Cis AWS Compute 2.9

Ensure use of AWS Systems Manager to manage EC2 instances

Description

An inventory and management of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances is made possible with AWS Systems Manager.

Rationale

Use AWS Systems Manager to provide detailed system configurations, operating system patch levels, services name and type, software installations, application name, publisher and version, and other details about your environment.

Impact

Setting up Systems Manager requires creating IAM users, groups, roles, and instance profiles. This adds administrative overhead but provides centralized management of EC2 instances.

Audit Procedure

Using AWS CLI

No specific CLI audit command is provided for this control. Use the console method below.

Using AWS Console

1. Login to EC2 using https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/
2. On the left Click Node Management, click Inventory.
3. On the Dashboard confirm that all of your Instances are listed as part of your inventory.

If any instances are missing or AWS Systems Manager is not configured, refer to the remediation below.

Expected Result

All EC2 instances should appear in the AWS Systems Manager Inventory dashboard.

Remediation

Using AWS CLI

No specific CLI remediation command is provided for this control. Use the console method below.

Using AWS Console

These directions already assume your AWS account is setup. They will walk you through how to create non-Admin IAM users and groups for System Manager.

1. Create a user group:

a. Login to IAM using https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/ b. On the left Click Access management, click User groups, and then click Create Group. c. On the Create user group page, enter a name for the group. d. Select and add the users required to the Group. e. Attach permissions policies by selecting ResourceGroupsandTagEditorFullAccess policy. f. Then for Full access to Systems Manager console, click the AmazonSSMFullAccess policy.

• OR g. For access to view Systems Manager data, and not create or update resources, click the AmazonSSMReadOnlyAccess policy. h. For access to the Built-In Insights and Dashboard by CloudWatch pages in the Systems Manager console, add these policies:
• AWSHealthFullAccess
• AWSConfigUserAccess
• CloudWatchReadOnlyAccess i. Click Create group.

2. Create users and assign permissions:

a. Login to IAM using https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/ b. On the left Click Access management, click Users, and then click Add users. c. User name, enter the name that the user will use to sign in to AWS Systems Manager. d. To allow the user access to development tools, select the check box next to Access key - Programmatic access. e. To allow user access to the AWS Management Console, select the check box next to AWS Management Console access. f. Click Next: Permissions. g. To Set permissions, click Add user to group. h. In the group list, click the group you created in step 1. i. Then click Next: Tags. j. (Optional) Add one or more tags. k. Click Next: Review to see the list of group memberships. l. Click Create user.

3. To add permissions for an existing user:

a. In the IAM console, click Users. b. Click the name of the user to add to a group. c. Then click Add permission. d. For Add user to group, select the box next to the group to add the user to. e. Add any other available permission policies to assign to the user. f. Click Next: Review. g. Click Add permissions.

4. Create an IAM instance profile for Systems Manager:

a. Login to the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/ b. In the left, click Roles, and then click Create role. c. Under Select type of trusted entity, click AWS service. d. Click EC2, and then click Next: Permissions. e. On the Attach permissions policies page, locate AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore. Select the box next to it. f. Click Next: Tags. g. Add one or more tag-key value pairs. h. Click Next: Review. i. For Role name, enter a name for your new instance profile. j. For Role description, enter a description for this instance profile. k. Click Create role.

Note: If you plan to join instances to an Active Directory managed by AWS Directory Service, search for AmazonSSMDirectoryServiceAccess and select the box next to its name. If you plan to use EventBridge or CloudWatch Logs, search for CloudWatchAgentServerPolicy and select the box next to its name.

5. Attach the Systems Manager instance profile to an existing instance:

a. Login to the EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/ b. In the left pane, under Instances, click Instances. c. Select the instance from the list. d. In the Actions menu, click Security, Modify IAM role. e. Select the instance profile you created in Step 4. f. Click Save.

6. Attach an IAM instance profile to an Amazon EC2 instance at launch:

a. Login to the EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/ b. Select or confirm the AWS Region for the instance. c. Click Launch Instance. d. Locate the AMI for the instance type you want to create, and then click Select. e. Select the type of instance to launch, then click Next: Configure Instance Details. f. On the Configure Instance Details page, in the IAM role dropdown list, select the instance profile you created in Step 4. g. For other options on the page, make selections that meet your requirements for the instance. h. Complete the wizard.

If you create other instances that you want to configure using Systems Manager, specify the instance profile for each instance.

Default Value

AWS Systems Manager is not configured by default for EC2 instances. It must be explicitly set up.

References

1. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/systems-manager-setting-up.html

CIS Controls

Profile

Level 2 | Manual