What is Attack Path Analysis? A 2026 Guide

Definition

Attack path analysis is a cloud security technique that represents your environment as a graph of resources, identities, and permissions — then calculates the paths an attacker could traverse to reach a sensitive asset. Instead of a flat list of 10,000 findings, it produces a prioritized list of attack chains.

A simple example of an attack path:

internet-facing ALB → EC2 with CVE-2024-XXXX → IAM role `app-prod` → read access to S3 `customer-pii`

Four findings on their own are low-to-medium severity. Together, they are a critical data-exfiltration path.

How Attack Path Analysis Works

Three steps:

1. Ingest. The platform calls read-only cloud APIs to inventory every resource, IAM policy, network rule, and workload. Agentless.
2. Build the graph. Nodes are resources and identities. Edges are permissions and network reachability. The result is a live security graph.
3. Traverse. Graph algorithms calculate paths from an "attacker-controlled" node (internet-facing resource, compromised identity) to a "crown-jewel" node (data store, secret, admin role).

What Makes a Path "Critical"

Not every path matters equally. The highest-risk paths usually share four traits:

• They start at an internet-reachable node.
• They include a privilege escalation step (role chaining, policy abuse).
• They have few hops — short paths require less attacker skill.
• They end at a high-value asset — customer data, production secrets, root account.

Attack Path Analysis vs Vulnerability Scanning vs ASM

ASM finds the front door. Vulnerability scanning counts the locks. Attack path analysis traces the hallways. All three matter — see attack surface management and vulnerability management.

Identity Attack Path Analysis

Most modern cloud breaches are identity-driven. Identity attack path analysis traces trust (IAM role assumption, OIDC federation) alongside permission relationships to show which identities can escalate privilege and reach crown-jewel resources. The output is specific policy statements, SCPs, or trust-boundary gaps you need to tighten. See CIEM / identity security.

Cloud Attack Path Analysis Across AWS, Azure, GCP

Cloud attack path analysis works across every major cloud with read-only credentials — no agents required. TigerGate's attack path analysis runs on AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle Cloud, and Kubernetes with a continuously-updated graph. Related: AWS CSPM, Azure CSPM, GCP CSPM.

Vendors That Offer Attack Path Analysis

• TigerGate — attack path analysis bundled with CSPM, CIEM, and runtime.
• Wiz — the vendor most associated with attack path marketing.
• Orca Security — side-scanning + graph analysis.
• Prisma Cloud — attack path within the broader CNAPP.
• Lacework — behavior-driven attack chain detection.

For comparisons, see Wiz alternatives and Orca comparison.

FAQ