HACKING TERRAFORM STATE FOR PRIVILEGE ESCALATION

Summary from the TLDR InfoSec newsletter

This article discusses hacking Terraform state for privilege escalation by modifying the state file to control infrastructure changes without a "terraform apply." Attackers can manipulate the state file to delete resources or take over a deployment pipeline, which is why it is important to secure and lock the Terraform state to prevent unauthorized changes. The article highlights the need to use a read-only role for "terraform plan" executions to inspect changes without altering infrastructure until the deployment step.