What are Cloud Security Vulnerabilities?
Cloud security vulnerabilities are oversights, misses, or gaps in your cloud infrastructure that attackers can hijack or exploit to gain unauthorized access into your organization’s assets.
The biggest cloud security vulnerabilities in 2025 are:
- Cloud security misconfigurations which are one of the leading causes of data breaches
- Shadow IT use by employees and security teams that can pose significant challenges and easily move data across private storage and SaaS apps
- Insecure APIs and interfaces that interconnect micro services. Lack of proper access controls and rate limits too.
- Zero day vulnerabilities that can occur across multiple layers of cloud apps, systems, and services.
- Lack of visibility and poor access management which can increase security risks everywhere
- Malicious insiders or insider threats who may deliberately leak or sell sensitive data to outsiders at some point.
82% of data breaches happen on cloud-stored data. 70% of companies host their workloads on the public cloud. Organizations need to implement checks to monitor risks and mitigate various cloud security vulnerabilities. In this guide, we’ll explore the different types of cloud security vulnerabilities out there in detail and what else they might face.
Risks Posed by Cloud Security Vulnerabilities
Cloud Security Vulnerabilities are no joke; they can wreak havoc for organizations. Think of them as an invitation to cybercriminals, a welcome mat leading straight into your cloud environment. Let’s take a peek at what might happen:
Data Breaches – Picture this: unauthorized access to your confidential information – customer data, proprietary knowledge. The fallout? Massive financial blows and a tarnished reputation.
Operational Disruption – Imagine your operations thrown into disarray. Take a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, for instance; it can render your cloud services useless, halt your operations, and burn a hole in your pocket.
Compliance Violations – Many sectors have stringent data protection rules. A vulnerability-induced data breach can cause you to violate these regulations, leaving you with heavy fines and legal headaches.
Loss of Trust – A cybersecurity hiccup can shatter trust. When your security stance is compromised, mending fences with customers and stakeholders is grueling.
Financial Loss – The financial fallout of a vulnerability exploit is colossal. It’s not just about immediate losses from halted operations or stolen data. You also have to reckon with the cost of fixing the issue, legal expenses, regulatory fines, and loss of business due to a blemished reputation.
Given the severe risks associated with cloud security vulnerabilities, organizations must prioritize cloud security and regularly assess their cloud environments for potential weaknesses. In the following sections, we will delve into the top 13 cloud security vulnerabilities organizations must know of.
Top 15 Cloud Security Vulnerabilities
Let’s look at some of the most common Cloud Security Vulnerabilities.
Here is a list of the top 15 common cloud security vulnerabilities out there:
1. Cloud Misconfigurations
Cloud security misconfigurations happen when the settings are just not right for your cloud resources and services. They may end up granting unauthorized access by accident, be tampered with, or misconfigured. A common cloud vulnerability in cyber security is overly permissive access controls. You may experience insecure storage buckets, weak or missing encryption, improperly configured firewalls, and missing or disabled cloud security logging and monitoring.
2. Insecure APIs
Insecure API on the cloud refers to application flaws or weaknesses. It can result from insecure coding practices, poor security configurations, or lack of proper API authentication protocols and mechanisms. Common types of API vulnerabilities on the cloud are – excessive data exposure, broken authentication, injection flaws, lack of rate limiting, and unsafe APIs that fail to properly validate inputs that come from external APIs or services.
3. IAM Issues
Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) issues can come from challenges in handling user access. You may struggle to maintain compliance across multiple cloud environments. Lack of consistent security policies, no centralized views, and a tough user lifecycle management experience are also common IAM issues. Then you have weak password security policies, challenges with integrating IAM with various cloud apps and services, IAM role sprawl, and cross-account access issues.
4. Shadow IT
Shadow IT refers to tools and processes used by employees that are not officially authorized for use by the organization. These workflows can bypass traditional security protocols, lead to compliance policy violations, and cause data breaches. Shadow IT is basically unapproved software and may include malware used by apps that can potentially lead to data losses or exfiltration.
5. Account Hijacking
Account hijacking is basically your cloud account getting hacked. It involves stolen credentials and disrupted services. A hacked account can be used to escalate privileges and gain access to other cloud resources and accounts. Account hijacking can happen via phishing, social engineering techniques, vishing, and other methods. There are no fixed routes.
