MCP Exploitation AWS Cloud Credential Theft Kill Chain via Developer Workstation

Ibrahim Saud@tektrix

•updated Jun 30, 2026•0•0•3

Detects a multi-stage attack where an adversary reads local AWS credentials or configuration files (e.g., .aws/credentials, mcp.json) on a developer workstation and subsequently performs unauthorized AWS API calls from the same source IP. The rule correlates initial credential access on the endpoint with a sequence of AWS CloudTrail events starting with identity verification (GetCallerIdentity) followed by enumeration and potentially high-impact API calls (e.g., RunInstances, AssumeRole).