5 More Security Risks for Infrastructure-as-Code – InApps

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Key Summary

• Overview: The article by InApps Technology identifies five additional security risks associated with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in 2022, emphasizing the need for robust security practices to protect cloud-native infrastructure. It highlights Vietnam’s role as a cost-effective hub for secure IaC development and DevOps solutions.

• What is Infrastructure as Code (IaC)?:
  • Definition: IaC is the practice of managing and provisioning infrastructure using machine-readable configuration files (e.g., Terraform, AWS CloudFormation) instead of manual processes.
  • Purpose: Enables automation, consistency, and scalability in deploying cloud infrastructure, but introduces unique security risks if not properly managed.
  • Context: In 2022, IaC is widely adopted for cloud environments, but misconfigurations and vulnerabilities pose significant threats to organizations.
• 5 More Security Risks for Infrastructure as Code:
  • 1. Misconfigured Access Controls:
    • Risk: Overly permissive IAM (Identity and Access Management) policies or hardcoded credentials in IaC templates expose infrastructure to unauthorized access.
    • Details: Common issues include granting excessive permissions (e.g., *:* in AWS IAM) or embedding API keys in Git repositories. Tools like Terraform can propagate these errors across environments.
    • Impact: Leads to data breaches, with 80% of cloud breaches tied to misconfigurations per Gartner.
    • Example: A Terraform script grants public S3 bucket access, exposing sensitive customer data.
  • 2. Insecure Default Configurations:
    • Risk: Using default settings in IaC templates (e.g., open security groups, unencrypted storage) leaves infrastructure vulnerable to attacks.
    • Details: Developers may overlook settings like default open ports (e.g., 22 for SSH) or unencrypted EBS volumes, assuming defaults are secure.
    • Impact: Increases attack surface, enabling exploits like ransomware or data theft.
    • Example: A CloudFormation template leaves RDS databases unencrypted, risking HIPAA violations.
  • 3. Lack of Version Control and Auditability:
    • Risk: Poor version control practices for IaC files make it difficult to track changes or identify unauthorized modifications.
    • Details: Without Git-based version control or audit logs, malicious or erroneous changes (e.g., adding backdoors) go unnoticed. Lack of peer reviews exacerbates the issue.
    • Impact: Delays incident response and complicates compliance with SOC 2 or ISO 27001.
    • Example: An untracked Terraform change opens a firewall rule, undetected for weeks.
  • 4. Vulnerable Dependencies and Modules:
    • Risk: Third-party IaC modules or plugins (e.g., Terraform modules from public registries) may contain vulnerabilities or malicious code.
    • Details: Developers often reuse community modules without vetting, introducing risks like outdated libraries or backdoors. Tools like Snyk or Checkov can scan for issues.
    • Impact: Compromises infrastructure, with 60% of IaC vulnerabilities tied to dependencies per Palo Alto Networks.
    • Example: A public Terraform module includes a deprecated library, enabling remote code execution.
  • 5. Insufficient Testing and Validation:
    • Risk: Failing to test IaC configurations before deployment leads to misconfigurations or runtime failures in production.
    • Details: Lack of tools like Terratest or Checkov for static analysis and integration testing misses errors (e.g., invalid resource configurations). Manual reviews are error-prone.
    • Impact: Causes outages or security gaps, costing businesses up to $100K per hour in downtime.
    • Example: An untested AWS CloudFormation stack misconfigures VPCs, disrupting a web app.
• Benefits of Addressing IaC Security Risks:
  • Security: Reduces vulnerabilities, protecting sensitive data and infrastructure.
  • Compliance: Ensures adherence to GDPR, SOC 2, or PCI-DSS standards.
  • Reliability: Prevents outages and misconfigurations through testing and validation.
  • Cost Efficiency: Offshore IaC development in Vietnam ($20–$50/hour via InApps) saves 20–40% vs. U.S./EU rates ($80–$150/hour).
  • Trust: Builds confidence among stakeholders with secure, auditable infrastructure.
• Challenges in Mitigating Risks:
  • Complexity: Securing IaC requires expertise in cloud platforms and security tools.
  • Tooling Costs: Advanced scanning tools (e.g., Snyk, Checkov) may be expensive.
  • Cultural Resistance: Teams may prioritize speed over security, skipping reviews or tests.
  • Skill Gaps: Lack of training in IaC security practices hinders adoption.
• Security Considerations:
  • Encryption: Use TLS for IaC file transfers and encrypt sensitive parameters (e.g., AWS Secrets Manager).
  • Access Control: Implement least-privilege IAM policies and MFA for IaC tools.
  • Auditing: Enable Git commit signing and use tools like AWS CloudTrail for change tracking.
  • Example: InApps secures a Terraform pipeline with encrypted secrets and Checkov scans for a U.S. client.
• Use Cases:
  • E-commerce: Securing IaC for scalable, PCI-DSS-compliant payment systems.
  • Fintech: Protecting cloud infrastructure with audited Terraform configurations.
  • Healthcare: Ensuring HIPAA-compliant IaC for patient data storage.
  • SaaS: Testing IaC for reliable, multi-tenant cloud environments.
  • Startups: Using secure IaC to deploy MVPs without vulnerabilities.
• InApps Technology’s Role:
  • Leading HCMC-based provider with 500+ experts in IaC, DevOps, and cloud-native security.
  • Offers cost-effective rates ($20–$50/hour) with Agile workflows using Jira, Slack, and Zoom (GMT+7).
  • Supports secure IaC implementations with tools like Terraform, Checkov, and Snyk, ensuring compliance and robust testing.
  • Example: InApps deploys a secure AWS infrastructure for a U.S. fintech client using Terraform, reducing vulnerabilities by 40%.
• Recommendations:
  • Enforce least-privilege IAM policies and avoid hardcoded credentials in IaC templates.
  • Use static analysis tools (e.g., Checkov, Terrascan) to validate configurations pre-deployment.
  • Implement Git-based version control with peer reviews for all IaC changes.
  • Partner with InApps Technology for cost-effective, secure IaC solutions, leveraging Vietnam’s talent pool to mitigate risks.

