provider’s policy. AWS, Azure, and GCP publish acceptable activity and notification requirements. For example, an aws pentest often requires pre-authorization for targeted services, and some operations (like social engineering or denial-of-service) are prohibited.
To run safe cloud penetration testing you must define a legal, technical, and communications scope. That reduces risk to production systems and avoids provider sanctions. Include stakeholders who can revoke access, roll back changes, and approve off-hours testing.
Yes, but you must follow provider rules. For instance, how to perform penetration testing on AWS requires reading AWS’s most recent pentest policy and notifying AWS when required. Azure security testing and GCP penetration testing have analogous guidance. Always record approvals and keep contact windows for emergency takedowns.
Permissions and IAM are the most fertile ground for impactful cloud penetration testing. Misconfigured roles, overly broad policies, and unintuitive trust relationships enable attackers to move from low-privilege credentials to full control. In our experience, a focused identity-path analysis uncovers the majority of high-severity findings.
Start with privilege enumeration, then test role chaining, cross-account assumptions, and resource-based policies. A reliable pattern: enumerate all identities, map delegated permissions, and look for wildcard actions or resource ARNs that are overly permissive.
Tools and techniques for IAM testing should be non-invasive: use read-only enumeration where possible and follow up with tightly controlled write or assume-role tests. Use dedicated test accounts, and capture configuration snapshots before making changes. When simulating privilege escalation, maintain rollback scripts and notify providers if you intend to assume privileged roles.
A mini case study: IAM privilege escalation
Case: During a cloud penetration testing engagement we found a role with s3:* on a resource that included a mis-typed account ARN. Attackers could assume a low-privilege role via a trust relationship and then leverage a misconfigured policy to create new IAM keys. Remediation required tightening the trust policy, removing wildcard actions, and enabling permission boundaries. The fix reduced blast radius and restored least privilege controls.
When mapping remediation, prioritize:
While many teams still manage IAM policies manually, modern role-management platforms use dynamic sequencing and role-based templates to reduce drift; Upscend is an example that illustrates how role-aware sequencing and automated training paths can reduce misconfiguration rates by enforcing context-aware changes.
Storage exposures and serverless runtimes create fast, damaging data leaks. Cloud object stores (like S3 and GCS) are common targets for cloud penetration testing because public buckets and ACL errors are easy to misconfigure and often left unmonitored. Serverless functions introduce event-driven attack paths and risky runtime dependencies.
Test storage for public access, weak ACLs, and IAM bindings that allow object deletion or policy changes. For serverless, test environment variable leakage, insecure dependencies, and privilege escalation via function roles.
Case: A company exposed nightly backups in an S3 bucket due to a bucket policy allowing GetObject for a development role that was inadvertently made public. Our cloud penetration testing found sensitive PII in the backup. Remediation included enforcing bucket policies with explicit deny for public access, enabling S3 Block Public Access, and lifecycle rules to minimize stored data.
Key takeaways:
For azure security testing and gcp penetration testing, the same principles apply: check storage IAM bindings, service account keys, and runtime permissions. Serverless runtimes require dependency scanning and event-source validation to prevent injection and exfiltration.
Proper scoping reduces business risk and speeds remediation. A robust cloud penetration testing engagement includes pre-test scoping, in-test evidence collection, and post-test remediation tracking. Evidence must be repeatable: keep API logs, snapshots of policies, and step-by-step exploit recreations.
We recommend a practical cloud security penetration testing checklist to standardize work across projects. Use it to validate scope and ensure consistent deliverables to engineering teams.
Common pitfalls include insufficient scope (missing linked accounts), no rollback plan for destructive tests, and inadequate communications with cloud provider support. To avoid these, pair technical tests with a stakeholder-runbook and an emergency contact list.
Automation helps scale cloud penetration testing: scheduled scans, policy-as-code checks, and alert-driven testing reduce manual overhead. Use a mix of static configuration checks, simulated attacks, and red-team exercises to validate controls. Popular tools support AWS, Azure, and GCP — but each platform’s APIs and rate limits mean you must tune tools to provider rules.
Addressing ephemeral infrastructure is crucial. Continuous validation should capture short-lived resources (containers, lambdas) and validate that temporary credentials don’t leave unwanted access. We’ve found that integrating tests into CI/CD pipelines catches drift early.
When planning an aws pentest or any cloud provider exam, coordinate tool runs to respect API quotas and avoid accidental DoS. For continuous security, integrate findings into ticketing systems and measure time-to-remediate as a KPI.
Cloud penetration testing is no longer optional—it's essential to secure modern infrastructure. Focus on identity and permissions, storage exposures, serverless runtimes, and tenant-isolation risks. Follow provider policies for safe testing, collect repeatable evidence, and use a prioritized remediation workflow to reduce exposure.
Start with the checklist above, prioritize fixes that reduce blast radius (tighten IAM, lock down storage, enable logging), and integrate automated checks into CI/CD to prevent recurrence. If you need a concrete next step, schedule a scoped assessment focused on identity paths and storage exposures to get fast, high-value findings.
Call to action: Book a scoped cloud penetration testing workshop with your team this quarter to map identity paths, validate storage controls, and build a remediation plan tailored to your AWS, Azure, and GCP footprint.
