For AI agents: A markdown version of this page is available at https://docs.datadoghq.com/security/code_security/iac_security/iac_rules/cloudformation-aws-directory-service-simple-ad-password-exposed.md. A documentation index is available at /llms.txt.

Directory service simple AD password exposed

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Metadata

Id: cloudformation-aws-directory-service-simple-ad-password-exposed

Provider: AWS

Platform: CloudFormation

Severity: High

Category: Secret Management

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Description

Storing AWS Directory Service Simple AD passwords in plaintext or as parameter Default values in CloudFormation exposes directory credentials to anyone who can read the template or parameter defaults. This can enable unauthorized access, lateral movement, and credential leakage via template repositories or build logs.

For AWS::DirectoryService::SimpleAD resources, Properties.Password must not be a hard-coded string or a reference to a parameter that defines a Default value. Instead, provide the secret via a secrets service or as a parameter with no Default so it is supplied at deployment time.

Resources will be flagged if Properties.Password is a literal password string, if it Refs a parameter whose Parameters.<name>.Default contains a password-like value, or if the value is not backed by an AWS Secrets Manager or secure parameter reference.

Secure examples include referencing an AWS Secrets Manager secret via a dynamic reference or using a parameter without a Default and supplying the password at deploy time.

Secure dynamic Secrets Manager example:

MyDirectory:
  Type: AWS::DirectoryService::SimpleAD
  Properties:
    Name: example.local
    Password: '{{resolve:secretsmanager:my-secret:SecretString:password}}'
    Size: Small
    VpcSettings:
      VpcId: vpc-123456
      SubnetIds:
        - subnet-123456

Secure parameter-based example (no Default):

Parameters:
  DirectoryPassword:
    Type: String
    NoEcho: true

Resources:
  MyDirectory:
    Type: AWS::DirectoryService::SimpleAD
    Properties:
      Name: example.local
      Password: !Ref DirectoryPassword
      Size: Small

Compliant Code Examples

Parameters:
  ParentMasterPassword:
    Description: 'Password'
    Type: String
    Default: ''
  ParentMasterUsername:
    Description: 'username'
    Type: String
    Default: 'username!'
Resources:
  NewAmpApp1:
    Type: AWS::DirectoryService::SimpleAD
    Properties:
        CreateAlias: true
        Description: String
        EnableSso: true
        Name: String
        Password: !Ref ParentMasterPassword
        ShortName: String
        Size: String

Parameters:
  ParentMasterPassword:
    Description: 'Password'
    Type: String
  ParentMasterUsername:
    Description: 'username'
    Type: String
    Default: 'username'
Resources:
  NewAmpApp2:
    Type: AWS::DirectoryService::SimpleAD
    Properties:
      CreateAlias: true
      Description: String
      EnableSso: true
      Name: String
      Password: !Ref ParentMasterPassword
      ShortName: String
      Size: String

Resources:
  NewAmpApp3:
    Type: AWS::DirectoryService::SimpleAD
    Properties:
        CreateAlias: true
        Description: String
        EnableSso: true
        Name: String
        Password:  !Sub '{{resolve:secretsmanager:${MyAmpAppSecretManagerRotater}::password}}'
        ShortName: String
        Size: String
  MyAmpAppSecretManagerRotater:
    Type: AWS::SecretsManager::Secret
    Properties:
      Description: 'This is my amp app instance secret'
      GenerateSecretString:
        SecretStringTemplate: '{"username": "admin"}'
        GenerateStringKey: 'password'
        PasswordLength: 16
        ExcludeCharacters: '"@/\'

Non-Compliant Code Examples

Parameters:
  ParentMasterPassword:
    Description: 'Password'
    Type: String
    Default: ''
  ParentMasterUsername:
    Description: 'username'
    Type: String
    Default: 'username!'
Resources:
  NewAmpApp4:
    Type: AWS::DirectoryService::SimpleAD
    Properties:
        CreateAlias: true
        Description: String
        EnableSso: true
        Name: String
        Password:  'asDjskjs73!!'
        ShortName: String
        Size: String

Resources:
  NewAmpApp5:
    Type: AWS::DirectoryService::SimpleAD
    Properties:
      CreateAlias: true
      Description: String
      EnableSso: true
      Name: String
      Password: 'asDjskjs73!!'
      ShortName: String
      Size: String

Parameters:
  ParentMasterPassword:
    Description: 'Password'
    Type: String
    Default: 'asDjskjs73!'
  ParentMasterUsername:
    Description: 'username'
    Type: String
    Default: 'username!'
Resources:
  NewAmpApp6:
    Type: AWS::DirectoryService::SimpleAD
    Properties:
      CreateAlias: true
      Description: String
      EnableSso: true
      Name: String
      Password: !Ref ParentMasterPassword
      ShortName: String
      Size: String