cis-aws-foundations-4-3

name	cis-aws-foundations-4.3
description	Ensure AWS Config is enabled in all regions
category	cis-logging
version	7.0.0
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["cis","aws","logging","config","configuration-management","compliance"]
cis_id	4.3
cis_benchmark	CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark v7.0.0
tech_stack	["aws"]
cwe_ids	[]
chains_with	["cis-aws-foundations-4.1"]
prerequisites	[]
severity_boost	{}

Ensure AWS Config is enabled in all regions

Description

AWS Config is a web service that performs configuration management of supported AWS resources within your account and delivers log files to you. The recorded information includes the configuration items (AWS resources), relationships between configuration items (AWS resources), and any configuration changes between resources. It is recommended that AWS Config be enabled in all regions. In environments using AWS Control Tower or Landing Zone Accelerator (LZA), AWS Config may be centrally managed and automatically enabled across regions.

Rationale

The AWS configuration item history captured by AWS Config enables security analysis, resource change tracking, and compliance auditing.

Impact

Enabling AWS Config in all regions provides comprehensive visibility into resource configurations, enhancing security and compliance monitoring. However, this may incur additional costs and require proper configuration management.

Audit Procedure

Using AWS Console

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Config console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/config/.
2. On the top right of the console select the target region.
3. If a Config Recorder is enabled in this region, you should navigate to the Settings page from the navigation menu on the left-hand side. If a Config Recorder is not yet enabled in this region, proceed to the remediation steps.
4. Ensure "Record all resources supported in this region" is checked.
5. Ensure "Include global resources (e.g., AWS IAM resources)" is checked, unless it is enabled in another region (this is only required in one region).
6. Ensure the correct S3 bucket has been defined.
7. Ensure the correct SNS topic has been defined.
8. Repeat steps 2 to 7 for each region.

Note: In environments using AWS Control Tower or Landing Zone Accelerator (LZA), AWS Config configuration may be managed centrally. Verify that AWS Config is enabled and recording through the centralized governance solution.

Using AWS CLI

1. Run this command to show all AWS Config Recorders and their properties:

aws configservice describe-configuration-recorders

2. Evaluate the output to ensure that all recorders have a recordingGroup object which includes "allSupported": true. Additionally, ensure that at least one recorder has "includeGlobalResourceTypes": true.

Note: There is one more parameter, "ResourceTypes," in the recordingGroup object. We don't need to check it, as whenever we set "allSupported" to true, AWS enforces the resource types to be empty ("ResourceTypes": []).