Secure Bastion Host for AWS
Security-hardened Amazon Linux 2023 AMI designed for secure administrative access to AWS workloads. Being prepared for availability through AWS Marketplace.
Overview
The Secure Bastion Host for AWS is a security-hardened Amazon Linux 2023 AMI designed to provide a secure administrative entry point for AWS workloads. The AMI is being prepared for availability as an AWS Marketplace Server Product and enables organizations to deploy a consistent, security-focused management host within their AWS environment.
Customers deploy the AMI within their own AWS account and VPC. The product provides a hardened operating system image with security controls pre-configured. Customers are responsible for IAM configuration, networking, security groups, logging configuration, monitoring, compliance validation, and all AWS service costs associated with the deployment.
AWS Systems Manager Session Manager is supported for administrative access without opening inbound SSH ports. Hardened SSH remains available for customers whose operational requirements call for it.
AWS Marketplace Product Name: Secure Bastion Host for AWS — Community Edition — AWS Marketplace Server Product (AMI)
What You Will Receive
Key Features
- Amazon Linux 2023 x86_64 AMI — minimal, hardened base image to reduce attack surface
- SELinux enforcing mode — mandatory access controls active by default
- firewalld enabled — host-based firewall configured and active
- auditd system auditing — kernel-level audit logging for security events
- IMDSv2 enforced — helps reduce the risk of unauthorized instance-metadata access
- Hardened SSH configuration — root login disabled, password authentication disabled
- AWS Systems Manager Session Manager — IAM-authenticated browser and CLI access without inbound SSH ports
- Persistent journald logging — system logs maintained with controlled retention
- Automated security-only update timer — keeps the host current with security patches
- Hardened kernel network parameters — IPv4/IPv6 forwarding disabled, ICMP redirects disabled, reverse path filtering, SYN cookie protection
- Strong password policies — enforced at the OS level
Optional AWS Integrations
The following services are optional and require customer configuration:
- Amazon CloudWatch Logs — operating-system and Session Manager log forwarding
- AWS CloudTrail — AWS API activity logging
- Amazon Inspector — EC2 vulnerability scanning when enabled
- Amazon S3 — optional Session Manager session recording
- AWS KMS — optional encryption key management
- Trend Vision One — optional third-party security integration
- AWS CloudFormation — deployment automation
Deployment Overview
The Secure Bastion Host AMI is being prepared for availability through AWS Marketplace. Contact Syed Solutions for current availability and deployment options.
Use the provided CloudFormation template to launch the bastion host into your existing VPC, specifying your VPC, subnet, instance type, and optional EC2 key pair.
Configure IAM roles for Session Manager, optionally enable CloudWatch Logs, Amazon Inspector, and CloudTrail for your environment.
Use AWS Systems Manager Session Manager to establish browser-based or CLI administrative sessions — no open inbound ports required.
Customer Responsibilities
Customers deploying the Secure Bastion Host for AWS are responsible for:
- IAM role and policy configuration for Session Manager access
- VPC, subnet, and security group configuration
- Network connectivity for Systems Manager endpoints
- Optional CloudWatch, CloudTrail, and Inspector configuration
- Compliance validation for their specific regulatory requirements
- Monitoring and alerting configuration
- Backup and recovery planning
- AWS account security and billing management
- All AWS service costs associated with the deployment
Community Edition
The Secure Bastion Host for AWS is offered as a Community Edition through AWS Marketplace. The Community Edition provides the complete security-hardened AMI with all included features at no additional software charge beyond the underlying AWS infrastructure costs (EC2 instance, storage, data transfer, and any optional services configured by the customer).
Syed Solutions offers optional professional services for deployment assistance, configuration review, security assessment, and integration with existing AWS environments.
Customer Responsibilities & Additional Charges
AWS services, third-party licenses, data transfer, storage, support plans, monitoring, backup, security tools, and other enabled resources may generate additional charges. Final architecture, service availability, features, and pricing depend on the selected AWS Region, configuration, software version, licensing terms, and customer requirements.