---
title: Security group rule without description
description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring.
breadcrumbs: >-
  Docs > Datadog Security > Code Security > Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
  Security > IaC Security Rules > Security group rule without description
---

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.datadoghq.com/llms.txt).

# Security group rule without description

{% callout %}
# Important note for users on the following Datadog sites: app.ddog-gov.com, us2.ddog-gov.com

{% alert level="danger" %}
This product is not supported for your selected [Datadog site](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/site.md). ({% placeholder "user-datadog-site-name" /%}).
{% /alert %}

{% /callout %}

## Metadata{% #metadata %}

**Id:** `terraform-aws-security-group-without-description` 

**Provider:** AWS

**Platform:** Terraform

**Severity:** Low

**Category:** Best Practices

#### Learn More{% #learn-more %}

- [Provider Reference](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/aws/latest/docs/resources/security_group#description)

### Description{% #description %}

It is a best practice for AWS security groups to include a meaningful `description` attribute in their Terraform configuration, such as in the following example:

```
description = "Allow TLS inbound traffic"
```

Omitting the description field, as shown below, can lead to confusion and hinder effective management or auditing of security groups, especially in environments with many resources:

```
resource "aws_security_group" "allow_tls" {
  name   = "allow_tls"
  vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id
  // missing description
  ...
}
```

Without clear descriptions, security teams may struggle to quickly identify the purpose of a group, increasing the risk of misconfigurations and delayed incident response.

## Compliant Code Examples{% #compliant-code-examples %}

```terraform
resource "aws_security_group" "allow_tls" {
  name        = "allow_tls"
  description = "Allow TLS inbound traffic"
  vpc_id      = aws_vpc.main.id

  ingress {
    description      = "TLS from VPC"
    from_port        = 443
    to_port          = 443
    protocol         = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks      = [aws_vpc.main.cidr_block]
    ipv6_cidr_blocks = [aws_vpc.main.ipv6_cidr_block]
  }

  tags = {
    Name = "allow_tls"
  }
}
```

```terraform
resource "aws_security_group" "allow_tls" {
  name        = "allow_tls"
  description = "Managed by Terraform"
  vpc_id      = aws_vpc.main.id

  ingress {
    description      = "TLS from VPC"
    from_port        = 443
    to_port          = 443
    protocol         = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks      = [aws_vpc.main.cidr_block]
    ipv6_cidr_blocks = [aws_vpc.main.ipv6_cidr_block]
  }

  tags = {
    Name = "allow_tls"
  }
}
```

## Non-Compliant Code Examples{% #non-compliant-code-examples %}

```terraform
# Note for positive2.json, the plan-JSON sibling exercising this same
# omitted-description scenario: see the plan-JSON variant DatadogPolicy
# body in query.rego for how it's resolved via
# configuration.root_module.resources[].expressions.
resource "aws_security_group" "allow_tls" {
  name        = "allow_tls"
  vpc_id      = aws_vpc.main.id

  ingress {
    description      = "TLS from VPC"
    from_port        = 443
    to_port          = 443
    protocol         = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks      = [aws_vpc.main.cidr_block]
    ipv6_cidr_blocks = [aws_vpc.main.ipv6_cidr_block]
  }

  tags = {
    Name = "allow_tls"
  }
}
```

```terraform
# A count-indexed security group with no description declared. See
# test/positive3.json for the plan-JSON equivalent: doc.resource.aws_security_group's
# flattened key is "allow_tls[0]" (index included), not the bare
# "allow_tls" that configuration.root_module.resources[].name would give -
# the plan-JSON DatadogPolicy body in query.rego resolves this by
# reading _dd_tfplan_meta.aws_security_group[name] instead, which is
# keyed identically to doc.resource.
resource "aws_vpc" "main" {
  cidr_block = "10.0.0.0/16"
}

resource "aws_security_group" "allow_tls" {
  count  = 1
  name   = "allow-tls-${count.index}"
  vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id
}
```

```terraform
# given:
#  - a security group with description explicitly set to null
# when:
#  - the AWS provider fills in its own schema default ("Managed by
#    Terraform") since no real description was ever configured
# then:
#  - still flag it, the same as if description had been omitted entirely
#
# description = null keeps a real entry under configuration_expressions
# (constant_value: null), not an absent key - a bare presence check alone
# would treat this as "a description was configured" and wrongly stay
# silent. See test/negative2.tf for the case that must correctly stay
# silent (description explicitly set to the non-null default string).
resource "aws_security_group" "allow_tls" {
  name        = "allow_tls"
  description = null
  vpc_id      = aws_vpc.main.id

  ingress {
    description      = "TLS from VPC"
    from_port        = 443
    to_port          = 443
    protocol         = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks      = [aws_vpc.main.cidr_block]
    ipv6_cidr_blocks = [aws_vpc.main.ipv6_cidr_block]
  }

  tags = {
    Name = "allow_tls"
  }
}
```