IaC Authorization Hash Validation Against Compromised Credentials
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing infrastructure as code (IaC) systems lack robust security measures, allowing malicious actors to make unauthorized modifications to cloud environments by exploiting compromised credentials, leading to potential phishing attacks and other malicious activities.
Innovation Solution
Implementing multiple sets of identity and access management (IAM) permissions to protect IaC configuration files and execution, generating authorization values based on configuration files, and storing them in a datastore for validation before executing modification requests, ensuring only authorized changes are made.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional single-credential IAM authorization is used for IaC modifications, then ease of operation is improved, but security is worsened allowing unauthorized modifications with compromised credentials
Solution Approach 1:
The authorization process is segmented into multiple independent credential validation steps. Instead of relying on a single credential set, the system requires validation against multiple IAM roles/credentials sequentially, dividing the authorization process into distinct security checkpoints that must all be satisfied for modification approval.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary authorization validation by checking credentials against multiple IAM roles before allowing any IaC modification to proceed. This preliminary multi-credential verification ensures that even if one credential is compromised, the modification cannot be executed without additional valid credentials.
2Reliability
If multiple sets of IAM permissions are implemented for IaC protection, then security is improved, but device complexity is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The multi-credential validation mechanism serves multiple security functions simultaneously: it prevents compromised credential usage, ensures proper authorization hierarchy, validates modification intent, and maintains audit trails. This universal approach handles various security requirements through a single integrated validation framework rather than separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary authorization service that mediates between the IaC modification requests and the underlying infrastructure. This intermediary layer handles the complex multi-credential validation logic, shielding users from the complexity while maintaining strong security controls through automated credential verification.
3Reliability
If authorization values are generated and stored for validation, then security is improved by preventing unauthorized changes, but loss of time is worsened due to additional validation steps
Solution Approach 1:
Authorization values are generated and stored in advance before IaC modifications are executed. This preliminary authorization step creates pre-validation tokens that encode the approved modification parameters, allowing faster execution phase validation by simply verifying against the pre-stored authorization values rather than performing full multi-credential checks at execution time.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes receiving, at a server, an authorizing request pertaining to authorization of future modification to a plurality of computing resources of a computing resource environment, the authorizing request comprising first credentials and an authorization value that is based on a first computing resource environment configuration file and a second computing resource environment configuration file. The method includes, responsive to a validation of the first credentials, storing the authorization value in a datastore. The method includes, receiving, at the server, a modification request comprising second credentials and comparing the modification request to the stored authorization value. The method further includes, responsive to the modification request matching the stored authorization value and a validation of the second credentials, modifying the plurality of computing resources of the computing resource environment based on the first computing resource environment configuration file and the second computing resource environment configuration file.