EKS node group remote access

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Metadata

Id: cloudformation-aws-eks-node-group-remote-access

Provider: AWS

Platform: CloudFormation

Severity: Medium

Category: Networking and Firewall

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Provider Reference

Description

Amazon EKS node groups that configure an EC2 SSH key permit SSH access to worker nodes. If that access is not limited to specific security groups, it can be reachable from untrusted networks, enabling unauthorized access and lateral movement.

For AWS::EKS::Nodegroup resources, when Properties.RemoteAccess.Ec2SshKey is set, Properties.RemoteAccess.SourceSecurityGroups must be defined and not null to explicitly restrict SSH ingress to trusted security groups. Resources missing RemoteAccess.SourceSecurityGroups or with it set to null will be flagged.

Secure configuration example:

MyNodeGroup:
  Type: AWS::EKS::Nodegroup
  Properties:
    RemoteAccess:
      Ec2SshKey: my-key
      SourceSecurityGroups:
        - sg-0123456789abcdef0

Compliant Code Examples

Resources:
  SSHAccessToNodeSG:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
    Properties:
      VpcId: !Ref VpcId
      GroupName: !Sub "${Project}-${Environment}-${EKSClusterName}-ssh-access-to-workers-source-sg"
      GroupDescription: attach this sg to an instance to let it access via ssh to the eks node
      Tags:
      - Key: Environment
        Value: !Ref Environment
      - Key: Project
        Value: !Ref Project
  EKSNodegroup:
    Type: 'AWS::EKS::Nodegroup'
    Properties:
      ClusterName: prod
      NodeRole: 'arn:aws:iam::012345678910:role/eksInstanceRole'
      ScalingConfig:
        MinSize: 3
        DesiredSize: 5
        MaxSize: 7
      Labels:
        Key1: Value1
        Key2: Value2
      Subnets:
        - subnet-6782e71e
        - subnet-e7e761ac
      RemoteAccess:
        Ec2SshKey: ED25519
        SourceSecurityGroups: 
          - !Ref SSHAccessToNodeSG

{
  "Resources": {
    "SSHAccessToNodeSG": {
      "Type": "AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup",
      "Properties": {
        "VpcId": "VpcId",
        "GroupName": "${Project}-${Environment}-${EKSClusterName}-ssh-access-to-workers-source-sg",
        "GroupDescription": "attach this sg to an instance to let it access via ssh to the eks node",
        "Tags": [
          {
            "Key": "Environment",
            "Value": "Environment"
          },
          {
            "Key": "Project",
            "Value": "Project"
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "EKSNodegroup": {
      "Properties": {
        "RemoteAccess": {
          "Ec2SshKey": "ED25519",
          "SourceSecurityGroups": [
            "SSHAccessToNodeSG"
          ]
        },
        "ClusterName": "prod",
        "NodeRole": "arn:aws:iam::012345678910:role/eksInstanceRole",
        "ScalingConfig": {
          "MinSize": 3,
          "DesiredSize": 5,
          "MaxSize": 7
        },
        "Labels": {
          "Key1": "Value1",
          "Key2": "Value2"
        },
        "Subnets": [
          "subnet-6782e71e",
          "subnet-e7e761ac"
        ]
      },
      "Type": "AWS::EKS::Nodegroup"
    }
  }
}

Non-Compliant Code Examples

Resources:
  EKSNodegroup:
    Type: 'AWS::EKS::Nodegroup'
    Properties:
      ClusterName: prod
      NodeRole: 'arn:aws:iam::012345678910:role/eksInstanceRole'
      ScalingConfig:
        MinSize: 3
        DesiredSize: 5
        MaxSize: 7
      Labels:
        Key1: Value1
        Key2: Value2
      Subnets:
        - subnet-6782e71e
        - subnet-e7e761ac
      RemoteAccess:
        Ec2SshKey: ED25519

{
  "Resources": {
    "EKSNodegroup": {
      "Type": "AWS::EKS::Nodegroup",
      "Properties": {
        "ClusterName": "prod",
        "NodeRole": "arn:aws:iam::012345678910:role/eksInstanceRole",
        "ScalingConfig": {
          "MinSize": 3,
          "DesiredSize": 5,
          "MaxSize": 7
        },
        "Labels": {
          "Key1": "Value1",
          "Key2": "Value2"
        },
        "Subnets": [
          "subnet-6782e71e",
          "subnet-e7e761ac"
        ],
        "RemoteAccess": {
          "Ec2SshKey": "ED25519"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}