cloud security

Performing Serverless Function Security Review

Performing security reviews of serverless functions across AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, and GCP Cloud Functions to identify overly permissive execution roles, insecure environment variables, injection vulnerabilities, and missing runtime protections.

azure-functionscloud-functionscloud-securitylambdasecurity-reviewserverless
Install this skill
npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills
Framework mappings

When to Use

  • When auditing serverless applications before production deployment
  • When investigating potential data exposure through function environment variables or logs
  • When assessing the blast radius of a compromised serverless function execution role
  • When compliance reviews require documentation of serverless security controls
  • When building secure-by-default templates for serverless deployments

Do not use for container or VM security assessments (use container scanning tools), for API security testing (use DAST tools on the API Gateway layer), or for real-time serverless threat detection (use AWS Lambda Extensions with security agents).

Prerequisites

  • AWS CLI, Azure CLI, and gcloud CLI configured with appropriate permissions
  • Access to read function configurations, policies, and execution roles
  • Prowler or Checkov for automated serverless security scanning
  • SAM CLI or Serverless Framework for local function analysis
  • CloudTrail, Azure Monitor, or Cloud Audit Logs enabled for function invocation monitoring

Workflow

Step 1: Enumerate All Serverless Functions and Configurations

List all functions across cloud providers with their runtime, memory, timeout, and network settings.

# AWS Lambda: List all functions with key security attributes
aws lambda list-functions \
  --query 'Functions[*].[FunctionName,Runtime,MemorySize,Timeout,Role,VpcConfig.VpcId,Layers[*].Arn]' \
  --output table
 
# Check for functions using deprecated runtimes
aws lambda list-functions \
  --query 'Functions[?Runtime==`python3.7` || Runtime==`nodejs14.x` || Runtime==`dotnetcore3.1`].[FunctionName,Runtime]' \
  --output table
 
# Azure Functions: List all function apps
az functionapp list \
  --query "[].{Name:name, Runtime:siteConfig.linuxFxVersion, ResourceGroup:resourceGroup, HttpsOnly:httpsOnly}" \
  -o table
 
# GCP Cloud Functions: List all functions
gcloud functions list \
  --format="table(name, runtime, status, httpsTrigger.url, serviceAccountEmail, vpcConnector)"

Step 2: Audit Execution Role Permissions

Review IAM roles attached to functions for overly permissive policies.

# AWS: Check each Lambda function's execution role
for func in $(aws lambda list-functions --query 'Functions[*].FunctionName' --output text); do
  role_arn=$(aws lambda get-function-configuration --function-name "$func" --query 'Role' --output text)
  role_name=$(echo "$role_arn" | awk -F'/' '{print $NF}')
  echo "=== $func -> $role_name ==="
 
  # List attached policies
  aws iam list-attached-role-policies --role-name "$role_name" \
    --query 'AttachedPolicies[*].[PolicyName,PolicyArn]' --output table
 
  # Check for wildcard actions
  for policy_arn in $(aws iam list-attached-role-policies --role-name "$role_name" --query 'AttachedPolicies[*].PolicyArn' --output text); do
    version=$(aws iam get-policy --policy-arn "$policy_arn" --query 'Policy.DefaultVersionId' --output text)
    aws iam get-policy-version --policy-arn "$policy_arn" --version-id "$version" \
      --query 'PolicyVersion.Document' --output json | python3 -c "
import json, sys
doc = json.load(sys.stdin)
for stmt in doc.get('Statement', []):
    actions = stmt.get('Action', [])
    if isinstance(actions, str): actions = [actions]
    resources = stmt.get('Resource', [])
    if isinstance(resources, str): resources = [resources]
    if '*' in actions or any(a.endswith(':*') for a in actions):
        print(f'  WARNING: {stmt[\"Effect\"]} {actions} on {resources}')
" 2>/dev/null
  done
done

Step 3: Check Environment Variables for Secrets

Scan function environment variables for hardcoded credentials, API keys, and database connection strings.

