Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessGain local account access to host
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ExploitRead PowerShell transcripts / log stores
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ExecutionRecover cleartext IAM console password
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ImpactAuthenticate to AWS Management Console as victim IAM user
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A09:2025 - Security Logging & Alerting Failures
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Log data sanitization
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires three conditions to coincide: (1) an operator must run an AWS Tools for PowerShell cmdlet (pre-5.0.306) that generates or returns an IAM user's cleartext Management Console password; (2) command output must be captured to a persistent artifact such as a PowerShell transcript (Start-Transcript), console history, or redirected log store; and (3) the attacker must already have local read access to those artifacts on the host. Limiting factors that reduce real-world risk: the attacker needs an existing local foothold (AV:L, PR:L), cannot trigger the disclosure themselves (UI:R - it depends on a legitimate operator's action), and only versions before 5.0.306 are affected. Environments where only the operator can read the logs, or where no console-password cmdlet is ever run, are not exposed. |
| Impact | This is a moderate-priority, defense-in-depth issue rather than an urgent threat. The vendor CVSS of 5.9 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N) reflects a locally-exploitable confidentiality-only flaw: an attacker needs local access (AV:L) and some existing low-privilege foothold (PR:L), and the sensitive data only lands in logs if a legitimate operator first runs a password-returning cmdlet (UI:R). The scope change (S:C) and C:H elevate the score because the leaked artifact is a cleartext IAM console password for a potentially different identity, enabling privilege escalation into the AWS Management Console. No EPSS score was provided in the input, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified. There is no CISA KEV listing and no POC indicator in the data, so this is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis.' The flaw was self-reported by the vendor (AMZN) with a patch already available, which is consistent with responsible disclosure rather than observed in-the-wild abuse. Net: real but contained risk - it matters most in multi-tenant or shared-host environments where local log artifacts are readable by users other than the operator who generated the credential. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An administrator runs an AWS Tools for PowerShell cmdlet that creates or returns an IAM user's console login password while PowerShell transcript logging or output capture is enabled. The cleartext password is written to a transcript file or log store, and a separate local user with read access to those artifacts later harvests it and signs into the AWS Management Console as that IAM user. No public exploit code is identified; exploitation requires only local file access to the logs. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 09, 2026
Cleartext IAM user Management Console passwords can be captured into PowerShell transcripts and other log artifacts by AWS Tools for PowerShell versions prior to 5.0.306, letting a local user who already has read access to those files recover live console credentials. Exploitation requires three conditions to coincide: an operator runs a pre-5.0.306 cmdlet that generates or returns an IAM user's cleartext console password, that command output is written to a persistent artifact such as a Start-Transcript file or redirected log store, and the attacker already holds a local foothold with read rights on the host - conditions that keep this at CVSS 5.9 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R) and make it a moderate-priority, defense-in-depth issue rather than an urgent threat. There is no public exploit identified at time of analysis; the vendor has released 5.0.306 and advises reviewing existing transcripts and rotating any IAM console passwords that may have been exposed.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: 5.0.306 (or later) of AWS Tools for PowerShell, available from the release tag https://github.com/aws/aws-tools-for-powershell/releases/tag/5.0.306 and documented in the advisory GHSA-q3x5-q6rm-c7p3 and the AWS security bulletin https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/2026-132-aws/. Because the disclosure is historical, upgrading alone does not undo prior exposure - after patching, search existing PowerShell transcripts (default transcription directories, centralized log stores, SIEM archives), redirected output files, and PSReadLine history (ConsoleHost_history.txt) for cleartext console passwords, then rotate every IAM user console password that appears, since any password in a log must be treated as compromised. Until upgrades are complete, apply compensating controls with their trade-offs in mind: avoid running the offending IAM cmdlets in sessions where transcription is enabled, or run credential-generating commands in a session started with -NoProfile and with $Transcript/Start-Transcript inactive, accepting the loss of audit coverage for those commands; tighten NTFS/ACL permissions on transcript and log directories so only the executing operator and privileged log collectors can read them, which limits but does not eliminate exposure during backup and log-shipping; delete or purge PSReadLine history and clear console buffers after such commands (Clear-History and removal of ConsoleHost_history.txt), though this is best-effort and does not cover already-shipped logs; and prefer issuing initial IAM console passwords through the AWS Management Console or a secrets manager with a forced password reset rather than through PowerShell output, understanding this adds an operational step and may not align with automated provisioning pipelines. Assume a local attacker with read access to any of these artifacts has already succeeded, and scope incident response to the IAM identities whose console passwords were generated on the affected host.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
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Technical ContextAI · show details
The root cause is CWE-532 (Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File), a logging/telemetry transparency failure class in which a credential-bearing value is passed into output streams that are persisted by default. AWS Tools for PowerShell is a cross-platform module set that wraps the AWS SDK for .NET; several IAM-related cmdlets generate or return a cleartext Management Console password for an IAM user, and before version 5.0.306 that value could flow through standard PowerShell output channels into artifacts such as Start-Transcript files, redirected/tee'd logs, and console host history (PSReadLine's ConsoleHost_history.txt). PowerShell's transcript mechanism is a legitimate auditing control, but it records formatted output verbatim, so any cmdlet that echoes a plaintext secret poisons the audit trail itself. The CVSS 3.1 vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N reflects a local attack (AV:L) with low complexity (AC:L) that a low-privileged local user (PR:L) can execute only if a legitimate operator first triggers the sensitive output (UI:R). The scope change (S:C) is appropriate because the vulnerable component (log/transcript artifact) is a different security authority than the credential store being protected, and confidentiality is rated High (C:H) because a captured password grants IAM console access, while integrity and availability are unaffected (I:N/A:N). The affected CPE cpe:2.3:a:aws:aws-tools-for-powershell:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* covers the module family; the practical version boundary is everything before 5.0.306.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:N/SA:N
Local log-artifact disclosure requiring a prior operator action (UI:R) and existing local access (AV:L, PR:L); leaked credential belongs to another identity (S:C), confidentiality-only (C:H, I/A:N).
Primary rating from Vendor (AMZN).
CVSS VectorVendor: AMZN
Lifecycle Timeline
1DescriptionCVE.org
Insertion of sensitive information into log file in AWS Tools for PowerShell before 5.0.306 might allow local users to recover an IAM user's cleartext AWS Management Console password from command output and log artifacts.
To remediate this issue, users should upgrade to version 5.0.306 or later. After upgrading, review PowerShell transcripts and log stores for previously disclosed passwords and rotate any affected IAM console passwords.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
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EUVD-2026-95896
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
GitHub
Exploit-DB