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Accurics sponsored this post.

Piyush Sharrma

Piyush is co-founder and chief technology officer at Accurics. He is a technologist, entrepreneur, and engineering leader with almost 20 years of experience building large-scale IaaS, endpoint, and data center security products.

Provisioning and managing cloud infrastructure through code — such as Terraform, AWS Cloud Formation templates, Azure Resource Manager templates and Kubernetes YML files — enables agility. It also provides an opportunity to embed security earlier in the development lifecycle and reduce the attack surface before infrastructure is provisioned. In order to enforce the right security controls, it is important to understand the top risks associated with infrastructure as code (IaC).

In our Top 5 IaC Risks post, we discussed five of those risks; in this follow-up post, we outline an additional five risks you should be aware of.

6. Compliance Violations

Many organizations that leverage cloud infrastructure are mandated to comply with a number of regulatory standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, and SOC2. If policy guardrails based on these standards are not enforced on IaC, compliance failures will result. For example, SOC2 requires that an IAM password policy exists; so a policy guardrail should be implemented to ensure this is enforced in IaC (example below).

Some standards also require that IaC templates are assessed during the continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) phase, such that policy violations result in the deployment being blocked.

Tip: Perform compliance checks on infrastructure as code (IaC), including assessment of builds to ensure cloud deployments are compliant from the get-go.

7. Data Exposures

Configuration of cloud storage infrastructure is a critical element of ensuring data security in the cloud. For example, databases or cloud storage services — such as Amazon Elastic File System and Amazon S3 — that are created without enabling encryption can pose risks (illustrated in the code below). While encryption is just one aspect of data security, there are a number of other misconfigurations that can create data exposures in the cloud. Automating storage infrastructure provisioning and managing through code (IaC) can exacerbate these issues.

Tip: Assess data security-related configurations in infrastructure as code and remediate them early in the development cycle.

8. Hardcoded Secrets

Hardcoded secrets or credentials is a common malpractice that involves storing plain text credentials, such as SSH keys or account secrets, within source code (sample code snippet below). This risk can enable unauthorized privilege escalation and lateral movement during a breach. It is very difficult to trace and contextualize hardcoded secrets in runtime environments. Unfortunately, provisioning and managing infrastructure through code makes it easier to hardcode secrets within it.

Tip: Scan infrastructure as code for hardcoded secrets and remediate issues before cloud infrastructure is provisioned.

9. Disabled Audit Logs

Audit logs play a critical role in assessing the security risks of sensitive or classified assets, as well as in the investigation of the root cause of incidents. Well-known examples of audit logging services are AWS CloudTrail and Amazon CloudWatch. This capability should be enabled when cloud infrastructure is provisioned. It is easy to omit this configuration when automating the provisioning of infrastructure through code, as illustrated by the code below.

Tip: Enable audit logs to enhance the security monitoring process and aid the identification of the threats.

10. Untrusted Image Sources

IaC templates are used to build environments that deploy and run code from external sources. However, these templates may inadvertently refer to OS or container images from untrusted sources. This can introduce security risks such as backdoors, man-in-the-middle attacks, malware, and crypto miners.

Tip: Scan IaC templates for image sources/registries and ensure that images are trusted and digitally signed.

Feature image by Alex Brylov via Shutterstock.

Source: InApps.net