Aurora/RDS cluster does not have deletion protection enabled
- Severity
- Low
- Service
- RDS
- Check ID
- RDS_CLUSTER_DELETION_PROTECTION_DISABLED
What this check finds
The DB cluster has DeletionProtection=false, so it can be deleted with a single API call or console action, risking accidental or malicious data loss. Deletion protection is a cluster-level setting for Aurora and is not covered by per-instance checks.
Passing looks like: Aurora/RDS cluster deletion protection enabled.
How to fix it
Enable deletion protection on the cluster.
AWS CLI
aws rds modify-db-cluster --db-cluster-identifier CLUSTER_ID --deletion-protection --apply-immediately
Names in capitals are placeholders for your own resource. Review a command before you run it.
AWS console
RDS → Databases → select cluster → Modify → Deletion protection.
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 RDS checks
- HighAurora/RDS cluster storage is not encrypted at rest
- HighRDS automated backups are disabled
- HighRDS instance does not have automatic minor version upgrades enabled
- HighRDS instance has zero database connections for 7 days
- HighRDS instance storage is not encrypted at rest
- HighRDS security group allows broad CIDR ingress (broader than /16)
- HighRDS snapshot is public
- MediumAurora/RDS cluster has automated backups disabled