Add or Edit Compliance Policy Exceptions through the Lacework API

Create Compliance policy exceptions through the Lacework API.

This method requires that you obtain the policy exception configuration before creating an exception. The exception configuration varies from policy to policy, so this must be known before creating an exception for a given policy.

tip

Generate your API Access Key and Token before attempting to create exceptions.

The temporary access token is represented as $AccountAdminToken within the curl command examples shown in this article.

note

Manual Policies cannot have exceptions applied to them.

Once an exception is added or edited, it will not take effect until the next compliance assessment run is complete.

1. Get the Policy Exception Configuration

Use the Policies Details endpoint to get all the information on a given policy:

GET https://YourLacework.lacework.net/api/v2/Policies/{policyId}

Example for lacework-global-87

curl -X GET -H "Authorization: Bearer $AccountAdminToken" -H "Content-Type: application/json" "https://myAccount.lacework.net/api/v2/Policies/lacework-global-87"

From the output, you need the exceptionConfiguration section as that contains the required fieldKey values for creating the exception.

tip

Alternatively, if you have the Lacework CLI installed, you can use the Raw Lacework API to get the exceptionConfig for a given policy:

lacework api get /api/v2/Policies/<policy-id>

AWS Exception Config Example

Example output for lacework-global-87

    "exceptionConfiguration": {
      "constraintFields": [
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "accountIds",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "regionNames",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "resourceNames",
          "multiValue": false
        },
        {
          "dataType": "KVTagPair",
          "fieldKey": "resourceTags",
          "multiValue": true
        }
      ]
    },

GCP Exception Config Example

Example output for lacework-global-270

    "exceptionConfiguration": {
      "constraintFields": [
        {
          "dataType": "Number",
          "fieldKey": "organizations",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "projects",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "KVTagPair",
          "fieldKey": "resourceLabel",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "resourceName",
          "multiValue": false
        }
      ]
    },

Azure Exception Config Example

Example output for lacework-global-617

    "exceptionConfiguration": {
      "constraintFields": [
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "azureResourceGroup",
          "multiValue": false
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "regionNames",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "resourceName",
          "multiValue": false
        },
        {
          "dataType": "KVTagPair",
          "fieldKey": "resourceTags",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "subscriptions",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "tenants",
          "multiValue": true
        }
      ]
    },

Kubernetes Exception Config Example

EKS Config Example

Example output for lacework-global-335

    "exceptionConfiguration": {
      "constraintFields": [
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "k8sAccountIds",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "k8sClusterNames",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "k8sNamespaces",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "k8sRegionNames",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "KVTagPair",
          "fieldKey": "k8sResourceLabels",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "k8sResourceTypes",
          "multiValue": true
        },
        {
          "dataType": "String",
          "fieldKey": "k8sClusterResourceNames",
          "multiValue": false
        }
      ]
    },

2. Create the JSON Payload for the Exception

Once you have the exception configuration for the policy, create the JSON payload for the policy exception based on the fieldKey values.

Data Types and Wildcards

Use the following sections to understand the expected format for each fieldKey value.

AWS

JSON fieldKey	UI Equivalent	Data Type	Wildcards accepted?
accountIds	Account Ids	String	Yes
regionNames	Region Names	String	Yes
resourceNames	User Name, Policy Name, Bucket Name, Volume Id, RDS Database, Trail Name, Key Id/Alias, VPC Id, Network ACL ARN, Group Id/Name	String	Yes
resourceTags	Resource Tags	Key Value	No

GCP

JSON fieldKey	UI Equivalent	Data Type	Wildcards accepted?
organizations	Organizations (IDs)	Number	Yes
projects	Projects (IDs)	String	Yes
resourceName	Resource Name	String	Yes
resourceLabel	Resource Label	Key Value	No

Azure

JSON fieldKey	UI Equivalent	Data Type	Wildcards accepted?
tenants	Tenants	String	Yes
subscriptions	Subscriptions	String	Yes
regionNames	Regions	String	Yes
azureResourceGroup	Resource Group	String	Yes
resourceName	Resource Name	String	Yes
resourceTags	Resource Tags	Key Value	No

Kubernetes

EKS

JSON fieldKey	UI Equivalent	Data Type	Wildcards accepted?
k8sAccountIds	Account Ids	String	Yes
k8sClusterNames	Cluster Names	String	Yes
k8sRegionNames	Region Names	String	Yes
k8sResourceTypes	Resource Types	String	Yes
k8sNamespaces	Namespaces	String	Yes
k8sResourceLabels	Resource Labels	Key Value	No
k8sClusterResourceNames	Various (for example: Cluster Role Binding Name)	String	Yes
resourceTags	Tags	Key Value	No

Wildcard Usage

You can use wildcards to match and exclude singular or multiple resources. For field values that accept wildcards, Lacework allows RLIKE (Regex pattern matching).

For example, if you wanted to exclude the AWS resource mySecurityGroup_sg, you can exclude it using wildcards with one of the following examples:

AWS Example 1

      {
        "fieldKey": "resourceNames",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*_sg"
        ]
      },

AWS Example 2

      {
        "fieldKey": "resourceNames",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*SecurityGroup*"
        ]
      },

AWS Example 3

      {
        "fieldKey": "resourceNames",
        "fieldValues": [
          "mySecurityGroup*"
        ]
      },

For GCP, if you wanted to exclude the resource //storage.googleapis.com/myBucketName, the following example will work:

GCP Example

      {
        "fieldKey": "resourceName",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*myBucketName"
        ]
      },

AWS JSON Payload Example

warning

Do not use the ARN format when providing the resourceNames value for policy exceptions.

