Ensure that your Google Cloud Platform (GCP) projects are not using the default Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network, in order to follow security best practices and meet networking requirements.
This rule resolution is part of the Conformity Security & Compliance tool for GCP.
A default Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is designed in such a way that you can quickly deploy GCP resources and not have to think about the underlying network. The default VPC comes with a predefined network configuration that automatically generates 4 over-permissive, insecure firewall rules, that are not included in the audit logging:
"default-allow-internal" – this rule allows ingress connections for all TCP, UDP and ICMP protocols and all ports (0-65535) among VM instances within the network.
"default-allow-ssh" – allows ingress connections on TCP port 22 (SSH) from any source to any virtual machine (VM) instance in the network.
"default-allow-rdp" – this firewall rule allows ingress connections on TCP port 3389 (RDP) from any source to any VM instance in the network.
"default-allow-icmp" – allows ingress ICMP traffic from any source to any VM instance within the network.
The default Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network is also an auto-mode network, which means that its subnets use the same predefined range of IPv4 addresses, and as a result, it's not possible to use Cloud VPN or VPC Network Peering feature with the default network. A default VPC might be suitable for getting started quickly with your GCP project, however, when you deploy complex, production applications and use multi-tier architectures, you may need to keep parts of your network private or customize the network model, therefore it is recommended to create a non-default VPC that suits your specific project requirements.
Audit
To determine if the default Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is being used within your GCP projects, perform the following actions:
Remediation / Resolution
To remove the default Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network from your GCP project, create a new non-default VPC network and migrate your cloud applications to it, perform the following actions:
References
- Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Documentation
- VPC overview
- VPC network overview
- Using VPC networks
- Firewall Rules Logging overview
- Cloud Router documentation
- Apply Cloud DNS server policies
- CIS Security Documentation
- Securing Google Cloud Computing Platform