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Serverless Security

Serverless Security

Serverless Security

Serverless Security

Serverless Security

Serverless Security

Serverless Security

Serverless Security

Serverless Security

Introduction

Serverless computing shifts operational responsibility to the cloud provider but introduces unique security challenges. Functions have expanded attack surfaces through event sources, third-party dependencies, and IAM roles. Understanding the serverless shared responsibility model is the first step toward securing these architectures.

Function Permissions

Serverless functions operate under IAM roles that should follow least privilege. Overly permissive roles are the most common serverless security issue.

{

"Effect": "Allow",

"Action": [

"sqs:ReceiveMessage",

"sqs:DeleteMessage",

"sqs:GetQueueAttributes"

],

"Resource": "arn:aws:sqs:us-east-1:123456789012:my-queue"

}

// BAD: Wildcard permissions on DynamoDB

{

"Effect": "Allow",

"Action": "dynamodb:*",

"Resource": "*"

}

// GOOD: Scoped to specific table and actions

{

"Effect": "Allow",

"Action": [

"dynamodb:GetItem",

"dynamodb:PutItem",

"dynamodb:UpdateItem"

],

"Resource": "arn:aws:dynamodb:us-east-1:123456789012:table/Orders"

}

AWS Lambda function handler with minimal permissions

import boto3

import os

TABLE_NAME = os.environ['TABLE_NAME']

def handler(event, context):

The function IAM role only has access to this specific table

dynamodb = boto3.resource('dynamodb')

table = dynamodb.Table(TABLE_NAME)

order_id = event['order_id']

response = table.get_item(Key={'id': order_id})

return response['Item']

Event Validation

Serverless functions are triggered by events from various sources. Each event must be validated before processing.

import json

import re

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