Orca Identity Review

Orca Identity Review Skill

Answers the question: "Is this identity overprivileged, and what's the blast radius if it's compromised?"

Given an IAM role, user, or service account, analyzes effective permissions vs actual usage from CloudTrail, identifies overprivileged access, maps lateral movement potential, and generates a least-privilege recommendation.

Usage

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/orca-identity-review admin-role
/orca-identity-review arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/bastion-admin-role

Or natural language:

• "review the permissions on admin-role"
• "is terraform-deploy overprivileged?"
• "identity risk for orca-scanner-role"
• "what can this role access?"

Processing Logic

Step 1: Find the Identity

If multiple results, show list and ask user to pick.

Extract: ARN, identity type (Role/User/ServiceAccount), account, creation date, tags, attached policies.

Step 2: Gather Data (run ALL in parallel)

Query 1: Effective permissions

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get_aws_effective_permissions_policy_on_asset:
  asset_arn: "<identity ARN>"

Returns the current effective permissions AND a recommended least-privilege policy.

Query 2: Alerts on this identity

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get_asset_related_alerts_summary:
  asset_id: <UUID>

Query 3: Alert severity breakdown

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get_asset_alerts_count_grouped_by_risk_level:
  asset_id: <UUID>

Query 4: What this identity has DONE (CloudTrail)

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search_cdr_events:
  actors: ["<identity ARN>"]
  time_range: "last_30_days"
  limit: 100

Query 5: Action summary

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get_cdr_events_grouped_by_event_name:
  actors: ["<identity ARN>"]
  time_range: "last_30_days"

Query 6: Attack paths

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get_asset_related_attack_paths_summary:
  asset_id: <UUID>

Query 7: Linked entities

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get_linked_entities_mapping:
  asset_id: <UUID or asset_unique_id>

Query 8: Crown jewel status

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get_asset_crown_jewel_info:
  group_unique_id: <group_unique_id>

Step 3: Analyze Overprivilege

Compare effective permissions vs CDR actual usage:

Used permissions — actions seen in CloudTrail in last 30 days:

• Extract unique action names from CDR events
• These are CONFIRMED in-use permissions

Unused permissions — granted but never used:

• All effective permissions MINUS used permissions
• The larger this set, the more overprivileged

Dangerous permissions — high-risk regardless of usage:

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Permission Pattern               Risk
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
iam:*                            CRITICAL — full IAM control
sts:AssumeRole (broad)           HIGH — lateral movement
s3:* or s3:GetObject on *        HIGH — data exfiltration
ec2:RunInstances                 HIGH — resource hijacking
lambda:InvokeFunction            HIGH — code execution
kms:Decrypt on *                 HIGH — secret access
organizations:*                  CRITICAL — org-level control
iam:CreateUser                   HIGH — persistence
iam:AttachUserPolicy             HIGH — privilege escalation
iam:PassRole                     HIGH — privilege escalation

Overprivilege classification:

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IF dangerous_unused_permissions > 5 OR has_admin_star THEN
  "SEVERE" — identity has admin-level access it doesn't use
ELSE IF unused_permissions > 50% of total THEN
  "HIGH" — more than half of permissions are unused
ELSE IF unused_permissions > 20% of total THEN
  "MODERATE" — some excess permissions
ELSE
  "MINIMAL" — well-scoped identity

Step 4: Assess Lateral Movement

Analyze what this identity can REACH:

1. Role assumption — can it sts:AssumeRole? Which roles?

   • Check effective permissions for AssumeRole
   • Check CDR for actual AssumeRole events (what roles were assumed)
   • Cross-account assumptions = HIGH risk

2. Resource access — what services/resources can it touch?

   • Group effective permissions by AWS service
   • Flag services with data access (S3, RDS, DynamoDB, Secrets Manager)

3. Attack path analysis — is this identity in any kill chains?

   • From attack paths: role in the chain (entry point, pivot, escalation step)
   • How many attack paths go through this identity?