For example, using arn:aws:s3:::mys3bucket is not accepted, as only mys3bucket should be provided.

Based on the policy type, the correct type of resource should be provided when entering the fieldValues for resourceNames.

For example, the lacework-global-87 policy requires one or more security groups in the fieldValues entry for resourceNames:

Example JSON Payload for lacework-global-87

{
    "description": "All traffic is allowed through this security group",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "fieldKey": "accountIds",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "regionNames",
        "fieldValues": [
          "us-west-2"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "resourceNames",
        "fieldValues": [
          "mySecurityGroup_sg"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "resourceTags",
        "fieldValues": [
          {
          "key": "mykey",
          "value": "myvalue"
          }
        ]
      },
    ]
}

note

If accountIds or regionNames are not included in the JSON payload and are part of the exception criteria for a policy, the default fieldValues would be *.

This would mean all integrated accounts and/or regions would be included in the exception.

GCP JSON Payload Example

warning

The resourceName field value must be in the full resource name format unless you are using wildcards.

Additionally, the organizations and projects fields should be in ID format.

Based on the policy type, the correct type of resource should be provided when entering the fieldValues for resourceName.

For example, the lacework-global-270 policy requires one or more Cloud Storage buckets in the fieldValues entry for resourceName:

Example JSON Payload for lacework-global-270

{
    "description": "Allow public access to this cloud storage bucket",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "fieldKey": "organizations",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "projects",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "resourceName",
        "fieldValues": [
          "//storage.googleapis.com/myBucketName"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "resourceLabel",
        "fieldValues": [
          {
          "key": "mykey",
          "value": "myvalue"
          }
        ]
      },
    ]
}

Azure JSON Payload Example

Based on the policy type, the correct type of resource should be provided when entering the fieldValues for resourceName.

For example, the lacework-global-617 policy requires one or more storage accounts in the fieldValues entry for resourceName:

Example JSON Payload for lacework-global-617

{
    "description": "Exclude this storage account from trusting Azure services access",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "fieldKey": "tenants",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "subscriptions",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "azureResourceGroup",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "regionNames",
        "fieldValues": [
          "centralus"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "resourceName",
        "fieldValues": [
          "mystorageaccount"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "resourceTags",
        "fieldValues": [
          {
          "key": "mykey",
          "value": "myvalue"
          }
        ]
      },
    ]
}

Kubernetes JSON Payload Example

EKS Payload Example

Based on the policy type, the correct type of resource should be provided when entering the fieldValues for k8sClusterResourceNames.

For example, the lacework-global-335 policy requires one or more Cluster Role Binding Names in the fieldValues entry for k8sClusterResourceNames:

Example JSON Payload for lacework-global-335

{
    "description": "Exclude this cluster role binding from using default service accounts",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "fieldKey": "k8sAccountIds",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "k8sClusterNames",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "k8sNamespaces",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "k8sRegionNames",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "k8sResourceTypes",
        "fieldValues": [
          "*"
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "k8sResourceLabels",
        "fieldValues": [
          {
          "key": "mykey",
          "value": "myvalue"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "fieldKey": "k8sClusterResourceNames",
        "fieldValues": [
          "my-cluster-role-binding"
        ]
      },
    ]
}

3. Add the Policy Exception

Use the Create Policy Exceptions endpoint when adding new policy exceptions:

POST /api/v2/Exceptions?policyId={policyId}

In the example below, the JSON payload exists as a file named myexceptionpayload.json in the local directory:

Example for lacework-global-87

curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $AccountAdminToken" -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data @myexceptionpayload.json "https://myAccount.lacework.net/api/v2/Exceptions?policyId=lacework-global-87"

The command is successful if a 201 response is received.

Edit Existing Policy Exceptions

Editing an existing Compliance policy exception through the API is similar to adding a new policy exception. A different endpoint will be used, and the existing policy exception ID must also be obtained.

1. Edit your existing JSON Payload file or create a new one with the updated details.

2. Use the List All Policy Exceptions endpoint to find all exceptions applied to a policy:

   GET /api/v2/Exceptions?policyId={policyId}

   Example for lacework-global-87

   curl -X GET -H "Authorization: Bearer $AccountAdminToken" -H "Content-Type: application/json" "https://myAccount.lacework.net/api/v2/Exceptions?policyId=lacework-global-87"

   Find the exceptionId that you want to update as this will be used in the next step.

3. Update policy exceptions by using the Update Policy Exceptions endpoint:

   PATCH /api/v2/Exceptions/{exceptionId}?policyId={policyId}

   In the example below, the JSON payload exists as a file named myupdatedexceptionpayload.json in the local directory and the existing policy exception ID is myExceptionId:

   Example for lacework-global-87

   curl -X PATCH -H "Authorization: Bearer $AccountAdminToken" -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data @myupdatedexceptionpayload.json "https://myAccount.lacework.net/api/v2/Exceptions/myExceptionId?policyId=lacework-global-87"

   The command is successful if a 200 response is received.