CD-SEC-02 - Account Impersonation
Apps run under shared or personal identities rather than dedicated, scoped identities.
Intent & Description
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🎯 Intent
Prevent applications from running under shared or personal identities that obscure accountability and enable privilege escalation.
📋 Context
Apps run under a shared or personal identity (the creator’s login, a shared service account) rather than a dedicated, scoped identity — so every action any user takes is attributed to one person, and privilege can be silently escalated to whoever built the app.
💡 Solution
Apply principle of least privilege on all data/service connections. Use OAuth with explicit user consent instead of embedded personal credentials. Create dedicated service accounts for shared apps with their own behavioral monitoring. Implement audit trails that can identify the actual actor, not just the connection owner.'
Real-world Use Case
Source
📌 TL;DR
Use dedicated service accounts. Apply least privilege, implement OAuth with consent, and ensure audit trails identify actual actors.
Advantages
- Enables proper attribution
- Prevents privilege escalation
- Supports compliance requirements
- Improves audit capabilities
Disadvantages
- Service account management overhead
- OAuth implementation complexity
- May require platform configuration changes