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How to Find AWS IAM Password Policy does not prevent reuse

Problem​

Password policies are used to enforce password complexity requirements. IAM password policies can be used to ensure password are comprised of different character sets. It is recommended that the password policy prevents at least password reuse of 24 or greater.

info

This security check is part of the CIS Amazon Web Services Benchmarks and is rated severity medium.

Prerequisites​

This guide assumes that you have already installed and configured Resoto to collect your AWS cloud resources.

Directions​

  1. Execute the following search command in Resoto Shell or Resoto UI:

    > search is(aws_account) and password_reuse_prevention<24
    ​kind=aws_account, ..., region=resoto-poweruser
    ​kind=aws_account, ..., account=poweruser-team

  2. Pipe the search command into the dump command:

    > search is(aws_account) and password_reuse_prevention<24 | dump
    ​reported:
    ​  id: /aws/iam/123
    ​  name: some-name
    ​  ctime: '2022-12-05T22:53:14Z'
    ​  kind: aws_account
    ​  age: 2mo28d

    The command output will list the details of all non-compliant aws_account resources.

  3. Fix detected issues by following the remediation steps:

    Ensure "Number of passwords to remember" is set to 24 or higher.

    note

    Please refer to the AWS IAM documentation for details.

Further Reading​