AWS Config Construct Library
AWS CDK v1 has reached End-of-Support on 2023-06-01. This package is no longer being updated, and users should migrate to AWS CDK v2.
For more information on how to migrate, see the Migrating to AWS CDK v2 guide.
| Features | Stability |
|---|---|
| CFN Resources |  |
| Higher level constructs for Config Rules | |
| Higher level constructs for initial set-up (delivery channel & configuration recorder) |  |
CFN Resources: All classes with the
Cfnprefix in this module (CFN Resources) are always stable and safe to use.
Stable: Higher level constructs in this module that are marked stable will not undergo any breaking changes. They will strictly follow the Semantic Versioning model.
AWS Config provides a detailed view of the configuration of AWS resources in your AWS account. This includes how the resources are related to one another and how they were configured in the past so that you can see how the configurations and relationships change over time.
This module is part of the AWS Cloud Development Kit project.
Initial Setup
Before using the constructs provided in this module, you need to set up AWS Config in the region in which it will be used. This setup includes the one-time creation of the following resources per region:
ConfigurationRecorder: Configure which resources will be recorded for config changes.DeliveryChannel: Configure where to store the recorded data.
The following guides provide the steps for getting started with AWS Config:
Rules
AWS Config can evaluate the configuration settings of your AWS resources by creating AWS Config rules, which represent your ideal configuration settings.
See Evaluating Resources with AWS Config Rules to learn more about AWS Config rules.
AWS Managed Rules
AWS Config provides AWS managed rules, which are predefined, customizable rules that AWS Config uses to evaluate whether your AWS resources comply with common best practices.
For example, you could create a managed rule that checks whether active access keys are rotated within the number of days specified.
// https://docs.aws.amazon.com/config/latest/developerguide/access-keys-rotated.html
new config.ManagedRule(this, 'AccessKeysRotated', {
identifier: config.ManagedRuleIdentifiers.ACCESS_KEYS_ROTATED,
inputParameters: {
maxAccessKeyAge: 60, // default is 90 days
},
// default is 24 hours
maximumExecutionFrequency: config.MaximumExecutionFrequency.TWELVE_HOURS,
});
Identifiers for AWS managed rules are available through static constants in the ManagedRuleIdentifiers class.
You can find supported input parameters in the List of AWS Config Managed Rules.
The following higher level constructs for AWS managed rules are available.
Access Key rotation
Checks whether your active access keys are rotated within the number of days specified.
// compliant if access keys have been rotated within the last 90 days
new config.AccessKeysRotated(this, 'AccessKeyRotated');
CloudFormation Stack drift detection
Checks whether your CloudFormation stack's actual configuration differs, or has drifted, from it's expected configuration.
// compliant if stack's status is 'IN_SYNC'
// non-compliant if the stack's drift status is 'DRIFTED'
new config.CloudFormationStackDriftDetectionCheck(this, 'Drift', {
ownStackOnly: true, // checks only the stack containing the rule
});
CloudFormation Stack notifications
Checks whether your CloudFormation stacks are sending event notifications to a SNS topic.
// topics to which CloudFormation stacks may send event notifications
const topic1 = new sns.Topic(this, 'AllowedTopic1');
const topic2 = new sns.Topic(this, 'AllowedTopic2');
// non-compliant if CloudFormation stack does not send notifications to 'topic1' or 'topic2'
new config.CloudFormationStackNotificationCheck(this, 'NotificationCheck', {
topics: [topic1, topic2],
});
Custom rules
You can develop custom rules and add them to AWS Config. You associate each custom rule with an AWS Lambda function, which contains the logic that evaluates whether your AWS resources comply with the rule.
Triggers
AWS Lambda executes functions in response to events that are published by AWS Services. The function for a custom Config rule receives an event that is published by AWS Config, and is responsible for evaluating the compliance of the rule.
Evaluations can be triggered by configuration changes, periodically, or both.