6. Malicious Insiders
Malicious insiders are employees or authorized users who intentionally misuse their access to harm the organization. They can steal sensitive data, disrupt operations, or sell confidential information to competitors. These threats are particularly dangerous because insiders already have legitimate access and understand internal systems. Common warning signs include unusual data downloads, access to systems outside their role, and working odd hours. Organizations may face intellectual property theft, customer data breaches, and regulatory violations from insider attacks.
7. Data Loss
Data loss in cloud environments can happen through accidental deletion, system failures, or cyberattacks. Organizations may lose critical business information, customer records, and operational data permanently. Poor backup strategies, inadequate recovery plans, and lack of data versioning contribute to these incidents. Human error accounts for many data loss events, including misconfigured storage settings and improper file handling. Companies face business disruption, compliance penalties, and reputation damage when data cannot be recovered.
8. Vulnerable Dependencies
Vulnerable dependencies are third-party libraries, frameworks, and components with known security flaws. Cloud applications often rely on numerous external packages that may contain exploitable weaknesses. Attackers can target these vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access or execute malicious code. Organizations struggle with tracking dependency updates and managing security patches across complex cloud infrastructures. Outdated components create entry points for hackers and can lead to widespread system compromises.
9. Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)
Advanced Persistent Threats are sophisticated, long-term cyberattacks where hackers gain unauthorized access and remain undetected for extended periods. APT groups often target valuable data and intellectual property through patient reconnaissance and stealthy operations. These attacks involve multiple attack vectors, custom malware, and social engineering tactics. Cloud environments become attractive targets due to their centralized data storage and interconnected systems. APTs can cause massive data breaches, espionage, and financial losses over months or years.
10. Software Supply Chain risks
Software supply chain risks emerge when malicious code infiltrates trusted development tools, libraries, or deployment processes. Attackers target software vendors and distribution channels to reach multiple organizations simultaneously. Compromised updates, infected development environments, and tainted open-source packages create widespread security vulnerabilities. Cloud-native applications depend heavily on external components, making them susceptible to supply chain attacks. Organizations may unknowingly deploy compromised software that creates backdoors and security gaps.
11. Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks
Denial of Service attacks overwhelm cloud resources and services to make them unavailable to legitimate users. Attackers flood networks with traffic, consume computing resources, or exploit application vulnerabilities to cause system crashes. Cloud infrastructures face both traditional DDoS attacks and application-layer attacks that target specific services. These incidents result in service outages, lost revenue, and customer dissatisfaction. Organizations need robust monitoring, traffic filtering, and incident response plans to mitigate DoS attack impacts.
12. Zero Days
Zero-day vulnerabilities are previously unknown security flaws that have no available patches or fixes. Attackers can exploit these vulnerabilities before vendors become aware of them and develop security updates. Cloud platforms and applications remain exposed until patches are released and deployed. Zero-day exploits often command high prices on black markets and are used in targeted attacks against high-value organizations. The time between discovery and patch deployment creates critical security windows where systems remain vulnerable.
13. Unmanaged Portable Devices (BYOD)
Unmanaged portable devices refer to personal smartphones, tablets, and laptops that employees use to access cloud resources without proper security oversight. These BYOD devices can become entry points for attackers since they lack corporate security controls and monitoring. You may face data leaks when sensitive information gets stored on personal devices or transmitted through unsecured networks. Common risks include outdated operating systems, weak passwords, malicious apps, and lost or stolen devices that still have access to company data.
14. Insufficient Logging and Monitoring
Insufficient logging and monitoring means your cloud environment lacks proper tracking of user activities, system events, and security incidents. Without adequate logs, you cannot detect suspicious behavior or investigate security breaches when they occur. Poor monitoring leads to delayed incident response, unknown attack vectors, and compliance violations. You may miss critical alerts about unauthorized access attempts, data exfiltration, configuration changes, and system failures that could prevent major security incidents if caught early.
15. Lack of Visibility and Poor Cloud Adoption
Lack of visibility refers to limited understanding of your cloud infrastructure, applications, and data flows across multiple environments. Poor cloud adoption happens when organizations migrate to the cloud without proper planning, training, or governance frameworks. You may struggle with shadow cloud deployments, uncontrolled spending, and inconsistent security policies across different cloud platforms. These issues lead to compliance gaps, operational inefficiencies, and increased security risks from unknown or poorly managed cloud resources.
Examples of Real-World Exploits
Here are some examples of real-world exploits:
- The SolarWinds Supply Chain Attack in 2020 taught us how hackers can exploit software update mechanisms. They injected malicious code and distributed the software to thousands of customers, thus granting them access to their systems.
