# What is Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Security?

> Infrastructure as code (IaC) security is the protection of machine-readable definitions and automation used to provision, configure, change, and remove infrastructure.

- Canonical URL: https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/infrastructure-as-code-security/
- Publisher: Yellow Cube
- Language: en
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## Content

It applies software-engineering and operational controls to the full path from source and reusable modules through review, testing, plans, state, secrets, approval, and execution, while checking whether deployed resources remain consistent with security and safety requirements.

Because IaC can reproduce configurations at scale, defects or compromised workflows can reproduce exposure widely. Controls protect both the definitions and the privileged systems that interpret and apply them.

### Key points

- **Source and dependencies:** Keep definitions under version control, require review, validate trusted modules and providers, pin dependencies where practical, and scan changes for policy violations, exposed secrets, and unsafe resource relationships.
- **State and planning:** Treat plans, state, inventories, and outputs as sensitive integrity records; restrict access, protect storage and locking, and review proposed effects before authorization.
- **Application and runtime:** Separate planning from privileged apply authority, use short-lived credentials, log changes, detect manual changes and drift, and reconcile through a tested process with rollback or recovery provisions.
- **Important limitation:** Passing an IaC check does not prove that the deployed environment is secure or that applying a change is operationally safe. Provider behavior, runtime changes, external dependencies, incomplete policies, and state mismatches can alter the result.

### Related terms

[Continuous integration and continuous delivery or deployment (CI/CD) pipeline security](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/continuous-integration-and-continuous-delivery-or-deployment-pipeline-security/>) · [Cloud security](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/cloud-security/>) · [Cloud security posture management (CSPM)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/cloud-security-posture-management/>) · [Secrets management](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/secrets-management/>) · [Security misconfiguration](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/security-misconfiguration/>)

### Sources

[OWASP Infrastructure as Code Security Cheat Sheet](https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Infrastructure_as_Code_Security_Cheat_Sheet.html) · [NIST SP 800-204D: Software Supply Chain Security in DevSecOps CI/CD Pipelines](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/204/d/final) · [Terraform: Manage Sensitive Data in Configuration](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/language/manage-sensitive-data)

## Attribution and scope

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