To create a custom rule, define a CustomRule and specify the Lambda Function
to run and the trigger types.
declare const evalComplianceFn: lambda.Function;
new config.CustomRule(this, 'CustomRule', {
lambdaFunction: evalComplianceFn,
configurationChanges: true,
periodic: true,
// default is 24 hours
maximumExecutionFrequency: config.MaximumExecutionFrequency.SIX_HOURS,
});
When the trigger for a rule occurs, the Lambda function is invoked by publishing an event. See example events for AWS Config Rules
The AWS documentation has examples of Lambda functions for evaluations that are triggered by configuration changes and triggered periodically
Scope
By default rules are triggered by changes to all resources.
Use the RuleScope APIs (fromResource(), fromResources() or fromTag()) to restrict
the scope of both managed and custom rules:
const sshRule = new config.ManagedRule(this, 'SSH', {
identifier: config.ManagedRuleIdentifiers.EC2_SECURITY_GROUPS_INCOMING_SSH_DISABLED,
ruleScope: config.RuleScope.fromResource(config.ResourceType.EC2_SECURITY_GROUP, 'sg-1234567890abcdefgh'), // restrict to specific security group
});
declare const evalComplianceFn: lambda.Function;
const customRule = new config.CustomRule(this, 'Lambda', {
lambdaFunction: evalComplianceFn,
configurationChanges: true,
ruleScope: config.RuleScope.fromResources([config.ResourceType.CLOUDFORMATION_STACK, config.ResourceType.S3_BUCKET]), // restrict to all CloudFormation stacks and S3 buckets
});
const tagRule = new config.CustomRule(this, 'CostCenterTagRule', {
lambdaFunction: evalComplianceFn,
configurationChanges: true,
ruleScope: config.RuleScope.fromTag('Cost Center', 'MyApp'), // restrict to a specific tag
});
Events
You can define Amazon EventBridge event rules which trigger when a compliance check fails or when a rule is re-evaluated.
Use the onComplianceChange() APIs to trigger an EventBridge event when a compliance check
of your AWS Config Rule fails:
// Topic to which compliance notification events will be published
const complianceTopic = new sns.Topic(this, 'ComplianceTopic');
const rule = new config.CloudFormationStackDriftDetectionCheck(this, 'Drift');
rule.onComplianceChange('TopicEvent', {
target: new targets.SnsTopic(complianceTopic),
});
Use the onReEvaluationStatus() status to trigger an EventBridge event when an AWS Config
rule is re-evaluated.
// Topic to which re-evaluation notification events will be published
const reEvaluationTopic = new sns.Topic(this, 'ComplianceTopic');
const rule = new config.CloudFormationStackDriftDetectionCheck(this, 'Drift');
rule.onReEvaluationStatus('ReEvaluationEvent', {
target: new targets.SnsTopic(reEvaluationTopic),
});
Example
The following example creates a custom rule that evaluates whether EC2 instances are compliant. Compliance events are published to an SNS topic.
// Lambda function containing logic that evaluates compliance with the rule.
const evalComplianceFn = new lambda.Function(this, 'CustomFunction', {
code: lambda.AssetCode.fromInline('exports.handler = (event) => console.log(event);'),
handler: 'index.handler',
runtime: lambda.Runtime.NODEJS_14_X,
});
// A custom rule that runs on configuration changes of EC2 instances
const customRule = new config.CustomRule(this, 'Custom', {
configurationChanges: true,
lambdaFunction: evalComplianceFn,
ruleScope: config.RuleScope.fromResource(config.ResourceType.EC2_INSTANCE),
});
// A rule to detect stack drifts
const driftRule = new config.CloudFormationStackDriftDetectionCheck(this, 'Drift');
// Topic to which compliance notification events will be published
const complianceTopic = new sns.Topic(this, 'ComplianceTopic');
// Send notification on compliance change events
driftRule.onComplianceChange('ComplianceChange', {
target: new targets.SnsTopic(complianceTopic),
});