Check ID: elb_insecure_ssl_ciphers
Provider: AWS
Service: elb
Severity: MEDIUM
Categories: encryption
Resource type: AwsElbLoadBalancer

What this check verifies

Elastic Load Balancer HTTPS listeners are assessed for use of a strong TLS policy. Listeners associated with ELBSecurityPolicy-TLS-1-2-2017-01 are considered to negotiate only modern protocols and ciphers, avoiding legacy SSL/TLS and weak suites.

Risk

Legacy TLS or weak ciphers allow downgrades and man-in-the-middle decryption or tampering. Attackers can capture credentials, inject responses, and pivot, undermining data-in-transit confidentiality and integrity, and risking availability through failed handshakes.

Recommendation

Standardize on ELB policies enforcing TLS 1.2+ with modern AEAD ciphers; disable legacy protocols and weak suites. Enable server cipher order, retire outdated policies, and review regularly for crypto agility. Validate client compatibility, use strong certificates, and monitor negotiation results.

Remediation

aws elb set-load-balancer-policies-of-listener —load-balancer-name <lb_name> —load-balancer-port 443 —policy-names ELBSecurityPolicy-TLS-1-2-2017-01

References

Where this check fires

This check runs on every scheduled scan against your AWS account. Findings appear at Cloud Security → Findings filterable by Check ID = elb_insecure_ssl_ciphers. To re-evaluate after a fix, hit Run now on the account’s schedule under Cloud Security → Schedules — the next scan re-checks this control and marks the finding fixed or keeps it persistent.
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