aws-penetration-testing

aws-penetration-testing is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills. It costs 46 tokens per session (2,687 once invoked), scanned C, original, MIT.

A security-testing guide for checking AWS cloud environments, including identity permissions, storage, serverless code, and ways attackers may keep access. It is intended only for written-authorized assessments or controlled training labs.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to assess AWS IAM permissions, S3 buckets, Lambda functions, metadata-service exposure, and persistence risks during an approved penetration test.
Why use it?
It helps security teams find weaknesses before attackers do, while requiring confirmation of the target and permission before active testing.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Part of the agentic-awesome-skills plugin — 196 skills shipped together

Good fit Use it to assess AWS IAM permissions, S3 buckets, Lambda functions, metadata-service exposure, and persistence risks during an approved penetration test.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills/aws-penetration-testing
About the project

AAS Core is a local control plane for coding agents that lets them search a large catalogue of skills, choose a stack, validate it, and create a reproducible plan. It is used to assemble and review agent workflows through its CLI, local MCP server, catalogue, plugins, and Workbench. The catalogue add-ons provide the skills, plugins, bundles, and workflows that AAS Core helps agents select and validate.

sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills · 46,230 stars · on GitHub · sickn33.github.io

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill aws-penetration-testing
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Or install agentic-awesome-skills, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 196 skills.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for aws-penetration-testing

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills/aws-penetration-testing/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills/aws-penetration-testing)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills/aws-penetration-testing"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills/aws-penetration-testing/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for aws-penetration-testing

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills/aws-penetration-testing"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills/aws-penetration-testing.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 46 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,687 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan C 4 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe. Third-party audits
  • Socket fail 11 Aug 2026
  • Snyk fail 11 Aug 2026
  • NVIDIA SkillSpector warn 7 Sept 2026
SkillSpector: 16 findings, up to high

These are SkillSpector’s own severities. On a checked sample its high-severity flags on skills were ~96% false positives — a documented command, a public API, a “never do X” rule — so we show them as a caution to read, not a verdict. Why →

  • high YARA Match · line 36
    YARA rule matched a hack tool or exploit indicator (offensive tools, reconnaissance, privilege escalation, or exploit frameworks).
    Fix: Remove offensive tool references and exploit code. Legitimate agent skills should not contain penetration testing tools, exploit frameworks, or reconnaissance utilities.
  • high Server-Side Request Forgery · line 113
    Code accesses a cloud instance metadata endpoint (e.g. 169.254.169.254). A single request can return temporary IAM credentials, making this a high-value SSRF target for credential theft.
    Fix: Remove access to cloud metadata endpoints unless strictly required. If metadata is needed, restrict it (e.g. IMDSv2 with hop limit) and never expose returned credentials.
  • high Server-Side Request Forgery · line 116
    Code accesses a cloud instance metadata endpoint (e.g. 169.254.169.254). A single request can return temporary IAM credentials, making this a high-value SSRF target for credential theft.
    Fix: Remove access to cloud metadata endpoints unless strictly required. If metadata is needed, restrict it (e.g. IMDSv2 with hop limit) and never expose returned credentials.
  • high Server-Side Request Forgery · line 119
    Code accesses a cloud instance metadata endpoint (e.g. 169.254.169.254). A single request can return temporary IAM credentials, making this a high-value SSRF target for credential theft.
    Fix: Remove access to cloud metadata endpoints unless strictly required. If metadata is needed, restrict it (e.g. IMDSv2 with hop limit) and never expose returned credentials.
  • high Server-Side Request Forgery · line 135
    Code accesses a cloud instance metadata endpoint (e.g. 169.254.169.254). A single request can return temporary IAM credentials, making this a high-value SSRF target for credential theft.
    Fix: Remove access to cloud metadata endpoints unless strictly required. If metadata is needed, restrict it (e.g. IMDSv2 with hop limit) and never expose returned credentials.
  • high Server-Side Request Forgery · line 139
    Code accesses a cloud instance metadata endpoint (e.g. 169.254.169.254). A single request can return temporary IAM credentials, making this a high-value SSRF target for credential theft.
    Fix: Remove access to cloud metadata endpoints unless strictly required. If metadata is needed, restrict it (e.g. IMDSv2 with hop limit) and never expose returned credentials.
  • high Server-Side Request Forgery · line 362
    Code accesses a cloud instance metadata endpoint (e.g. 169.254.169.254). A single request can return temporary IAM credentials, making this a high-value SSRF target for credential theft.
    Fix: Remove access to cloud metadata endpoints unless strictly required. If metadata is needed, restrict it (e.g. IMDSv2 with hop limit) and never expose returned credentials.
  • high Server-Side Request Forgery · line 391
    Code accesses a cloud instance metadata endpoint (e.g. 169.254.169.254). A single request can return temporary IAM credentials, making this a high-value SSRF target for credential theft.
    Fix: Remove access to cloud metadata endpoints unless strictly required. If metadata is needed, restrict it (e.g. IMDSv2 with hop limit) and never expose returned credentials.
  • high Server-Side Request Forgery · line 395
    Code accesses a cloud instance metadata endpoint (e.g. 169.254.169.254). A single request can return temporary IAM credentials, making this a high-value SSRF target for credential theft.
    Fix: Remove access to cloud metadata endpoints unless strictly required. If metadata is needed, restrict it (e.g. IMDSv2 with hop limit) and never expose returned credentials.
  • high Privilege Escalation · line 149
    Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.
    Fix: Remove references to credential paths. Use environment variables or secrets managers. For docs, use placeholder paths (e.g., /path/to/config). Never load .env or token files in production code paths.
  • high Privilege Escalation · line 298
    Potential security issue detected. Manual review is recommended.
    Fix: Review the flagged content for security risks. Ensure no credentials, secrets, or sensitive data are exposed.
  • high YARA Match · line 312
    YARA rule matched a known malware signature (reverse shell, backdoor, ransomware, C2 framework, or info stealer).
    Fix: Remove the malware payload or compromised file entirely. Investigate how it entered the skill and audit all other artifacts for additional indicators of compromise.
  • medium Data Exfiltration · line 239
    Data is uploaded to cloud storage (S3 / GCS / Azure Blob). This may be a legitimate backup or exfiltration to an external bucket. Manual review is recommended.
    Fix: Verify the destination bucket is trusted and owned by you. Never upload credentials, secrets, or workspace contents to external or unverified cloud storage.
  • medium Privilege Escalation · line 301
    Commands invoke sudo or root privileges. Verify this elevated access is necessary and justified.
    Fix: Avoid sudo/root unless strictly required. Prefer least-privilege patterns. If elevation is needed, document the justification and scope.
  • medium Privilege Escalation · line 302
    Commands invoke sudo or root privileges. Verify this elevated access is necessary and justified.
    Fix: Avoid sudo/root unless strictly required. Prefer least-privilege patterns. If elevation is needed, document the justification and scope.
  • medium Excessive Agency · line 374
    Skill enables autonomous high-impact decisions without human-in-the-loop verification. Critical operations (destructive commands, financial transactions, data deletion) should require explicit user confirmation.
    Fix: Add human-in-the-loop confirmation for destructive, irreversible, or high-impact operations. Never auto-execute commands that modify files, send data, or alter system state.
How audits are shown
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00046 $0.02687
Opus 5 $0.00023 $0.01344
Sonnet 5 $0.00009 $0.00537
Haiku 4.5 $0.00005 $0.00269

