---
title: HPA targets invalid object
description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring.
breadcrumbs: >-
  Docs > Datadog Security > Code Security > Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
  Security > IaC Security Rules > HPA targets invalid object
---

# HPA targets invalid object

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

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

{% /callout %}

## Metadata{% #metadata %}

**Id:** `17e52ca3-ddd0-4610-9d56-ce107442e110`

**Cloud Provider:** Kubernetes

**Platform:** Terraform

**Severity:** Low

**Category:** Availability

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

- [Provider Reference](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/kubernetes/latest/docs/resources/horizontal_pod_autoscaler#metric)

### Description{% #description %}

The Horizontal Pod Autoscaler must target a valid object.

The `kubernetes_horizontal_pod_autoscaler` resource's `spec.metric` must be an object with `type` set to `Object` and an `object` field.

That `object` must include `metric`, `target`, and a `described_object` containing `name`, `api_version`, and `kind`.

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

```terraform
resource "kubernetes_horizontal_pod_autoscaler" "example5" {
  metadata {
    name = "test"
  }

  spec {
    min_replicas = 50
    max_replicas = 100

    scale_target_ref {
      kind = "Deployment"
      name = "MyApp"
    }

    metric {
      type = "Object"
      object {
        metric {
          name = "latency"
        }
        described_object {
          name = "main-route"
          api_version = "networking.k8s.io/v1beta1"
          kind = "Ingress"
        }
        target {
          type  = "Value"
          value = "100"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```

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

```terraform
resource "kubernetes_horizontal_pod_autoscaler" "example" {
  metadata {
    name = "test"
  }

  spec {
    min_replicas = 50
    max_replicas = 100

    scale_target_ref {
      kind = "Deployment"
      name = "MyApp"
    }

    metric {
      type = "External"
      external {
        metric {
          name = "latency"
          selector {
            match_labels = {
              lb_name = "test"
            }
          }
        }
        target {
          type  = "Value"
          value = "100"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

resource "kubernetes_horizontal_pod_autoscaler" "example2" {
  metadata {
    name = "test"
  }

  spec {
    min_replicas = 50
    max_replicas = 100

    scale_target_ref {
      kind = "Deployment"
      name = "MyApp"
    }

    metric {
      type = "Object"
      object {
        target {
          type  = "Value"
          value = "100"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```