- In 2021, the Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack showed how hackers could exploit legacy VPN systems. They shut down the pipeline, caused fuel shortages, and eventually led to price hikes across the southeastern United States.
- The MOVEit Transfer Vulnerability took advantage of a zero-day vulnerability . It led to numerous data breaches across global organizations. The attack had targeted even the likes of the University of Rochester, British Airways, and BBC News.
- Poor API security is what caused the Opus Data Breach in 2022. Attackers gained access to an API vulnerability and exfiltrated personal information.
- The LastPass Security Incident in 2022 was another recent event. It showed what happens when you don’t pay attention to password security. The attack highlighted how password managers were also not immune to cyber attacks and that more stringent security measures were needed.
Why Are Cloud Environments Susceptible?
Cloud environments are susceptible to cloud security vulnerabilities because of a lack of visibility. Cloud service providers don’t factor security by design or default. Everyone shares and streams on the cloud these days. And when you work with multiple ecosystems, it can be difficult to keep track of information flows and disparate silos. Then we need different types of security controls for different cloud environments. It’s easy for misconfigurations to crop up in one vendor when compared to another. And when you deal with multiple vendors, things get hard to keep track of.
CSPs also provide numerous APIs to their customers which are easily usable. However, if they’re not set up properly, hackers can exploit them. Many users also use weak passwords and aren’t aware of the best cloud cyber hygiene practices. They can be gullible to phishing, spyware, and social engineering attacks. Compromised customer credentials end up giving access to their cloud accounts. Malicious data insiders are unpredictable threats. They just happen and you can’t prepare for them since they’re unexpected. Cyber criminals are also motivated to wreak havoc and operate in groups. They communicate over the cloud and can launch large-scale attacks. The cloud is also used to operate businesses and global organizations which naturally make them vulnerable targets.
Vulnerabilities by Cloud Type
Here are the different types of vulnerabilities you can face by cloud type:
Public Cloud Vulnerabilities
Public clouds exist in a shared environment; therefore, there are always more security concerns and vulnerabilities. You’re using the same physical servers, networks and storage as other organizations, always leaving an opportunity for data leakage. As such, many attacks are aimed at cloud misconfigurations because hackers can take advantage of shared settings that overshare a company’s data. With public clouds, much of infrastructure security is under the control of your provider, but application security operates in a shared environment and it remains your responsibility. Vulnerabilities include weaknesses in identity management, insecure APIs, and inadequate data encryption measures. There are also compliance management issues.
Private Cloud Vulnerabilities
Private environments mean dedicated infrastructure without the vulnerabilities of a shared solution. However, a dedicated solution means that if something goes wrong with the maintenance and security of all layers, it’s up to you to take care of it. Poor configurations can create major vulnerabilities for all aspects of a private cloud. Therefore, common vulnerabilities include mismanaged accounts, and unsecured development practices. For example, failure to deploy security patches can open vulnerabilities that go uncorrected for too long. Complacency regarding the absence of security audits can lead to inadequate monitoring. A lack of understanding about security options may result in an organization having no in-house trained experts. Since the cloud is private and managed by your internal staff, there is the internal risk of your employees having full administrative access.
Hybrid Cloud Vulnerabilities
Hybrid clouds create vulnerabilities by increasing the attack surface; a hybrid cloud has both private/public components and a connection between each layer. Unfortunately, visibility can become a problem. If users cannot see security incidents in a primarily private cloud, it can lead to data compromise. If the connection between clouds is through insecure APIs or unvalidated access paths, it can create latency where hackers exploit these activities before anyone realizes what’s happening. In addition, identity and access issues create vulnerabilities as you are dealing with so many entitlements, users, and identities across multiple cloud environments.
How to Detect Cloud Vulnerabilities
You can detect cloud vulnerabilities by first reviewing your cloud security policies. Assess your current infrastructure and look for gaps in it. Your policies can tell you a great deal about any gry areas or zones you may have missed. You can use cloud security traffic monitoring tools to detect anomalies in real-time.
Vulnerability detection will be a core component or building block of your cloud-native security strategy. There are many Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tools that you can use to detect cloud security vulnerabilities live. They help continuously monitor cloud infrastructures and implement the best practices for organizations.
To detect cloud security vulnerabilities, you should also use the latest detection techniques. Some of these are: Static and Dynamic Application Security Testing (SAST), Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Scanning, and container and image scanning. You should also consider the scale, size, and custom security requirements of your business when choosing the best cloud security solutions. Not all vulnerabilities are equal and each vulnerability poses a different degree of risk.
