Testing AWS CloudFormation Guard rules

You can use the AWS CloudFormation Guard built-in unit testing framework to verify that your Guard rules work as intended. This section provides a walkthrough of how to write a unit testing file and how to use it to test your rules file with the test command.

Your unit test file must have one of the following extensions: .json, .JSON, .jsn, .yaml, .YAML, or .yml.

Topics

Prerequisites
Overview of Guard unit testing files
Walkthrough of writing a Guard rules unit testing file

Prerequisites

Write Guard rules to evaluate your input data against. For more information, see Writing Guard rules.

Overview of Guard unit testing files

Guard unit testing files are JSON- or YAML-formatted files that contain multiple inputs as well as the expected outcomes for rules written inside a Guard rules file. There can be multiple samples to assess different expectations. We recommend that you start by testing for empty inputs and then progressively add information for assessing various rules and clauses.

Also, we recommend that you name unit testing files using the suffix _test.json or _tests.yaml. For example, if you have a rules file named my_rules.guard, name your unit testing file my_rules_tests.yaml.

Syntax

The following shows the syntax of a unit testing file in YAML format.


---
- name: <TEST NAME>
  input:
     <SAMPLE INPUT>
   expectations:
     rules:
       <RULE NAME>: [PASS|FAIL|SKIP]

Properties

Following are the properties of a Guard test file.

input

Data to test your rules against. We recommend that your first test uses an empty input, as shown in the following example.


---
- name: MyTest1
  input {}

For subsequent tests, add input data to test.

Required: Yes

expectations

The expected outcome when specific rules are evaluated against your input data. Specify one or multiple rules that you want to test in addition to the expected outcome for each rule. The expected outcome must be one of the following:

PASS – When run against your input data, the rules evaluate to true.
FAIL – When run against your input data, the rules evaluate to false.
SKIP – When run against your input data, the rule isn't triggered.


expectations:
    rules:
      check_rest_api_is_private: PASS

Required: Yes

Walkthrough of writing a Guard rules unit testing file

The following is a rules file named api_gateway_private.guard. The intent for this rule is to check whether all Amazon API Gateway resource types defined in a CloudFormation template are deployed for private access only and have at least one policy statement that allows access from a virtual private cloud (VPC).


#
# Select all AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resources
#     present in the Resources section of the template. 
#
let api_gws = Resources.*[ Type == 'AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi']

#
# Rule intent:         
# 1) All AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resources deployed must be private.                                            
# 2) All AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resources deployed must have at least one AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) policy condition key to allow access from a VPC.
#
# Expectations:        
# 1) SKIP when there are no AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resources in the template.  
# 2) PASS when:
#     ALL AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resources in the template have the EndpointConfiguration property set to Type: PRIVATE. 
#     ALL AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resources in the template have one IAM condition key specified in the Policy property with aws:sourceVpc or :SourceVpc.    
# 3) FAIL otherwise.                                                                                  
#
#

rule check_rest_api_is_private when %api_gws !empty {      
    %api_gws {
        Properties.EndpointConfiguration.Types[*] == "PRIVATE"                             
    }  
}       

rule check_rest_api_has_vpc_access when check_rest_api_is_private {
    %api_gws {
        Properties {
            #
            # ALL AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resources in the template have one IAM condition key specified in the Policy property with 
            #     aws:sourceVpc or :SourceVpc
            #           
            some Policy.Statement[*] {
                Condition.*[ keys == /aws:[sS]ource(Vpc|VPC|Vpce|VPCE)/ ] !empty
            }
        }
    }
}

This walkthrough tests the first rule intent: All AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resources deployed must be private.

Create a unit testing file called api_gateway_private_tests.yaml that contains the following initial test. With the initial test, add an empty input and expect that the rule check_rest_api_is_private will skip because there are no AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resources as inputs.
```
---
- name: MyTest1
  input: {}
  expectations:
    rules:
      check_rest_api_is_private: SKIP
```

Run the first test in your terminal using the test command. For the --rules-file parameter, specify your rules file. For the --test-data parameter, specify your unit testing file.


cfn-guard test \
 --rules-file api_gateway_private.guard \
 --test-data api_gateway_private_tests.yaml \

The outcome for the first test is PASS.


Test Case #1
Name: "MyTest1"
  PASS Rules:
    check_rest_api_is_private: Expected = SKIP, Evaluated = SKIP

Add another test to your unit testing file. Now, extend the testing to include empty resources. The following is the updated api_gateway_private_tests.yaml file.


---
- name: MyTest1
  input: {}
  expectations:
    rules:
      check_rest_api_is_private: SKIP
- name: MyTest2
  input:
     Resources: {}
  expectations:
    rules:
      check_rest_api_is_private: SKIP

Run test with the updated unit testing file.


cfn-guard test \
 --rules-file api_gateway_private.guard \
 --test-data api_gateway_private_tests.yaml \

The outcome for the second test is PASS.


