SNS TopicPolicy Self-Lockout

What this rule checks

Detects AWS::SNS::TopicPolicy resources containing a Deny statement on sns:DeleteTopic, sns:RemovePermission, sns:*, or * with a broad Principal and no NotPrincipal or aws:PrincipalArn carveout for the account root or admin role. Such a policy locks the account out of its own topic — recovery requires breaking glass on the account root credentials to remove the topic policy, or delete-and-recreate the topic if no subscribers depend on its ARN. In fan-out architectures that is often a multi-stack rebuild.

How to fix it

1. 1Add a NotPrincipal exemption for the account root (arn:aws:iam::<account>:root) or admin role(s)
2. 2Or use a Condition with StringNotEquals on aws:PrincipalArn to exempt admin role ARNs
3. 3If the Deny is intended to scope to AWS services, use aws:PrincipalIsAWSService rather than a blanket Deny on Principal: '*'

import { aws_sns as sns, aws_iam as iam } from 'aws-cdk-lib';

const topic = new sns.Topic(this, 'Topic');
topic.addToResourcePolicy(new iam.PolicyStatement({
  sid: 'DenyAdmin',
  effect: iam.Effect.DENY,
  principals: [new iam.AnyPrincipal()],
  actions: ['sns:DeleteTopic', 'sns:RemovePermission'],
  resources: [topic.topicArn],
}));

import { aws_sns as sns, aws_iam as iam } from 'aws-cdk-lib';

const topic = new sns.Topic(this, 'Topic');
topic.addToResourcePolicy(new iam.PolicyStatement({
  sid: 'DenyAdmin',
  effect: iam.Effect.DENY,
  notPrincipals: [new iam.AccountRootPrincipal()],
  actions: ['sns:DeleteTopic', 'sns:RemovePermission'],
  resources: [topic.topicArn],
}));

CDK Insights pinpoints the exact file and line in your CDK source for every finding, so you can jump straight to the fix.

Affected resource types

Intentional? Suppress this finding

Sometimes a flag is deliberate — a genuinely public endpoint, say. You can dismiss sns-topic-policy-self-lockout and the reason is kept in the report, not silently hidden.

In .cdk-insights.json:

{
  "ignoreRules": [
    { "id": "sns-topic-policy-self-lockout", "reason": "Why this is intentional" }
  ]
}

Or inline in your CDK code:

Validations.of(scope).acknowledge({
  id: 'cdk-insights::sns-topic-policy-self-lockout',
  reason: 'Why this is intentional',
});

Use the rule ID sns-topic-policy-self-lockout shown above — not the CDK-* ID from SARIF / GitHub code scanning. To dismiss every finding on one construct instead, use ignorePaths. Suppression docs →

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