# AWS Lambda: Extract environment variables
for func in $(aws lambda list-functions --query 'Functions[*].FunctionName' --output text); do
  envvars=$(aws lambda get-function-configuration --function-name "$func" \
    --query 'Environment.Variables' --output json 2>/dev/null)
  if [ "$envvars" != "null" ] && [ -n "$envvars" ]; then
    echo "=== $func ==="
    echo "$envvars" | python3 -c "
import json, sys, re
vars = json.load(sys.stdin)
sensitive_patterns = [
    r'(?i)(password|secret|key|token|credential|api.?key)',
    r'(?i)(aws.?access|aws.?secret)',
    r'(?i)(database.?url|connection.?string|db.?pass)',
    r'AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}'
]
for key, value in vars.items():
    for pattern in sensitive_patterns:
        if re.search(pattern, key) or re.search(pattern, str(value)):
            masked = value[:4] + '****' + value[-4:] if len(value) > 8 else '****'
            print(f'  SENSITIVE: {key} = {masked}')
            break
"
  fi
done
 
# Azure Functions: Check app settings
for app in $(az functionapp list --query "[].name" -o tsv); do
  rg=$(az functionapp show --name "$app" --query "resourceGroup" -o tsv)
  echo "=== $app ==="
  az functionapp config appsettings list \
    --name "$app" --resource-group "$rg" \
    --query "[?contains(name,'KEY') || contains(name,'SECRET') || contains(name,'PASSWORD')].{Name:name}" \
    -o table 2>/dev/null
done

Step 4: Review Function Triggers and Access Controls

Verify that function triggers have appropriate authentication and authorization.

# AWS: Check for unauthenticated Lambda function URLs
aws lambda list-function-url-configs \
  --function-name FUNCTION_NAME \
  --query 'FunctionUrlConfigs[*].[FunctionUrl,AuthType,Cors]' --output table
 
# Check for resource-based policies allowing public invocation
for func in $(aws lambda list-functions --query 'Functions[*].FunctionName' --output text); do
  policy=$(aws lambda get-policy --function-name "$func" --query 'Policy' --output text 2>/dev/null)
  if [ -n "$policy" ]; then
    echo "$policy" | python3 -c "
import json, sys
doc = json.loads(sys.stdin.read())
for stmt in doc.get('Statement', []):
    principal = stmt.get('Principal', {})
    if principal == '*' or principal == {'AWS': '*'}:
        print(f'WARNING: $func has public invoke policy: {stmt.get(\"Sid\", \"unnamed\")}')" 2>/dev/null
  fi
done
 
# GCP: Check for unauthenticated Cloud Functions
gcloud functions list --format=json | python3 -c "
import json, sys
functions = json.load(sys.stdin)
for func in functions:
    name = func.get('name', '').split('/')[-1]
    trigger = func.get('httpsTrigger', {})
    if trigger and func.get('ingressSettings') == 'ALLOW_ALL':
        print(f'WARNING: {name} allows all ingress traffic')
"

Step 5: Analyze Function Code for Security Vulnerabilities

Review function code for common serverless security issues.

# Download Lambda function code for review
aws lambda get-function --function-name FUNCTION_NAME \
  --query 'Code.Location' --output text | xargs curl -o function.zip
unzip function.zip -d function-code/
 
# Scan with Bandit (Python) or ESLint security plugin (Node.js)
# Python functions
pip install bandit
bandit -r function-code/ -f json -o bandit-results.json
 
# Node.js functions
npm install -g eslint @microsoft/eslint-plugin-sdl
eslint --ext .js function-code/
 
# Check for common serverless vulnerabilities:
# 1. SQL injection in database queries
# 2. Command injection via os.system or subprocess
# 3. Insecure deserialization
# 4. Event data injection (untrusted event parameters)
# 5. Excessive function permissions
grep -rn "os.system\|subprocess\|eval(\|exec(" function-code/ || echo "No obvious injection patterns"
grep -rn "pickle.loads\|yaml.load\b" function-code/ || echo "No deserialization risks"

Step 6: Run Automated Serverless Security Scanning

Execute Checkov and Prowler for automated compliance checks on serverless resources.

