For AI agents: A markdown version of this page is available at https://docs.datadoghq.com/security/code_security/iac_security/iac_rules/ansible/aws/lambda_permission_principal_is_wildcard.md. A documentation index is available at /llms.txt.

Lambda permission principal is wildcard

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Metadata

Id: ansible-aws-lambda-permission-principal-is-wildcard

Cloud Provider: AWS

Platform: Ansible

Severity: Medium

Category: Access Control

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Description

Lambda function permissions must not use wildcard principals (*). This effectively allows any AWS account or anonymous principal to invoke the function, increasing the risk of unauthorized invocations and data exposure.

In Ansible, check tasks using the amazon.aws.lambda_policy or lambda_policy modules and ensure the principal property does not contain * or other wildcard values. The principal must specify explicit principals such as an AWS account ARN, role ARN, or service principal (for example, arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/MyRole or events.amazonaws.com). Tasks where principal includes * are flagged.

Secure example using an explicit service principal:

- name: Allow EventBridge to invoke Lambda
  amazon.aws.lambda_policy:
    state: present
    function_name: my-function
    principal: events.amazonaws.com
    action: lambda:InvokeFunction
    source_arn: arn:aws:events:us-east-1:123456789012:rule/MyRule

Compliant Code Examples

- name: Lambda S3 event notification negative
  amazon.aws.lambda_policy:
    state: present
    function_name: functionName
    alias: Dev
    statement_id: lambda-s3-myBucket-create-data-log
    action: lambda:AddPermission
    principal: s3.amazonaws.com
    source_arn: arn:aws:s3:eu-central-1:123456789012:bucketName
    source_account: 123456789012

Non-Compliant Code Examples

- name: Lambda S3 event notification
  amazon.aws.lambda_policy:
    state: present
    function_name: functionName
    alias: Dev
    statement_id: lambda-s3-myBucket-create-data-log
    action: lambda:AddPermission
    principal: "*"
    source_arn: arn:aws:s3:eu-central-1:123456789012:bucketName
    source_account: 123456789012