4. CDR patterns — what has it actually done?

   • Source IPs (internal, external, VPN, CI/CD)
   • User-agents (console, CLI, SDK, Terraform)
   • Time patterns (business hours, 24/7, irregular)

Step 5: Generate Recommendations

Build a specific least-privilege recommendation:

1. Permissions to REMOVE — unused AND not in the recommended policy
2. Permissions to KEEP — used in CloudTrail in last 30 days
3. Permissions to REVIEW — used but potentially overly broad (e.g., s3:* when only s3:GetObject is used)
4. Policy suggestion — the recommended policy from get_aws_effective_permissions_policy_on_asset

Proactive Remediation Behavior

CRITICAL: Never leave the user with just data. After EVERY output layer, suggest the next action and offer to generate remediation code.

After the dashboard and after every drill-down section:

1. Suggest what to do next — based on the overprivilege verdict, recommend a specific action
2. Offer remediation format selection — always ask: "I can generate the fix. What format do you prefer?"
3. Supported formats: Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible, CLI commands (aws/az/gcloud), step-by-step instructions, Pulumi, ARM/Bicep
4. Auto-suggest the most impactful fix — proactively say "The biggest risk reduction is removing X. Want me to generate the updated policy?"

When the user selects a format:

• Generate the least-privilege IAM policy or remediation code immediately
• Write it to a file: remediate-<identity-name>.<ext> (e.g., .tf, .yml, .sh)
• Include verification commands and rollback instructions
• Suggest the next fix after the first one is done

Format mapping:

Output Format

Layer 1: Dashboard

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═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
IDENTITY REVIEW — <identity name>
<identity type> | <account> | <ARN>
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

VERDICT: <OVERPRIVILEGED / RIGHT-SIZED / MINIMAL>

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  PERMISSIONS     <N> effective actions across <M> services      │
│  OVERPRIVILEGE   <SEVERE / HIGH / MODERATE / MINIMAL>           │
│  USED (30d)      <N> actions actually used                      │
│  UNUSED          <N> actions never used — removal candidates    │
│  DANGEROUS       <N> high-risk permissions                      │
│  BLAST RADIUS    <M> services, <P> resources reachable          │
│  LATERAL MOVE    <N> roles assumable, <M> accounts reachable    │
│  ATTACK PATHS    <N> kill chains through this identity          │
│  ALERTS          <N> open (<X> critical, <Y> high)              │
│  CDR ACTIVITY    <N> events in 30d, <M> unique actions          │
│  CROWN JEWEL     YES/NO (score: <N>)                            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

PERMISSION SUMMARY:
  Total:        <N> effective actions across <M> services
  Used (30d):   <N> actions — KEEP these
  Unused:       <N> actions — candidates for removal
  Dangerous:    <list of high-risk permissions>

TOP RISK:
  <1-2 sentence summary of the biggest risk with this identity>

RECOMMENDED ACTION:
  <Based on verdict — e.g., "Remove N unused dangerous permissions
  to reduce blast radius by X%. I can generate the updated policy.">

  What format? terraform | cloudformation | ansible | cli |
  instructions | pulumi | arm/bicep

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Or drill down: permissions | usage | lateral | attack paths |
alerts | activity | recommend | full
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Layer 2: Drill-Down Sections

"permissions" — Full Permission List

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───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
PERMISSIONS — <identity name>
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

BY SERVICE:
  <service> (<N> actions, <M> used):
    ✓ <used-action>           (last used: <date>)
    ✗ <unused-action>         REMOVE — never used in 30d
    ⚠ <dangerous-action>      REVIEW — high risk

  <service> (<N> actions, <M> used):
    ...

SUMMARY:
  Used:      <N> (keep)
  Unused:    <N> (remove)
  Dangerous: <N> (review urgently)

READY TO FIX:
  I can generate an updated policy removing all <N> unused
  permissions. Choose format: terraform | cloudformation |
  ansible | cli | instructions | pulumi | arm/bicep

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

"usage" — CDR Activity Details

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───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
USAGE — <identity name> (last 30 days)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

  Total events: <N> | Unique actions: <M>
  Source IPs: <list with classification>
  User-agents: <list with classification>

  TOP ACTIONS BY FREQUENCY:
    <action>  <count>  <service>  <pattern>
    ...

