1. Introduction
This notice reports detection of Amazon Web Services cloud service usage. This indicates your application is hosted on AWS infrastructure, which is common for many businesses but requires specific security considerations. A successful compromise of AWS credentials could lead to data breaches, service disruption, and financial loss.
2. Technical Explanation
The scanner detected the presence of Amazon Web Services cloud services in use by your application. This is not a vulnerability in itself but highlights a dependency on an external provider. There is no specific exploit mechanism as this is purely a detection event. The scope includes any application using AWS services, such as EC2, S3, or Lambda.
- Root cause: Application uses Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure.
- Exploit mechanism: Not applicable – this is a detection notice only.
- Scope: Any application utilising AWS services.
3. Detection and Assessment
Confirming the use of AWS involves checking your application’s configuration or network traffic. A quick check can be done by reviewing application documentation. A thorough method is to analyse network connections from your servers.
- Quick checks: Review application architecture diagrams, deployment scripts and configurations for references to AWS services.
- Scanning: Not applicable – this is a detection notice only.
- Logs and evidence: Examine application logs for API calls to AWS endpoints or SDK usage.
4. Solution / Remediation Steps
The following steps outline how to secure your AWS environment, not remove its use. This is an informational notice and does not require a direct fix but prompts security review of the AWS configuration.
4.1 Preparation
- Dependencies: Access to your AWS account is required. Rollback involves reverting any configuration changes made.
- Change window needs and approvals depend on your organisation’s policies.
4.2 Implementation
- Step 1: Review IAM roles and permissions for least privilege access. Ensure only necessary AWS services are enabled.
- Step 2: Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all AWS accounts, especially root accounts.
- Step 3: Implement logging and monitoring of AWS API calls using CloudTrail and CloudWatch.
4.3 Config or Code Example
Before
{IAM role with overly permissive access}After
{IAM role with least privilege access, limited only to required AWS services}4.4 Security Practices Relevant to This Vulnerability
Several security practices are relevant when using cloud services like AWS. Least privilege is crucial for limiting the impact of compromised credentials. Input validation helps prevent attacks targeting cloud APIs. Secure defaults ensure a strong initial configuration.
- Practice 1: Least privilege – limit IAM role permissions to only what’s needed.
- Practice 2: Multi-factor authentication – enforce MFA on all AWS accounts.
4.5 Automation (Optional)
Automation can help manage AWS security configurations at scale using tools like Terraform or CloudFormation. Add comments explaining any risky commands.
5. Verification / Validation
- Post-fix check: Verify IAM policies are restricted to only necessary AWS services.
- Re-test: Re-run the initial detection scan to ensure no overly permissive configurations remain.
- Monitoring: Monitor CloudTrail logs for any unexpected API calls or access attempts.
6. Preventive Measures and Monitoring
Preventive measures include updating security baselines to reflect AWS best practices and incorporating checks in CI/CD pipelines. A regular patch review cycle ensures timely application of security updates.
- Baselines: Update your security baseline or policy to include CIS controls for AWS.
- Pipelines: Add static code analysis (SCA) to check for hardcoded credentials or insecure configurations in deployment scripts.
- Asset and patch process: Implement a regular review cycle for AWS IAM roles and policies.
7. Risks, Side Effects, and Roll Back
Risks include service disruption if IAM permissions are overly restricted. A roll back involves reverting any configuration changes made to the AWS environment.
- Risk or side effect 1: Service downtime if IAM roles lack necessary permissions. Mitigation: Test changes in a non-production environment first.
- Risk or side effect 2: Application errors due to incorrect configurations. Mitigation: Document all changes and have a clear roll back plan.
- Roll back: Revert any changes made to IAM policies, MFA settings, or CloudTrail configuration.
8. References and Resources
Links only to sources that match this exact vulnerability.
- Vendor advisory or bulletin: https://aws.amazon.com/security/
- NVD or CVE entry: Not applicable – this is a detection notice only.
- Product or platform documentation relevant to the fix: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/index.html