Use of NotAction in an Allow statement
- Severity
- Medium
- Service
- IAM
- Check ID
- IAM_NOTACTION_ALLOW
What this check finds
Using NotAction in an Allow policy almost always results in unwanted actions being allowed and should be avoided.
Passing looks like: No NotAction in Allow statements.
How to fix it
Rewrite the policy to use an explicit Action list instead of NotAction in Allow statements. This ensures only the intended permissions are granted.
AWS console
IAM → Policies → select policy → Edit policy → switch to JSON editor.
Compliance controls it is evidence for
A failing result counts against these controls in KloudLytics; a passing one is evidence towards them. How compliance mapping works
| Framework | Controls |
|---|---|
| NIST SP 800-53 Rev5 (Moderate) |
|
| NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 |
|
| ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A |
|
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 IAM checks
- HighDeprecated or flawed AWS managed policy in use
- HighIAM role allows assumption from anywhere
- HighIAM role with admin privileges can be assumed by unexpected principals
- HighIAM role with s3 listing and get privileges can be assumed by unexpected principals
- HighIAM user access key has not been rotated in over 180 days
- HighIncorrect policy used to attempt to enforce MFA
- HighInline policy allows privilege escalation to admin
- HighPrincipal has an attached policy granting administrative access