For AI agents: A markdown version of this page is available at https://docs.datadoghq.com/security/code_security/iac_security/iac_rules/terraform/aws/cloudwatch_management_console_auth_failed_alarm_missing.md. A documentation index is available at /llms.txt.

CloudWatch management console auth failed alarm missing

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Metadata

Id: terraform-aws-cloudwatch-management-console-auth-failed-alarm-missing

Cloud Provider: AWS

Platform: Terraform

Severity: Medium

Category: Observability

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Description

This check ensures that a CloudWatch log metric filter and corresponding alarm are properly configured to monitor AWS Management Console authentication failures. Without a correct association between the metric alarm (aws_cloudwatch_metric_alarm.metric_name) and the log metric filter (for example, aws_cloudwatch_metric_filter.cis_console_authn_failure_metric_filter.id), failed login events may go undetected, leaving the environment vulnerable to brute-force attacks or unauthorized access attempts. A secure Terraform configuration links the alarm to the appropriate metric filter, as shown below:

metric_name = aws_cloudwatch_log_metric_filter.cis_console_authn_failure_metric_filter.id

This enables timely alerting on suspicious authentication failures, reducing the risk of compromised credentials going unnoticed.

Compliant Code Examples

resource "aws_cloudwatch_log_metric_filter" "cis_console_authn_failure_metric_filter" {
  name           = "CIS-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
  pattern        = "{ (($.eventName = ConsoleLogin) && ($.errorMessage = \"Failed authentication\")) }"
  log_group_name = aws_cloudwatch_log_group.CIS_CloudWatch_LogsGroup.name

  metric_transformation {
    name      = "CIS-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
    namespace = "CIS_Metric_Alarm_Namespace"
    value     = "1"
  }
}
resource "aws_cloudwatch_metric_alarm" "cis_console_authn_failure_cw_alarm" {
  alarm_name                = "CIS-3.6-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
  comparison_operator       = "GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold"
  evaluation_periods        = "1"
  metric_name               = aws_cloudwatch_log_metric_filter.cis_console_authn_failure_metric_filter.id
  namespace                 = "CIS_Metric_Alarm_Namespace"
  period                    = "300"
  statistic                 = "Sum"
  threshold                 = "1"
  alarm_description         = "Monitoring failed console logins may decrease lead time to detect an attempt to brute force a credential, which may provide an indicator, such as source IP, that can be used in other event correlation."
  alarm_actions             = [aws_sns_topic.CIS_Alerts_SNS_Topic.arn]
  insufficient_data_actions = []
}

Non-Compliant Code Examples

resource "aws_cloudwatch_log_metric_filter" "cis_console_authn_failure_metric_filter" {
  name           = "CIS-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
  pattern        = "{ (($.eventName = ConsoleLogin)) && ($.errorMessage != \"Failed authentication\") }"
  log_group_name = aws_cloudwatch_log_group.CIS_CloudWatch_LogsGroup.name

  metric_transformation {
    name      = "CIS-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
    namespace = "CIS_Metric_Alarm_Namespace"
    value     = "1"
  }
}
resource "aws_cloudwatch_metric_alarm" "cis_console_authn_failure_cw_alarm" {
  alarm_name                = "CIS-3.6-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
  comparison_operator       = "GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold"
  evaluation_periods        = "1"
  metric_name               = aws_cloudwatch_log_metric_filter.cis_console_authn_failure_metric_filter.id
  namespace                 = "CIS_Metric_Alarm_Namespace"
  period                    = "300"
  statistic                 = "Sum"
  threshold                 = "1"
  alarm_description         = "Monitoring failed console logins may decrease lead time to detect an attempt to brute force a credential, which may provide an indicator, such as source IP, that can be used in other event correlation."
  alarm_actions             = [aws_sns_topic.CIS_Alerts_SNS_Topic.arn]
  insufficient_data_actions = []
}

resource "aws_cloudwatch_log_metric_filter" "cis_console_authn_failure_metric_filter" {
  name           = "CIS-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
  pattern        = "{ $.eventName != ConsoleLogin && $.errorMessage = \"Failed authentication\" }"
  log_group_name = aws_cloudwatch_log_group.CIS_CloudWatch_LogsGroup.name

  metric_transformation {
    name      = "CIS-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
    namespace = "CIS_Metric_Alarm_Namespace"
    value     = "1"
  }
}

resource "aws_cloudwatch_metric_alarm" "cis_console_authn_failure_cw_alarm" {
  alarm_name                = "CIS-3.6-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
  comparison_operator       = "GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold"
  evaluation_periods        = "1"
  metric_name               = aws_cloudwatch_log_metric_filter.cis_console_authn_failure_metric_filter.id
  namespace                 = "CIS_Metric_Alarm_Namespace"
  period                    = "300"
  statistic                 = "Sum"
  threshold                 = "1"
  alarm_description         = "Monitoring failed console logins may decrease lead time to detect an attempt to brute force a credential, which may provide an indicator, such as source IP, that can be used in other event correlation."
  alarm_actions             = [aws_sns_topic.CIS_Alerts_SNS_Topic.arn]
  insufficient_data_actions = []
}

resource "aws_cloudwatch_log_metric_filter" "cis_console_authn_failure_metric_filter" {
  name           = "CIS-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
  pattern        = "{ $.eventName = ConsoleLogin || $.errorMessage = \"Failed authentication\" }"
  log_group_name = aws_cloudwatch_log_group.CIS_CloudWatch_LogsGroup.name

  metric_transformation {
    name      = "CIS-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
    namespace = "CIS_Metric_Alarm_Namespace"
    value     = "1"
  }
}

resource "aws_cloudwatch_metric_alarm" "cis_console_authn_failure_cw_alarm" {
  alarm_name                = "CIS-3.6-ConsoleAuthenticationFailure"
  comparison_operator       = "GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold"
  evaluation_periods        = "1"
  metric_name               = aws_cloudwatch_log_metric_filter.cis_console_authn_failure_metric_filter.id
  namespace                 = "CIS_Metric_Alarm_Namespace"
  period                    = "300"
  statistic                 = "Sum"
  threshold                 = "1"
  alarm_description         = "Monitoring failed console logins may decrease lead time to detect an attempt to brute force a credential, which may provide an indicator, such as source IP, that can be used in other event correlation."
  alarm_actions             = [aws_sns_topic.CIS_Alerts_SNS_Topic.arn]
  insufficient_data_actions = []
}