# Checkov scan for serverless frameworks
checkov -d ./serverless-project/ \
  --framework serverless \
  --output json > checkov-serverless.json
 
# Prowler Lambda-specific checks
prowler aws \
  --checks lambda_function_no_secrets_in_variables \
           lambda_function_url_auth_type \
           lambda_function_using_supported_runtimes \
           lambda_function_not_publicly_accessible \
  -M json-ocsf \
  -o ./prowler-lambda/

Key Concepts

Term Definition
Execution Role IAM role assumed by a serverless function during execution that defines what AWS/cloud resources the function can access
Event Injection Serverless-specific attack where untrusted data in the event trigger payload is used unsafely in function logic
Function URL Direct HTTP(S) endpoint for invoking Lambda functions without API Gateway, which may be configured without authentication
Cold Start Initial function execution that includes container provisioning, during which security agents and extensions must initialize
Resource-Based Policy Policy attached to the function itself that defines who can invoke it, separate from the execution role
Secrets Manager Integration Pattern of retrieving sensitive configuration from a secrets management service rather than storing in environment variables

Tools & Systems

  • AWS Lambda: Primary serverless compute platform with execution roles, layers, and resource policies
  • Checkov: Static analysis tool for infrastructure-as-code with serverless-specific security policies
  • Prowler: Cloud security tool with Lambda-specific checks for permissions, public access, and runtime versions
  • Bandit: Python static analysis tool for detecting security issues in function source code
  • OWASP Serverless Top 10: Security risk framework specific to serverless architectures

Common Scenarios

Scenario: Lambda Function with Admin Role Leaking Secrets via Environment Variables

Context: A security review discovers a Lambda function with AdministratorAccess execution role and database credentials stored in plaintext environment variables visible in CloudWatch logs.

Approach:

  1. Enumerate the function's execution role and discover AdministratorAccess managed policy
  2. Check environment variables and find DB_PASSWORD, API_KEY, and STRIPE_SECRET_KEY in plaintext
  3. Review CloudWatch logs and find credentials printed in debug log statements
  4. Create a scoped IAM policy granting only the specific DynamoDB and S3 actions needed
  5. Migrate secrets to AWS Secrets Manager and update function to retrieve at runtime
  6. Remove debug logging that outputs sensitive data
  7. Rotate all exposed credentials and enable Lambda function encryption with KMS

Pitfalls: Changing a function's execution role can break it if the new role is too restrictive. Test in a staging environment first. Environment variable changes trigger a new function version, so ensure aliases and triggers are updated. Secrets Manager calls add latency; cache secrets within the execution context to avoid per-invocation lookups.

Output Format

Serverless Function Security Review
=======================================
Account: 123456789012
Functions Reviewed: 34
Review Date: 2026-02-23
 
CRITICAL FINDINGS:
[SRVL-001] Overly Permissive Execution Role
  Function: payment-processor
  Role: AdministratorAccess (full AWS access)
  Required Permissions: DynamoDB:PutItem, S3:GetObject (2 actions)
  Remediation: Create scoped policy with only required permissions
 
[SRVL-002] Secrets in Environment Variables
  Function: payment-processor
  Variables: DB_PASSWORD, STRIPE_SECRET_KEY, API_KEY
  Risk: Visible in console, API, and CloudWatch logs
  Remediation: Migrate to Secrets Manager, remove from env vars
 
SUMMARY:
  Functions with admin roles:           3 / 34
  Functions with secrets in env vars:   8 / 34
  Functions with deprecated runtimes:   5 / 34
  Functions with public access:         2 / 34
  Functions without VPC:               28 / 34
  Functions with wildcard permissions: 12 / 34
Source materials

References and resources

Everything below is rendered for inspection. Script files are read-only and never run.

