DeletePolicyVersion

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Event Information

• The DeletePolicyVersion event in AWS for IAM refers to the action of deleting a specific version of an IAM policy.
• This event is triggered when a user or an automated process initiates the deletion of a policy version using the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or API.
• The event provides information about the policy version that was deleted, including the policy version ID, policy ARN, and the user or process that performed the deletion.

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Examples

• Accidental deletion of a policy version: If a user accidentally deletes a policy version using the DeletePolicyVersion API, it can impact security by removing a valid and necessary policy version. This can result in unauthorized access or the inability to perform certain actions.

• Malicious deletion of a policy version: An attacker with sufficient permissions can exploit the DeletePolicyVersion API to remove a critical policy version. This can lead to unauthorized access, privilege escalation, or the bypassing of security controls.

• Lack of version control and auditability: If policy versions are not properly managed and audited, the use of DeletePolicyVersion can result in the loss of historical policy versions. This can make it difficult to track changes, identify policy drift, or revert to a previous version in case of a security incident.

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Remediation

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Using Console

1. Example 1: Enforce strong password policy for IAM users

   • Step 1: Login to the AWS Management Console.
   • Step 2: Go to the IAM service.
   • Step 3: Click on “Account settings” in the left navigation pane.
   • Step 4: Under the “Password policy” section, click on “Edit”.
   • Step 5: Enable the “Require at least one uppercase letter” option.
   • Step 6: Enable the “Require at least one lowercase letter” option.
   • Step 7: Enable the “Require at least one number” option.
   • Step 8: Enable the “Require at least one non-alphanumeric character” option.
   • Step 9: Set the “Minimum password length” to an appropriate value.
   • Step 10: Click on “Apply password policy”.

2. Example 2: Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for IAM users

   • Step 1: Login to the AWS Management Console.
   • Step 2: Go to the IAM service.
   • Step 3: Click on “Users” in the left navigation pane.
   • Step 4: Select the IAM user for which you want to enable MFA.
   • Step 5: Click on the “Security credentials” tab.
   • Step 6: Under the “Multi-factor authentication (MFA)” section, click on “Manage”.
   • Step 7: Click on “Activate MFA”.
   • Step 8: Choose the appropriate MFA device option (e.g., virtual MFA device, hardware MFA device).
   • Step 9: Follow the on-screen instructions to set up the MFA device.
   • Step 10: Click on “Assign MFA”.

3. Example 3: Enable AWS CloudTrail for logging IAM events

   • Step 1: Login to the AWS Management Console.
   • Step 2: Go to the CloudTrail service.
   • Step 3: Click on “Trails” in the left navigation pane.
   • Step 4: Click on “Create trail”.
   • Step 5: Provide a name for the trail and choose the appropriate settings (e.g., log file validation, S3 bucket for storing logs).
   • Step 6: Under the “Management events” section, enable logging for IAM events.
   • Step 7: Click on “Create”.
   • Step 8: Once the trail is created, go to the IAM service.
   • Step 9: Click on “Policies” in the left navigation pane.
   • Step 10: Create a new IAM policy that allows the necessary CloudTrail actions and attach it to the IAM users or groups that require access to CloudTrail logs.

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Using CLI

1. Ensure IAM users have strong passwords:

   • Use the update-login-profile command to set a strong password for an IAM user:

     aws iam update-login-profile --user-name <IAM_USER_NAME> --password <NEW_PASSWORD> --password-reset-required
     

2. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for IAM users:

   • Use the enable-mfa-device command to enable MFA for an IAM user:

     aws iam enable-mfa-device --user-name <IAM_USER_NAME> --serial-number <MFA_DEVICE_SERIAL_NUMBER> --authentication-code1 <CODE1> --authentication-code2 <CODE2>
     

3. Remove unnecessary IAM access keys:

   • Use the delete-access-key command to delete an IAM access key:

     aws iam delete-access-key --user-name <IAM_USER_NAME> --access-key-id <ACCESS_KEY_ID>
     

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Using Python

1. Ensure IAM users have strong passwords:
   • Use the boto3 library in Python to retrieve a list of IAM users.
   • For each user, check if their password is strong by validating it against a set of password complexity rules.
   • If a user’s password is weak, use the update_login_profile method to force a password reset for that user.

import boto3
import re

def check_password_complexity(password):
    # Implement your password complexity rules here
    # Example: Password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one digit
    if len(password) < 8 or not re.search(r'[A-Z]', password) or not re.search(r'[a-z]', password) or not re.search(r'\d', password):
        return False
    return True

def remediate_weak_passwords():
    iam_client = boto3.client('iam')
    users = iam_client.list_users()['Users']
    
    for user in users:
        login_profile = iam_client.get_login_profile(UserName=user['UserName'])
        if 'LoginProfile' in login_profile:
            password = login_profile['LoginProfile'].get('Password')
            if password and not check_password_complexity(password):
                iam_client.update_login_profile(UserName=user['UserName'], PasswordResetRequired=True)

2. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for IAM users:
   • Use the boto3 library in Python to retrieve a list of IAM users.
   • For each user, check if MFA is enabled by calling the list_mfa_devices method.
   • If MFA is not enabled, use the enable_mfa method to enable it for the user.

import boto3

def remediate_missing_mfa():
    iam_client = boto3.client('iam')
    users = iam_client.list_users()['Users']
    
    for user in users:
        mfa_devices = iam_client.list_mfa_devices(UserName=user['UserName'])['MFADevices']
        if not mfa_devices:
            iam_client.enable_mfa(UserName=user['UserName'])

3. Remove unused IAM access keys:
   • Use the boto3 library in Python to retrieve a list of IAM users.
   • For each user, check if they have any access keys by calling the list_access_keys method.
   • If the user has unused access keys, use the delete_access_key method to remove them.

import boto3

def remediate_unused_access_keys():
    iam_client = boto3.client('iam')
    users = iam_client.list_users()['Users']
    
    for user in users:
        access_keys = iam_client.list_access_keys(UserName=user['UserName'])['AccessKeyMetadata']
        for access_key in access_keys:
            if access_key['Status'] == 'Inactive':
                iam_client.delete_access_key(UserName=user['UserName'], AccessKeyId=access_key['AccessKeyId'])