Measured 6d ago against content hash 739ae2239913, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-10, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade C, and why

aws-penetration-testing scanned grade C with 4 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 6d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Harvests environment variablesmediumData exfiltration

Enumerating or grepping the environment for keys collects credentials unrelated to what the mod says it does.

# 3. Extract credentials

Downgraded: this mod is about security review, or the phrase is quoted, so it is likely naming the pattern rather than instructing it.

Asks for rootlowPrivilege escalation

A mod that escalates privileges can change anything on the machine, not only the project.

sudo mkdir /mnt/stolen

Downgraded: this mod is about security review, or the phrase is quoted, so it is likely naming the pattern rather than instructing it.

Cloud metadata endpointmediumServer-side request forgery

One request to 169.254.169.254 can return temporary IAM credentials.

http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/

Downgraded: this mod is about security review, or the phrase is quoted, so it is likely naming the pattern rather than instructing it.

Makes network callslowCapability

Not a fault in itself. Listed so you know the mod talks to something, and to what.

TOKEN=$(curl -X PUT -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token-ttl-seconds: 21600" \
Origin

Copies of this mod

8 near-identical copies found in the catalogue:

plugins/agentic-awesome-skills-claude/skills/aws-penetration-testing/SKILL.md · 426 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 426 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

⚠️ AUTHORIZED USE ONLY This skill is for educational purposes or authorized security assessments only. You must have explicit, written permission from the system owner before using this tool. Misuse of this tool is illegal and strictly prohibited.

Mandatory confirmation gate Before running any command that probes, exploits, changes, persists on, extracts data from, or attempts credential access against a target:

  1. Ask the user to state the exact target URL, IP, account, or resource.
  2. Ask the user to confirm written authorization and the permitted scope.
  3. Show the exact command(s) and explain their expected effect.
  4. Wait for explicit confirmation in the current conversation.

Without that confirmation, remain read-only and provide defensive guidance only. Prefer a sandbox, disposable VM, or controlled lab.

AUTHORIZED USE ONLY: Use this skill only for authorized security assessments, defensive validation, or controlled educational environments.

AWS Penetration Testing

Purpose

Provide comprehensive techniques for penetration testing AWS cloud environments. Covers IAM enumeration, privilege escalation, SSRF to metadata endpoint, S3 bucket exploitation, Lambda code extraction, and persistence techniques for red team operations.

Inputs/Prerequisites

  • AWS CLI configured with credentials
  • Valid AWS credentials (even low-privilege)
  • Understanding of AWS IAM model
  • Python 3, boto3 library
  • Tools: Pacu, Prowler, ScoutSuite, SkyArk

Outputs/Deliverables

  • IAM privilege escalation paths
  • Extracted credentials and secrets
  • Compromised EC2/Lambda/S3 resources
  • Persistence mechanisms
  • Security audit findings

Essential Tools

Tool Purpose Installation
Pacu AWS exploitation framework git clone https://github.com/RhinoSecurityLabs/pacu
SkyArk Shadow Admin discovery Import-Module .\SkyArk.ps1
Prowler Security auditing pip install prowler
ScoutSuite Multi-cloud auditing pip install scoutsuite
enumerate-iam Permission enumeration git clone https://github.com/andresriancho/enumerate-iam
Principal Mapper IAM analysis pip install principalmapper

Read the full file on GitHub · 426 lines

Files

What ships with it

1 file beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 6d ago First seen · 426 lines · 46 tokens per session scan C 739ae2239913

Subscribe to this mod's changes

aws-penetration-testing is a skill published in the GitHub repository sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills (46,230 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It adds 46 tokens to every session and 2,687 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it C with 4 findings (harvests environment variables, asks for root, cloud metadata endpoint). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-05.