Best Practices to Mitigate Vulnerabilities
Here are some of the best cloud security practices you can do to mitigate vulnerabilities:
- Use identity and access management solutions to restrict unauthorized access to your cloud resources. Always encrypt data in-transit and at rest.
- Back up your data regularly and follow the principle of least privilege access. Build a zero trust cloud security architecture and harden your network security. Understand your compliance requirements, remediate policy violations, and address gaps in your existing policies.
- Keep up with patch management and update your software and firmware. You should also verify your cloud service provider’s security practices and ensure they meet industry benchmarks. Secure your containers and workloads, and use a continuous cloud threat monitoring solution. Patch regularly and do cloud security audits.
- Strengthen your data governance policies and consolidate your cloud security solutions to eliminate silos. You also want to make an incident response plan and conduct regular penetration testing.
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and ensure that rate limiting is applied to your APIs. Check API configurations and address any misconfigurations. Train your employees also on the latest cloud security practices so that they are never taken off guard by adversaries.
How SentinelOne Can Help Address Cloud Security Vulnerabilities?
SentinelOne offers various cloud security solutions that can be used to address cloud security vulnerabilities. Singularity™ Cloud Security from SentinelOne is the most comprehensive and integrated CNAPP solution available in the market. SentinelOne’s CNAPP can manage cloud entitlements. It can tighten permissions and prevent secrets leakage. You can detect up to 750+ different types of secrets. Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) provides full forensic telemetry. You also get incident response from experts and it comes with a pre-built and customizable detection library. You can ensure compliance across more than 30 frameworks like CIS, SOC 2, NIST, ISO27K, MITRE, and others. Its eBPF agent has no kernel dependencies and it helps you maintain speed and uptime. You can detect cryptominers, fileless attacks, and container drift using multiple, distinct AI-powered detection engines. SentinelOne can fight against various cloud security vulnerabilities like shadow IT, malware, phishing, ransomware, social engineering threats, and others.
SentinelOne’s agentless CNAPP includes various security features such as Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), External Attack and Surface Management (EASM), Secrets Scanning, IaC Scanning, SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR), AI Security Posture Management (AI-SPM), and more. SentinelOne’s Offensive Security Engine™ can uncover and remediate vulnerabilities before attackers strike. Its Verified Exploit Paths™ and advanced attack simulations help identify hidden risks across cloud environments. SentinelOne can also help you do both internal and external cloud security audits.
SentinelOne’s Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) supports agentless deployment in minutes. You can easily assess compliance and eliminate misconfigurations. If your goal is to build a zero trust security architecture and enforce the principle of least privilege access across all cloud accounts, then SentinelOne can help you do that. SentinelOne can implement the best DevSecOps practices for your organization and can enforce shift-left security testing. You can do agentless vulnerability scanning and use custom rules. SentinelOne also solves issues related to cloud repositories, container registries, images, and IaC templates.
Singularity™ Cloud Workload Security is the #1 ranked CWPP. It secures servers, cloud VMs, and containers across multi-cloud environments. You can root out threats, supercharge investigation, do threat hunting, and empower analysts with workload telemetry. You can run AI-assisted natural language queries on a unified data lake. SentinelOne CWPP supports containers, Kubernetes, virtual machines, physical servers, and serverless. It can secure public, private, hybrid, and on-prem environments.
Conclusion
Cloud security vulnerabilities are not predictable and organizations can be attacked by a wide range of vulnerabilities. We talked about different kinds in this post and also mentioned what you can do to stay protected.
Cloud security vulnerabilities will keep changing so it’s the organization’s duty to stay-up-to-date with evolving trends and adopt the best security solutions. You can take SentinelOne’s assistance to be ahead. Build a strong security foundation today so that you are protected against the threats of tomorrow. We can help you in your journey.
Cloud Security Vulnerabilities FAQs
What are Cloud Security Vulnerabilities?
Cloud security vulnerabilities are weaknesses in your cloud systems that attackers can exploit to gain unauthorized access. They include misconfigurations, insecure APIs, poor access controls, and unpatched software. These flaws exist because cloud environments are complex and constantly changing. Human error plays a big role – teams make configuration mistakes or forget to update security settings.
Unlike traditional vulnerabilities, cloud ones can affect multiple environments at once. You need to actively hunt for these weaknesses before attackers find them first.
What are the most Common Cloud Security Vulnerabilities?