  TIME PATTERN:
    <business hours / 24x7 / irregular>
    Peak activity: <time range>

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

"lateral" — Lateral Movement Analysis

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───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
LATERAL MOVEMENT — <identity name>
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

  ROLE ASSUMPTIONS:
    Can assume: <N> roles (from permissions)
    Has assumed: <N> roles (from CDR)
    Cross-account: <N> accounts reachable

    <role ARN> — <last assumed date> — <account>
    ...

  SERVICE REACH:
    <N> AWS services accessible
    Data services: <S3, RDS, DynamoDB, SecretsManager, ...>

  ATTACK PATHS:
    <N> kill chains pass through this identity
    [1] <story> — role: <entry/pivot/target>
    ...

REDUCE LATERAL MOVEMENT:
  The fastest way to limit blast radius is to restrict
  AssumeRole permissions. Want me to generate the fix?
  Choose format: terraform | cloudformation | ansible | cli |
  instructions | pulumi | arm/bicep

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

"recommend" — Least-Privilege Policy

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───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
RECOMMENDATION — <identity name>
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

  PERMISSIONS TO REMOVE (<N>):
    <action> — unused, not in recommended policy
    ...

  PERMISSIONS TO KEEP (<N>):
    <action> — used <X> times in last 30 days
    ...

  PERMISSIONS TO SCOPE DOWN:
    <action> on * → scope to specific resources
    ...

  RECOMMENDED POLICY:
    (from get_aws_effective_permissions_policy_on_asset)
    <JSON policy or summary>

  ESTIMATED RISK REDUCTION:
    Current: <N> permissions → Recommended: <M> permissions
    Reduction: <X>% fewer permissions
    Dangerous removed: <N>

  SAFE DEPLOYMENT:
    [ ] Apply in audit mode first (CloudTrail monitoring)
    [ ] Test with specific workloads before enforcing
    [ ] Monitor for AccessDenied errors after applying
    [ ] Roll back if critical service fails

GENERATE THE FIX:
  I'll create the implementation code for you right now.
  Choose format: terraform | cloudformation | ansible | cli |
  instructions | pulumi | arm/bicep

  After applying, I'll help you verify and move to the next
  identity that needs attention.

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

"full" — Everything Expanded

Show all sections in order.

Edge Cases

Identity Not Found

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⚠️ No IAM identity found matching "<input>"

Try:
  • Use full ARN: arn:aws:iam::<account>:role/<name>
  • Check spelling
  • Specify type: "review IAM user admin" or "review role deploy-role"

Non-AWS Identity

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⚠️ Permission analysis is currently optimized for AWS IAM.

For GCP/Azure identities:
  • CDR activity analysis is available
  • Alert and attack path analysis is available
  • Effective permissions comparison is NOT available
    (get_aws_effective_permissions_policy_on_asset is AWS-only)

No CDR Events

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CDR: No CloudTrail events for this identity in 30 days.

This means either:
  • Identity is genuinely unused (consider deleting)
  • CloudTrail logging is not enabled for this account
  • CDR retention has expired

Service Role (not human)

Flag in the output:

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NOTE: This is a SERVICE ROLE (automation), not a human user.
  Assumed by: <what assumes it — EC2, Lambda, ECS, etc.>
  Review with service workload requirements in mind.

MCP Tools Used

Primary Tools

Parameter Notes

• get_aws_effective_permissions_policy_on_asset takes asset_arn as a string (NOT array)
• CDR actors must be an array: ["arn:aws:iam::123:role/name"]
• CDR time_range is an enum: "last_24_hours", "last_3_days", "last_7_days", "last_30_days"
• For get_asset_by_name, try model_type: "AwsIamRole" first, then "AwsIamUser" if no results

Implementation Notes

1. Parallelize all queries in Step 2 — the permission analysis and CDR queries are independent.
2. The key insight is comparing effective permissions (what the identity CAN do) vs CDR events (what it actually DID). The gap = overprivilege.
3. Dangerous permissions should be flagged regardless of usage — some permissions are high-risk even if actively used (e.g., iam:*).
4. Service roles vs human users behave differently — flag the identity type and adjust recommendations accordingly.
5. Cross-account AssumeRole is the highest lateral movement risk — always call it out.
6. Link to other skills — suggest /orca-asset-profile for full asset context, /orca-investigate for deep CDR analysis.