EC2 instance has been running for over a year
- Severity
- Info
- Service
- EC2
- Check ID
- EC2_OLD
What this check finds
This EC2 instance was launched more than 365 days ago and is still running. Long-lived instances tend to miss operating system and kernel patches and to predate current hardening such as IMDSv2. Confirm it is still needed, and rebuild it from a current image if it is.
Passing looks like: No outdated EC2 instances.
How to fix it
Review whether these long-running instances are still needed. If they are, ensure they are patched and consider replacing them with new instances from an updated AMI to reduce configuration drift.
AWS console
EC2 → Instances → filter by launch date.
Compliance
This is an operational hygiene check. It flags something worth tidying rather than a control an auditor asks for, so it is not mapped to a compliance framework.
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