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Lambda functions without X-Ray tracing

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Metadata

Id: terraform-aws-lambda-functions-without-x-ray-tracing

Provider: AWS

Platform: Terraform

Severity: Low

Category: Observability

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Description

AWS Lambda functions should have the TracingConfig property set with mode = "Active" to enable active tracing, which provides detailed request and performance monitoring through AWS X-Ray. When tracing_config is either omitted or configured as mode = "PassThrough", as shown below, tracing data isn’t automatically captured for Lambda invocations:

tracing_config {
  mode = "PassThrough"
}

Without active tracing, teams lose critical visibility into Lambda execution, making it harder to detect and troubleshoot performance issues or security incidents in serverless environments.

Compliant Code Examples

resource "aws_iam_role" "iam_for_lambda" {
  name = "iam_for_lambda"

  assume_role_policy = <<EOF
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
      "Principal": {
        "Service": "lambda.amazonaws.com"
      },
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Sid": ""
    }
  ]
}
EOF
}

resource "aws_lambda_function" "test_lambda" {
  filename      = "lambda_function_payload.zip"
  function_name = "lambda_function_name"
  role          = aws_iam_role.iam_for_lambda.arn
  handler       = "exports.test"

  tracing_config {
    mode = "Active"
  }

  # The filebase64sha256() function is available in Terraform 0.11.12 and later
  # For Terraform 0.11.11 and earlier, use the base64sha256() function and the file() function:
  # source_code_hash = "${base64sha256(file("lambda_function_payload.zip"))}"
  source_code_hash = filebase64sha256("lambda_function_payload.zip")

  runtime = "nodejs12.x"

  environment {
    variables = {
      foo = "bar"
    }
  }
}

Non-Compliant Code Examples

resource "aws_iam_role" "iam_for_lambda2" {
  name = "iam_for_lambda"

  assume_role_policy = <<EOF
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
      "Principal": {
        "Service": "lambda.amazonaws.com"
      },
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Sid": ""
    }
  ]
}
EOF
}

resource "aws_lambda_function" "test_lambda2" {
  filename      = "lambda_function_payload.zip"
  function_name = "lambda_function_name"
  role          = aws_iam_role.iam_for_lambda.arn
  handler       = "exports.test"

  tracing_config {
    mode = "PassThrough"
  }

  # The filebase64sha256() function is available in Terraform 0.11.12 and later
  # For Terraform 0.11.11 and earlier, use the base64sha256() function and the file() function:
  # source_code_hash = "${base64sha256(file("lambda_function_payload.zip"))}"
  source_code_hash = filebase64sha256("lambda_function_payload.zip")

  runtime = "nodejs12.x"

  environment {
    variables = {
      foo = "bar"
    }
  }
}

resource "aws_lambda_function" "test_lambda3" {
  filename      = "lambda_function_payload.zip"
  function_name = "lambda_function_name"
  role          = aws_iam_role.iam_for_lambda.arn
  handler       = "exports.test"

  # The filebase64sha256() function is available in Terraform 0.11.12 and later
  # For Terraform 0.11.11 and earlier, use the base64sha256() function and the file() function:
  # source_code_hash = "${base64sha256(file("lambda_function_payload.zip"))}"
  source_code_hash = filebase64sha256("lambda_function_payload.zip")

  runtime = "nodejs12.x"

  environment {
    variables = {
      foo = "bar"
    }
  }
}