Test Case #1
Name: "MyTest1"
  PASS Rules:
    check_rest_api_is_private: Expected = SKIP, Evaluated = SKIP
Test Case #2
Name: "MyTest2"
  PASS Rules:
    check_rest_api_is_private: Expected = SKIP, Evaluated = SKIP

Add two more tests to your unit testing file. Extend the testing to include the following:
- An AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resource with no properties specified.
  
  Note
  This isn’t a valid CloudFormation template, but it's useful to test whether the rule works correctly even for malformed inputs.
  
  Expect that this test will fail because the EndpointConfiguration property isn't specified and is therefore not set to PRIVATE.
- An AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resource that satisfies the first intent with the EndpointConfiguration property set to PRIVATE but does not satisfy the second intent because it has no policy statements defined. Expect that this test will pass.
The following is the updated unit testing file.
```
---
- name: MyTest1
  input: {}
  expectations:
    rules:
      check_rest_api_is_private: SKIP
- name: MyTest2
  input:
     Resources: {}
  expectations:
    rules:
      check_rest_api_is_private: SKIP
- name: MyTest3
  input:
    Resources: 
      apiGw:
        Type: AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi
  expectations:
    rules:
      check_rest_api_is_private: FAIL
- name: MyTest4
  input:
    Resources: 
      apiGw:
        Type: AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi
        Properties:
          EndpointConfiguration:
            Types: "PRIVATE"
  expectations:
    rules:
      check_rest_api_is_private: PASS
```

Run test with the updated unit testing file.


cfn-guard test \
 --rules-file api_gateway_private.guard \
 --test-data api_gateway_private_tests.yaml \

The third outcome is FAIL, and the fourth outcome is PASS.


Test Case #1
Name: "MyTest1"
  PASS Rules:
    check_rest_api_is_private: Expected = SKIP, Evaluated = SKIP

Test Case #2
Name: "MyTest2"
  PASS Rules:
    check_rest_api_is_private: Expected = SKIP, Evaluated = SKIP

Test Case #3
Name: "MyTest3"
  PASS Rules:
    check_rest_api_is_private: Expected = FAIL, Evaluated = FAIL

Test Case #4
Name: "MyTest4"
  PASS Rules:
    check_rest_api_is_private: Expected = PASS, Evaluated = PASS

Comment out tests 1–3 in your unit testing file. Access the verbose context for the fourth test only. The following is the updated unit testing file.


---
#- name: MyTest1
#  input: {}
#  expectations:
#    rules:
#      check_rest_api_is_private_and_has_access: SKIP
#- name: MyTest2
#  input:
#     Resources: {}
#  expectations:
#    rules:
#      check_rest_api_is_private_and_has_access: SKIP
#- name: MyTest3
#  input:
#    Resources: 
#      apiGw:
#        Type: AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi
#  expectations:
#    rules:
#      check_rest_api_is_private_and_has_access: FAIL
- name: MyTest4
  input:
    Resources: 
      apiGw:
        Type: AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi
        Properties:
          EndpointConfiguration:
            Types: "PRIVATE"
  expectations:
    rules:
      check_rest_api_is_private: PASS

Inspect the evaluation results by running the test command in your terminal, using the --verbose flag. Verbose context is useful for understanding evaluations. In this case, it provides detailed information about why the fourth test succeeded with a PASS outcome.


cfn-guard test \
  --rules-file api_gateway_private.guard \
  --test-data api_gateway_private_tests.yaml \
  --verbose

Here is the output from that run.


Test Case #1
Name: "MyTest4"
  PASS Rules:
    check_rest_api_is_private: Expected = PASS, Evaluated = PASS
Rule(check_rest_api_is_private, PASS)
    |  Message: DEFAULT MESSAGE(PASS)
    Condition(check_rest_api_is_private, PASS)
        |  Message: DEFAULT MESSAGE(PASS)
        Clause(Clause(Location[file:api_gateway_private.guard, line:20, column:37], Check: %api_gws NOT EMPTY ), PASS)
            |  From: Map((Path("/Resources/apiGw"), MapValue { keys: [String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Type"), "Type")), String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties"), "Properties"))], values: {"Type": String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Type"), "AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi")), "Properties": Map((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties"), MapValue { keys: [String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration"), "EndpointConfiguration"))], values: {"EndpointConfiguration": Map((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration"), MapValue { keys: [String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration/Types"), "Types"))], values: {"Types": String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration/Types"), "PRIVATE"))} }))} }))} }))
            |  Message: (DEFAULT: NO_MESSAGE)
    Conjunction(cfn_guard::rules::exprs::GuardClause, PASS)
        |  Message: DEFAULT MESSAGE(PASS)
        Clause(Clause(Location[file:api_gateway_private.guard, line:22, column:5], Check: Properties.EndpointConfiguration.Types[*]  EQUALS String("PRIVATE")), PASS)
            |  Message: (DEFAULT: NO_MESSAGE)

The key observation from the output is the line Clause(Location[file:api_gateway_private.guard, line:22, column:5], Check: Properties.EndpointConfiguration.Types[*] EQUALS String("PRIVATE")), PASS), which states that the check passed. The example also showed the case where Types was expected to be an array, but a single value was given. In that case, Guard continued to evaluate and provided a correct result.