References 1

api-reference.md2.7 KB

API Reference: Serverless Function Security Review

Overview

Agent automates Lambda security reviews using boto3 to audit execution roles, environment variable secrets, deprecated runtimes, and public access configurations.

Dependencies

Package Version Purpose
boto3 >= 1.28 AWS SDK for Lambda and IAM API calls
botocore >= 1.31 Exception handling for AWS API errors

Core Functions

list_all_functions(client)

Paginates through all Lambda functions in the region.

  • Parameters: client - boto3 Lambda client
  • Returns: list[dict] - full function configuration objects

check_deprecated_runtime(runtime)

Checks if a Lambda runtime is end-of-life.

  • Parameters: runtime (str) - Lambda runtime identifier
  • Returns: bool - True if deprecated

audit_execution_role(iam, role_arn)

Inspects attached IAM policies for wildcard actions and AdministratorAccess.

  • Parameters: iam - boto3 IAM client, role_arn (str)
  • Returns: list[str] - finding descriptions

check_env_secrets(env_vars)

Scans environment variables for sensitive patterns (passwords, API keys, AWS credentials).

  • Parameters: env_vars (dict) - Lambda environment variables
  • Returns: list[str] - masked sensitive variable findings

check_public_access(client, function_name)

Checks resource-based policies and function URLs for unauthenticated access.

  • Parameters: client - boto3 Lambda client, function_name (str)
  • Returns: list[str] - public access findings

run_review(region="us-east-1")

Orchestrates the full review across all functions. Returns structured report dict.

AWS API Calls Used

API Call Service Purpose
list_functions Lambda Enumerate all Lambda functions
get_policy Lambda Retrieve resource-based policy
list_function_url_configs Lambda Check function URL auth type
list_attached_role_policies IAM Get policies on execution role
get_policy_version IAM Read policy document for wildcards

Environment Variables

Variable Required Description
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID Yes AWS credential (or use IAM role)
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY Yes AWS credential (or use IAM role)
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION No Defaults to us-east-1

Output Schema

{
  "total_functions": 34,
  "deprecated_runtimes": [{"function": "name", "runtime": "python3.7"}],
  "role_findings": ["CRITICAL: Role X has AdministratorAccess"],
  "secret_findings": [{"function": "name", "finding": "SENSITIVE: DB_PASSWORD = prod****word"}],
  "public_access_findings": ["PUBLIC ACCESS: func allows public invocation"]
}

Scripts 1

agent.py5.2 KB
Display-only source. This catalog never executes bundled scripts.
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Serverless function security review agent using boto3."""

import json
import re
import boto3
from botocore.exceptions import ClientError


def get_lambda_client(region="us-east-1"):
    return boto3.client("lambda", region_name=region)


def get_iam_client(region="us-east-1"):
    return boto3.client("iam", region_name=region)


def list_all_functions(client):
    functions = []
    paginator = client.get_paginator("list_functions")
    for page in paginator.paginate():
        functions.extend(page["Functions"])
    return functions


def check_deprecated_runtime(runtime):
    deprecated = [
        "python2.7", "python3.6", "python3.7", "nodejs10.x",
        "nodejs12.x", "nodejs14.x", "dotnetcore2.1", "dotnetcore3.1",
        "ruby2.5", "java8", "go1.x",
    ]
    return runtime in deprecated


