Remediating Noncompliant Resources with AWS Config Rules

AWS Config allows you to remediate noncompliant resources that are evaluated by AWS Config Rules. AWS Config applies remediation using AWS Systems Manager Automation documents. These documents define the actions to be performed on noncompliant AWS resources evaluated by AWS Config Rules. You can associate SSM documents by using AWS Management Console or by using APIs.

AWS Config provides a set of managed automation documents with remediation actions. You can also create and associate custom automation documents with AWS Config rules.

To apply remediation on noncompliant resources, you can either choose the remediation action you want to associate from a prepopulated list or create your own custom remediation actions using SSM documents. AWS Config provides a recommended list of remediation action in the AWS Management Console.

In the AWS Management Console, you can either choose to manually or automatically remediate noncompliant resources by associating remediation actions with AWS Config rules. With all remediation actions, you can either choose manual or automatic remediation.

Prerequisite

Before you begin to apply remediation on noncompliant resources, you must select a rule and set up remediation (manual or auto) for the rule.

Setting Up Manual Remediation (Console)

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Config console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/config/.

2. Choose Rules on the left and then on the Rules page, choose Add Rule to add new rules to the rule list

   For existing rules, select the noncompliant rule from the rule list and choose the Actions dropdown list.

3. From the Actions dropdown list, choose Manage remediation. Select "Manual remediation" and then choose the appropriate remediation action from the recommended list.

   Note

   You can only manage remediations for non-service linked AWS Config rules. For more information, see Service-Linked AWS Rules.

   Depending on the selected remediation action, you see specific parameters or no parameters.

4. (Optional): If you want to pass the resource ID of noncompliant resources to the remediation action, choose Resource ID parameter. If selected, at runtime that parameter is substituted with the ID of the resource to be remediated.

   Each parameter has either a static value or a dynamic value. If you do not choose a specific resource ID parameter from the dropdown list, you can enter values for each key. If you choose a resource ID parameter from the dropdown list, you can enter values for all the other keys except the selected resource ID parameter.

5. Choose Save. The Rules page is displayed.

Note

For troubleshooting failed remediation actions, you can run the AWS Command Line Interface command describe-remediation-execution-status to get detailed view of a Remediation Execution for a set of resources. The details include state, timestamps for remediation execution steps, and any error messages for the failed steps.

Setting Up Auto Remediation (Console)

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Config console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/config/.

2. Choose Rules on the left and then on the Rules page, choose Add Rule to add new rules to the rule list.

   For existing rules, select the noncompliant rule from the rule list and choose the Actions dropdown list.

3. From the Actions dropdown list, choose Manage remediation. Select "Automatic remediation" and then choose the appropriate remediation action from the recommended list.

   Note

   You can only manage remediations for non-service linked AWS Config rules. For more information, see Service-Linked AWS Rules.

   Depending on the selected remediation action, you see specific parameters or no parameters.

4. Choose Auto remediation to automatically remediate noncompliant resources.

   If a resource is still non-compliant after auto remediation, you can set the rule to try auto remediation again. Enter the desired retries and seconds.

   Note

   There are costs associated with running a remediation script multiple times. Retries only occur if remediation fails and work within the specified time period; for example, 5 retries in 300 seconds.

5. (Optional): If you want to pass the resource ID of noncompliant resources to the remediation action, choose Resource ID parameter. If selected, at runtime that parameter is substituted with the ID of the resource to be remediated.

   Each parameter has either a static value or a dynamic value. If you do not choose a specific resource ID parameter from the dropdown list, you can enter values for each key. If you choose a resource ID parameter from the dropdown list, you can enter values for all the other keys except the selected resource ID parameter.

6. Choose Save. The Rules page is displayed.

Note

For troubleshooting failed remediation actions, you can run the AWS Command Line Interface command describe-remediation-execution-status to get detailed view of a Remediation Execution for a set of resources. The details include state, timestamps for remediation execution steps, and any error messages for the failed steps.

