Add Cloud Workstations Privilege Escalation & Container Breakout#498
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Frichetten merged 8 commits intoHacking-the-Cloud:mainfrom Feb 10, 2026
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Add a new exploitation writeup (content/gcp/exploitation/gcp-cloud-workstations-container-breakout.md) that documents a container-to-host breakout via a mounted Docker socket, steps to obtain VM service account tokens from the metadata service, persistence and network pivot techniques, and recommended countermeasures. Also adds macOS .DS_Store files (should be ignored or removed via .gitignore).
Added a note about the gcp-workstations-containerEscapeScript tool and included a screenshot.
Contributor
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Hey Ben, thank you for taking the time to submit content to Hacking the Cloud! I made a few formatting changes. Let me know if you're okay with the final copy and I'll merge it. |
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Yeah that looks great 🤝 |
Contributor
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Awesome, I'll get this merged. Thank you again! |
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This PR adds a new documentation page detailing privilege escalation techniques for Google Cloud Workstations. It focuses on the default "Docker-in-Docker" configuration, which exposes the Docker socket and allows for container breakout to the underlying Compute Engine VM.
Key Additions:
Attack Path: Documented the full kill chain: Container -> Host Root -> IMDS Identity Theft.
Persistence: Added a specific vector regarding the shared UID/Home Directory structure (/home/user) which allows attackers to maintain access across workstation rebuilds.
Network Pivoting: Detailed how the shared network namespace (--net=host) allows the workstation to be used as a bridge to scan the internal VPC.
Remediation: Added Terraform/Console mitigation steps (disabling privileged mode, removing socket mounts).
Why is this needed? Cloud Workstations are becoming a standard CDE (Cloud Development Environment). Default configurations often prioritize developer experience (socket access) over isolation, creating a high-severity risk that is currently under-documented in public cloud security wikis.
Related Tools
References a new PoC tool gcp-workstations-containerEscapeScript for automating this breakout.