def audit_execution_role(iam, role_arn):
    findings = []
    role_name = role_arn.split("/")[-1]
    try:
        attached = iam.list_attached_role_policies(RoleName=role_name)
        for policy in attached["AttachedPolicies"]:
            if policy["PolicyName"] == "AdministratorAccess":
                findings.append(f"CRITICAL: Role {role_name} has AdministratorAccess")
            version_id = iam.get_policy(PolicyArn=policy["PolicyArn"])["Policy"]["DefaultVersionId"]
            doc = iam.get_policy_version(
                PolicyArn=policy["PolicyArn"], VersionId=version_id
            )["PolicyVersion"]["Document"]
            for stmt in doc.get("Statement", []):
                actions = stmt.get("Action", [])
                if isinstance(actions, str):
                    actions = [actions]
                if "*" in actions or any(a.endswith(":*") for a in actions):
                    findings.append(
                        f"WARNING: {role_name} has wildcard action: {actions} "
                        f"on {stmt.get('Resource', '*')}"
                    )
    except ClientError as e:
        findings.append(f"ERROR auditing role {role_name}: {e}")
    return findings


SENSITIVE_PATTERNS = [
    re.compile(r"(?i)(password|secret|key|token|credential|api.?key)"),
    re.compile(r"(?i)(aws.?access|aws.?secret)"),
    re.compile(r"(?i)(database.?url|connection.?string|db.?pass)"),
    re.compile(r"AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}"),
]


def check_env_secrets(env_vars):
    findings = []
    if not env_vars:
        return findings
    for key, value in env_vars.items():
        for pattern in SENSITIVE_PATTERNS:
            if pattern.search(key) or pattern.search(str(value)):
                masked = value[:4] + "****" + value[-4:] if len(value) > 8 else "****"
                findings.append(f"SENSITIVE: {key} = {masked}")
                break
    return findings


def check_public_access(client, function_name):
    findings = []
    try:
        policy = client.get_policy(FunctionName=function_name)
        doc = json.loads(policy["Policy"])
        for stmt in doc.get("Statement", []):
            principal = stmt.get("Principal", {})
            if principal == "*" or principal == {"AWS": "*"}:
                findings.append(
                    f"PUBLIC ACCESS: {function_name} allows public invocation "
                    f"(statement: {stmt.get('Sid', 'unnamed')})"
                )
    except ClientError:
        pass
    try:
        urls = client.list_function_url_configs(FunctionName=function_name)
        for url_cfg in urls.get("FunctionUrlConfigs", []):
            if url_cfg.get("AuthType") == "NONE":
                findings.append(
                    f"UNAUTHENTICATED URL: {function_name} -> {url_cfg['FunctionUrl']}"
                )
    except ClientError:
        pass
    return findings


def run_review(region="us-east-1"):
    lam = get_lambda_client(region)
    iam = get_iam_client(region)
    functions = list_all_functions(lam)
    report = {
        "total_functions": len(functions),
        "deprecated_runtimes": [],
        "role_findings": [],
        "secret_findings": [],
        "public_access_findings": [],
    }
    for func in functions:
        name = func["FunctionName"]
        runtime = func.get("Runtime", "unknown")
        if check_deprecated_runtime(runtime):
            report["deprecated_runtimes"].append({"function": name, "runtime": runtime})
        report["role_findings"].extend(audit_execution_role(iam, func["Role"]))
        env = func.get("Environment", {}).get("Variables", {})
        secrets = check_env_secrets(env)
        if secrets:
            report["secret_findings"].extend(
                [{"function": name, "finding": s} for s in secrets]
            )
        report["public_access_findings"].extend(check_public_access(lam, name))
    return report


def print_report(report):
    print("Serverless Function Security Review")
    print("=" * 40)
    print(f"Functions Reviewed: {report['total_functions']}")
    for section, label in [
        ("deprecated_runtimes", "Deprecated Runtimes"),
        ("role_findings", "Role Issues"),
        ("secret_findings", "Secrets in Env Vars"),
        ("public_access_findings", "Public Access"),
    ]:
        items = report[section]
        print(f"\n{label}: {len(items)} finding(s)")
        for item in items:
            print(f"  - {item}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    result = run_review()
    print_report(result)
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