The top vulnerabilities are misconfigurations, which cause 80% of security exposures. Next comes credential theft and exposed access keys. Insecure APIs are huge targets since they’re accessible via the internet. Shadow IT creates unknown security gaps when employees use unauthorized cloud services. Zero-day vulnerabilities in shared cloud software can impact multiple customers.
Account hijacking and insider threats round out the list. These vulnerabilities are so common because cloud environments are complex and teams often rush deployments without proper security checks.
Why do Cloud Environments Face Vulnerabilities?
Cloud environments face vulnerabilities because they’re dynamic and complex systems. You have hundreds of services managed by different teams, making mistakes inevitable. The shared responsibility model creates confusion about who secures what. Rapid development cycles mean security often gets overlooked in favor of speed.
Cloud services have many configuration options, and getting them wrong opens security holes. Multi-cloud setups add more complexity and potential failure points. The scalable nature of cloud means one misconfiguration can expose massive amounts of data across multiple regions.
How do I Assess Cloud Security Vulnerabilities Effectively?
Start by discovering all your cloud assets and services across every region. Use automated vulnerability scanners to identify known security issues. Perform regular penetration testing to find weaknesses before attackers do. Review all configurations against security best practices and compliance standards.
Check identity and access management settings for excessive permissions. Monitor network traffic for suspicious activities. Document everything and create a remediation plan. Don’t forget to retest after fixing issues to make sure they’re actually resolved.
How do I Prioritize Vulnerabilities in Cloud Security?
Prioritize based on severity scores like CVSS, but don’t stop there. Consider which assets are business-critical and exposed to the internet. Look at threat intelligence to see if vulnerabilities are being actively exploited. Factor in how easy the vulnerability is to fix and how much effort it requires. Prioritize issues in production environments over test systems.
Focus on vulnerabilities that could chain together to create bigger problems. Remember that a low-severity issue affecting critical infrastructure may need attention before a high-severity bug in a sandbox environment.
How to Fix Cloud Security Vulnerabilities?
Fix vulnerabilities by following a structured approach. Apply patches and updates immediately for critical issues. Reconfigure services to follow security best practices. Implement proper access controls and remove excessive permissions. Enable logging and monitoring to catch future issues. Use infrastructure-as-code to ensure consistent, secure deployments.
Train your team on cloud security practices to prevent human error. Set up automated scanning to catch new vulnerabilities quickly. Don’t forget to test your fixes and monitor for any new issues that might arise.
What causes most cloud security vulnerabilities?
Most cloud security vulnerabilities come from human mistakes and misconfigurations. About 30% of cloud security issues happen because people rush deployments without proper security checks. You’ll see this when teams leave storage buckets exposed, use default passwords, or give users too many permissions. Cloud environments are complex, so it’s easy to mess up settings if you don’t understand how they work. Other major causes include weak access management, disabled monitoring, and missing security patches. Organizations often fail to keep their systems updated, which creates openings for attackers to exploit.
How do attackers exploit cloud weaknesses?
Attackers start by scanning for exposed services and misconfigured resources like open S3 buckets and unsecured APIs. They use stolen credentials from phishing attacks to gain access – about 86% of cloud breaches involve stolen login details. Once they’re in, they escalate privileges through overprivileged accounts and move sideways through your cloud environment. They’ll also target third-party applications and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities. Modern attackers use the cloud’s own tools to speed up their attacks, making them harder to detect. Social engineering remains popular, with 57% of compromises involving phishing emails. They also inject malware and exploit insecure APIs.
Can CSPM fix all cloud security risks?
No, CSPM tools can’t fix all your cloud security problems. While they’re good at spotting misconfigurations and compliance issues, they have major blind spots. CSPM focuses on cloud infrastructure settings but doesn’t monitor what’s happening inside your workloads, so it won’t catch malware or leaked secrets. They also can’t detect if someone actually broke into your system. CSPM tools often create alert fatigue by flagging hundreds of issues without proper context. You’ll need additional tools like CWPP for workload protection and CIEM for identity management to get complete coverage.
What are the Security Vulnerabilities of AWS?
AWS vulnerabilities include misconfigured S3 buckets that expose sensitive data publicly. IAM policy issues create excessive permissions and credential exposure. Insecure API configurations allow unauthorized access. Unpatched EC2 instances become entry points for attackers. CloudTrail logging gaps hide malicious activities.
Lambda functions with legacy roles create privilege escalation risks. Security group misconfigurations open unnecessary network access. You can also find critical vulnerabilities in services like CloudFormation, Glue, and SageMaker that could lead to account takeovers.