EBS volume is unattached and incurring storage cost
- Severity
- Medium
- Service
- EC2
- Check ID
- EBS_ORPHAN_VOLUME
What this check finds
An EBS volume in the "available" state is not attached to any instance and is accruing storage charges ($0.08–0.125/GB/month depending on type) without providing value. Orphan volumes are commonly left behind after instance termination and forgotten.
Passing looks like: No unattached EBS volumes.
How to fix it
Create a snapshot if the data may be needed, then delete the volume.
AWS CLI
aws ec2 create-snapshot --volume-id VOLUME_ID --description "backup before delete" && aws ec2 delete-volume --volume-id VOLUME_ID
Names in capitals are placeholders for your own resource. Review a command before you run it.
AWS console
EC2 → Volumes → filter State = available → select → Actions → Delete volume.
Compliance
This is a cost check. It flags spend that buys nothing, which no compliance framework asks about, so it is not mapped to a control.
Checked on every scan
KloudLytics runs this check each time it scans a connected AWS account, through a read-only role, and lists every affected resource with its region. On Pro and Business a fix is written for the specific resource rather than the general case above. The exact access it needs
More EC2 checks
- HighAccount does not block public sharing of EBS snapshots
- HighAMI is publicly shared
- HighEBS snapshot is public
- HighEC2 instance CPU spiked abnormally — possible compromise or runaway process
- HighEC2 instance has an IAM role with admin privileges
- MediumAccount default for instance metadata does not require IMDSv2
- MediumEBS default encryption is not enabled for this region
- MediumEBS volume is not encrypted at rest