Introduction

AWS EC2 offers incredible flexibility, but that power comes with the potential for misconfigurations. In this blog, we explore common vulnerabilities in AWS EC2 and provide actionable solutions to mitigate them. If you missed our first post, Why Your AWS EC2 Environment Needs a Security Audit Today, check it out to understand why auditing your EC2 environment is critical.

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Key Vulnerabilities in AWS EC2

1. Open Ports in Security Groups

Allowing traffic from 0.0.0.0/0 (any IP) to sensitive ports like SSH (22) or MySQL (3306) exposes your EC2 instances to attacks.
Mitigation: Restrict security group rules to specific IP ranges or use bastion hosts.

2. Missing EBS Volume Encryption

Unencrypted volumes can expose sensitive data during unauthorized access.
Mitigation: Enable encryption by default for all EBS volumes. Read more on encryption issues in this Blog.

3. Disabled VPC Flow Logs

Without flow logs, monitoring network activity is nearly impossible.
Mitigation: Enable VPC Flow Logs and monitor for unusual patterns.

4. Weak IAM Policies

IAM roles with excessive privileges or unused roles increase the attack surface.
Mitigation: Enforce least-privilege access and remove unused roles.

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Take Control with Astaqc Consulting

Let the experts at Astaqc Consulting conduct a full security audit of your EC2 environment. Schedule your audit now!

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