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Security groups with meta IP

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Metadata

Id: cloudformation-aws-security-groups-with-meta-ip

Provider: AWS

Platform: CloudFormation

Severity: High

Category: Networking and Firewall

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Description

Security groups must not allow ingress from 0.0.0.0/0 across all ports. An all-ports public rule exposes instances to the internet and enables indiscriminate port scanning and brute-force attacks.

In CloudFormation, check Resources.*.Properties.SecurityGroupIngress entries (and standalone AWS::EC2::SecurityGroupIngress resources) and ensure no rule has CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0 with FromPort: 0 and ToPort: 65535. Resources containing such an entry will be flagged.

To remediate, restrict CidrIp to trusted IP ranges, narrow the port range to only the required ports (for example, 80 and 443), or reference other security groups or load balancers to provide controlled access.

Secure configuration example (allow only specific ports):

MySecurityGroup:
  Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
  Properties:
    GroupDescription: Web server security group
    VpcId: !Ref MyVPC
    SecurityGroupIngress:
      - IpProtocol: tcp
        FromPort: 443
        ToPort: 443
        CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0

Compliant Code Examples

Resources:
  Ec2Instance:
    Type: 'AWS::EC2::Instance'
    Properties:
      SecurityGroups:
        - !Ref InstanceSecurityGroup
      KeyName: mykey
      ImageId: ''
  InstanceSecurityGroup:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
    Properties:
        GroupDescription: Allow http to client host
        VpcId:
          Ref: myVPC
        SecurityGroupIngress:
        - IpProtocol: tcp
          FromPort: 80
          ToPort: 80
          CidrIp: 127.0.0.1/32
        SecurityGroupEgress:
        - IpProtocol: tcp
          FromPort: 80
          ToPort: 80
          CidrIp: 127.0.0.1/33

{
  "Resources": {
    "Ec2Instance": {
      "Properties": {
        "SecurityGroups": [
          "InstanceSecurityGroup"
        ],
        "KeyName": "mykey",
        "ImageId": ""
      },
      "Type": "AWS::EC2::Instance"
    },
    "InstanceSecurityGroup": {
      "Type": "AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup",
      "Properties": {
        "GroupDescription": "Allow http to client host",
        "VpcId": {
          "Ref": "myVPC"
        },
        "SecurityGroupIngress": [
          {
            "ToPort": 80,
            "CidrIp": "127.0.0.1/32",
            "IpProtocol": "tcp",
            "FromPort": 80
          }
        ],
        "SecurityGroupEgress": [
          {
            "IpProtocol": "tcp",
            "FromPort": 80,
            "ToPort": 80,
            "CidrIp": "127.0.0.1/33"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Non-Compliant Code Examples

Resources:
  Ec2Instance:
    Type: 'AWS::EC2::Instance'
    Properties:
      SecurityGroups:
        - !Ref InstanceSecurityGroup
      KeyName: mykey
      ImageId: ''
  InstanceSecurityGroup:
    Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
    Properties:
        GroupDescription: Allow http to client host
        VpcId:
          Ref: myVPC
        SecurityGroupIngress:
        - IpProtocol: tcp
          FromPort: 0
          ToPort: 65535
          CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0
        SecurityGroupEgress:
        - IpProtocol: tcp
          FromPort: 80
          ToPort: 80
          CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0

{
  "Resources": {
    "Ec2Instance": {
      "Properties": {
        "SecurityGroups": [
          "InstanceSecurityGroup"
        ],
        "KeyName": "mykey",
        "ImageId": ""
      },
      "Type": "AWS::EC2::Instance"
    },
    "InstanceSecurityGroup": {
      "Type": "AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup",
      "Properties": {
        "GroupDescription": "Allow http to client host",
        "VpcId": {
          "Ref": "myVPC"
        },
        "SecurityGroupIngress": [
          {
            "FromPort": 0,
            "ToPort": 65535,
            "CidrIp": "0.0.0.0/0",
            "IpProtocol": "tcp"
          }
        ],
        "SecurityGroupEgress": [
          {
            "IpProtocol": "tcp",
            "FromPort": 80,
            "ToPort": 80,
            "CidrIp": "0.0.0.0/0"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}