Cloud Composer Vulnerability and Mitigation
The provided text discusses a critical vulnerability called “ConfusedComposer” found in Google Cloud Composer, a tool for orchestrating workflows in Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This security flaw allowed attackers with limited permissions to escalate their access due to how Composer interacted with Cloud Build, providing it with overly broad privileges during the installation of custom software packages. The article explains the technical details, the potential impact on GCP environments, and how Google implemented a fix by changing which service account was used for package installations. It also highlights lessons learned for cloud security professionals, emphasizing the importance of proper service account management, least privilege principles, and regular security audits to prevent similar exploits in the future.
