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alibabacloud

RDS instance does not allow public access in the IP whitelist

rds_instance_no_public_access_whitelist
Service: rdsSeverity: critical
OfficialBuilt-inVerified
Categories:internet-exposed
Resource Type:ALIYUN::RDS::DBInstance

Alibaba Cloud RDS instances should only accept connections from trusted networks and IP addresses. This check verifies that the IP whitelist does not contain entries such as 0.0.0.0/0 or 0.0.0.0 that would allow access from anywhere on the internet. Only specific, trusted IP addresses should be whitelisted to minimize the attack surface of the database server.

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Risk

Allowing public access (0.0.0.0/0) to the database significantly increases the risk of brute-force attacks, unauthorized access, and data exfiltration. Databases exposed to the internet are prime targets for attackers, and a successful breach can compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all stored data.

Run this check with Prowler

Run in Prowler Cloud
Run
prowler alibabacloud --checks rds_instance_no_public_access_whitelist

Recommendation

Restrict the RDS IP whitelist to only trusted IP addresses. Remove any entries that allow unrestricted access such as 0.0.0.0/0.

Remediation

CLI

aliyun rds ModifySecurityIps --DBInstanceId <instance_id> --SecurityIps <trusted_ip_list>

Other

1Log on to the **RDS Console**.
2Select the target RDS instance.
3Go to **Data Security** > **Whitelist Settings** tab.
4Remove any `0.0.0.0` or `0.0.0.0/0` entries.
5Add only the specific IP addresses that need to access the instance.
6Click **OK** to save changes.

Check Code

from prowler.lib.check.models import Check, CheckReportAlibabaCloud
from prowler.providers.alibabacloud.services.rds.rds_client import rds_client


class rds_instance_no_public_access_whitelist(Check):
    """Check if RDS Instances are not open to the world."""

    def execute(self) -> list[CheckReportAlibabaCloud]:
        findings = []

        for instance in rds_client.instances:
            report = CheckReportAlibabaCloud(
                metadata=self.metadata(), resource=instance
            )
            report.region = instance.region
            report.resource_id = instance.id
            report.resource_arn = f"acs:rds:{instance.region}:{rds_client.audited_account}:dbinstance/{instance.id}"

            is_public = False
            for ip in instance.security_ips:
                if ip == "0.0.0.0/0" or ip == "0.0.0.0":
                    is_public = True
                    break

            if not is_public:
                report.status = "PASS"
                report.status_extended = (
                    f"RDS Instance {instance.name} is not open to the world."
                )
            else:
                report.status = "FAIL"
                report.status_extended = f"RDS Instance {instance.name} is open to the world (0.0.0.0/0 allowed)."

            findings.append(report)

        return findings

References