Add a test case like the fourth test case to your unit testing file for an AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi resource with the EndpointConfiguration property specified. The test case will fail instead of pass. The following is the updated unit testing file.


---
#- name: MyTest1
#  input: {}
#  expectations:
#    rules:
#      check_rest_api_is_private_and_has_access: SKIP
#- name: MyTest2
#  input:
#     Resources: {}
#  expectations:
#    rules:
#      check_rest_api_is_private_and_has_access: SKIP
#- name: MyTest3
#  input:
#    Resources: 
#      apiGw:
#        Type: AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi
#  expectations:
#    rules:
#      check_rest_api_is_private_and_has_access: FAIL
#- name: MyTest4
#  input:
#    Resources: 
#      apiGw:
#        Type: AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi
#        Properties:
#          EndpointConfiguration:
#            Types: "PRIVATE"
#  expectations:
#    rules:
#      check_rest_api_is_private: PASS
- name: MyTest5
  input:
    Resources: 
      apiGw:
        Type: AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi
        Properties:
          EndpointConfiguration:
            Types: [PRIVATE, REGIONAL]
  expectations:
    rules:
      check_rest_api_is_private: FAIL

Run the test command with the updated unit testing file using the --verbose flag.


cfn-guard test \
 --rules-file api_gateway_private.guard \
 --test-data api_gateway_private_tests.yaml \
 --verbose

The outcome is FAIL as expected because REGIONAL is specified for EndpointConfiguration but is not expected.


Test Case #1
Name: "MyTest5"
  PASS Rules: 
    check_rest_api_is_private: Expected = FAIL, Evaluated = FAIL
Rule(check_rest_api_is_private, FAIL)
    |  Message: DEFAULT MESSAGE(FAIL)
    Condition(check_rest_api_is_private, PASS) 
        |  Message: DEFAULT MESSAGE(PASS)
        Clause(Clause(Location[file:api_gateway_private.guard, line:20, column:37], Check: %api_gws NOT EMPTY ), PASS)
            |  From: Map((Path("/Resources/apiGw"), MapValue { keys: [String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Type"), "Type")), String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties"), "Properties"))], values: {"Type": String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Type"), "AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi")), "Properties": Map((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties"), MapValue { keys: [String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration"), "EndpointConfiguration"))], values: {"EndpointConfiguration": Map((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration"), MapValue { keys: [String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration/Types"), "Types"))], values: {"Types": List((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration/Types"), [String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration/Types/0"), "PRIVATE")), String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration/Types/1"), "REGIONAL"))]))} }))} }))} }))
            |  Message: DEFAULT MESSAGE(PASS)
    BlockClause(Block[Location[file:api_gateway_private.guard, line:21, column:3]], FAIL)
        |  Message: DEFAULT MESSAGE(FAIL)
        Conjunction(cfn_guard::rules::exprs::GuardClause, FAIL)
            |  Message: DEFAULT MESSAGE(FAIL)
            Clause(Clause(Location[file:api_gateway_private.guard, line:22, column:5], Check: Properties.EndpointConfiguration.Types[*]  EQUALS String("PRIVATE")), FAIL)
                |  From: String((Path("/Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration/Types/1"), "REGIONAL"))
                |  To: String((Path("api_gateway_private.guard/22/5/Clause/"), "PRIVATE"))
                |  Message: (DEFAULT: NO_MESSAGE)

The verbose output of the test command follows the structure of the rules file. Every block in the rules file is a block in the verbose output. The top-most block is each rule. If there are when conditions against the rule, they appear in a sibling condition block. In the following example, the condition %api_gws !empty is tested and it passes.


rule check_rest_api_is_private when %api_gws !empty {

Once the condition passes, we test the rule clauses.


%api_gws {
    Properties.EndpointConfiguration.Types[*] == "PRIVATE"                      
}

%api_gws is a block rule that corresponds to the BlockClause level in the output (line:21). The rule clauseis a set of conjunction (AND) clauses, where each conjunction clause is a set of disjunctions (ORs). The conjunction has a single clause, Properties.EndpointConfiguration.Types[*] == "PRIVATE". Therefore, the verbose output shows a single clause. The path /Resources/apiGw/Properties/EndpointConfiguration/Types/1 shows which values in the input are compared, which in this case is the element for Types indexed at 1.

In Validating input data against Guard rules, you can use the examples in this section to use the validate command to evaluate input data against rules.

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Document Conventions

Writing clauses to perform context-aware evaluations

Validating input data against Guard rules