Identity misconfigurations represent the #1 root cause behind modern cloud security incidents. They surpass traditional threat vectors in both frequency and impact across enterprise environments.
150
Critical Misconfigurations
Cataloged across all identity domains
8
Category Pages
Organized vulnerability clusters
1
Threat Priority
Leading cause of cloud breaches
More Dangerous Than Traditional Threats
More Common Than Malware
Identity misconfigurations exist in nearly every cloud environment, often undiscovered for months or years. Unlike malware, these are configuration errors that persist undetected.
More Dangerous Than Endpoint Exploits
While endpoints can be isolated, identity misconfigurations grant attackers legitimate access across entire cloud estates. They bypass traditional security controls entirely.
More Pervasive Than Network Flaws
Network vulnerabilities affect specific segments. Identity weaknesses span authentication, authorization, federation, and governance—touching every security boundary simultaneously.
Identity Misconfiguration Coverage Domains
Cloud Platforms
AWS, Azure, GCP identity service misconfigurations including resource-based policies, cross-account trust issues, and cloud-native IAM weaknesses.
IAM & Governance
Role drift, policy inheritance failures, orphaned permissions, and governance framework gaps that create privilege accumulation over time.
Service account overreach, API key sprawl, certificate lifecycle failures, and automated identity management weaknesses across DevOps pipelines.
PIM/PAM Systems
Just-in-time access control gaps, privilege elevation loopholes, administrative identity failures, and temporary access policy misconfigurations.
CI/CD & DevOps
Pipeline identity overreach, secrets management failures, deployment credential exposure, and automation service principal drift across build environments.
Lifecycle management failures, provisioning delays, deprovisioning gaps, role assignment errors, and operational mistakes creating exploitable identity holes.
IMU Architecture: Category-Based Design
Streamlined Navigation Model
The Identity Misconfiguration Universe does not create individual pages per misconfiguration. Instead, it organizes vulnerabilities into 8 focused category pages, each summarizing critical MC-codes within that domain.
This architecture makes IMU the CWE of identity in a cloud-centric world—providing systematic categorization without overwhelming granularity.
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2
3
1
150 MC-Codes
2
8 Category Pages
3
1 Unified Framework
Strategic Value for Security Teams
1
Complete Risk Origin Mapping
Understand exactly where identity vulnerabilities emerge across your cloud environment, from authentication to authorization to federation trust.
2
Misconfiguration Cluster Visibility
Identify patterns of related weaknesses that often appear together, enabling more efficient remediation strategies and risk prioritization.
3
Breach Pattern Correlation
Direct mapping to Module 2 breach patterns shows how specific misconfigurations enable real-world attack scenarios and exploitation chains.
4
Attack Chain Integration
Links to Module 1 Identity Attack Chain demonstrate how misconfigurations fit within broader adversary tactics and progression sequences.
5
Governance Readiness
Structured framework supports compliance audits, risk assessments, and governance reviews with clear categorization and mapping to standards.
6
Failure Origin Clarity
Precisely identifies where identity security breaks down—in configuration, policy, process, or technology—enabling targeted improvement initiatives.
Cross-Module Integration Architecture
Every misconfiguration in IMU maintains bidirectional linkage to related framework components, creating a unified identity security knowledge graph.
Identity Attack Chain (IAC)
Shows how misconfigurations enable specific attack stages