Note

Auto remediation can be initiated even for compliant resources

If you enable auto remediation for a specific AWS Config rule using the PutRemediationConfigurations API or the AWS Config console, it initiates the remediation process for all non-compliant resources for that specific rule. The auto remediation process relies on the compliance data snapshot which is captured on a periodic basis. Any non-compliant resource that is updated between the snapshot schedule will continue to be remediated based on the last known compliance data snapshot.

This means that in some cases auto remediation can be initiated even for compliant resources, since the bootstrap processor uses a database that can have stale evaluation results based on the last known compliance data snapshot.

Delete Remediation Action (Console)

To delete a rule first you must delete remediation action associated with that rule.

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Config console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/config/.

2. Choose Rules on the left and then on the Rules page, select the rule from the rule list and choose View details.

3. On the name of the rule page, go to the Remediation action section. Expand the section to view additional details.

4. In the Remediation action section, choose Delete and confirm your delete action.

   Note

   If remediation is in progress, a remediation action won't be deleted. Once you choose delete a remediation action, you cannot retrieve the remediation action. Deleting a remediation action does not delete the associated rule.

   If a remediation action is deleted, the Resource ID parameter will be empty and display N/A. On the Rules page, the remediation action column displays Not set for the associated rule.

Managing Remediation (API)

Manual Remediation

Use the following AWS Config API actions to manage remediation:

• DeleteRemediationConfiguration

• DescribeRemediationConfigurations

• DescribeRemediationExecutionStatus

• PutRemediationConfigurations

• StartRemediationExecution

Auto Remediation

Use the following AWS Config API actions to manage auto remediation:

• PutRemediationExceptions

• DescribeRemediationExceptions

• DeleteRemediationExceptions

Region Support

Currently, remediation actions for AWS Config Rules is supported in the following regions:

Region Name	Region	Endpoint	Protocol
US East (Ohio)	us-east-2	config.us-east-2.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
US East (N. Virginia)	us-east-1	config.us-east-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
US West (N. California)	us-west-1	config.us-west-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
US West (Oregon)	us-west-2	config.us-west-2.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Africa (Cape Town)	af-south-1	config.af-south-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)	ap-east-1	config.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Asia Pacific (Hyderabad)	ap-south-2	config.ap-south-2.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Asia Pacific (Jakarta)	ap-southeast-3	config.ap-southeast-3.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Asia Pacific (Melbourne)	ap-southeast-4	config.ap-southeast-4.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Asia Pacific (Mumbai)	ap-south-1	config.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Asia Pacific (Osaka)	ap-northeast-3	config.ap-northeast-3.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Asia Pacific (Seoul)	ap-northeast-2	config.ap-northeast-2.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Asia Pacific (Singapore)	ap-southeast-1	config.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Asia Pacific (Sydney)	ap-southeast-2	config.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Asia Pacific (Tokyo)	ap-northeast-1	config.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Canada (Central)	ca-central-1	config.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Canada West (Calgary)	ca-west-1	config.ca-west-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Europe (Frankfurt)	eu-central-1	config.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Europe (Ireland)	eu-west-1	config.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Europe (London)	eu-west-2	config.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Europe (Milan)	eu-south-1	config.eu-south-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Europe (Paris)	eu-west-3	config.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Europe (Spain)	eu-south-2	config.eu-south-2.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Europe (Stockholm)	eu-north-1	config.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Europe (Zurich)	eu-central-2	config.eu-central-2.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Israel (Tel Aviv)	il-central-1	config.il-central-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Middle East (Bahrain)	me-south-1	config.me-south-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
Middle East (UAE)	me-central-1	config.me-central-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
South America (São Paulo)	sa-east-1	config.sa-east-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
AWS GovCloud (US-East)	us-gov-east-1	config.us-gov-east-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS
AWS GovCloud (US-West)	us-gov-west-1	config.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com	HTTPS