This product has charges associated with the pre-built hardening to the CIS Benchmarks™ and recurring maintenance. The CIS Hardened Images® are hardened in accordance with the associated CIS Benchmarks, an industry best practice for secure configuration. Reduce cost, time, and risk by building your AWS solution with CIS AMIs.
The CIS Hardened Image Level 1 on Rocky Linux 8 is a pre-configured image built by the Center for Internet Security (CIS®) for use on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). It is a pre-configured, security-hardened image that aligns with the robust security recommendations, the CIS Benchmarks, making it easier for organizations to meet regulatory requirements.
Not only is this image pre-hardened to the CIS Benchmarks guidance, but it is also patched monthly in alignment with the updates from the software vendor.
Key Benefits
Enhanced Security: Mitigates risks like malware, denial of service, and authorization issues by following globally-recognized secure configuration guidance to support your cloud security posture management (CSPM) program.
Compliance Readiness: Helps your organization comply with PCI DSS, FedRAMP, DoD Cloud Computing SRG, FISMA, select NIST publications, and more.
Faster Deployment: Pre-configured according to CIS Benchmarks, allowing you to deploy secure virtual machine images.
Consistency Across Environments: Ensures consistent security configurations across development, testing, and production environments, reducing drift and compatibility risks.
Cost Efficiency: Lowers remediation efforts, reduces attack surface, and minimizes business loss from security incidents.
Easier Maintenance: Regular updates ensure that your systems are always in line with the latest security standards and software patches.
This image is hardened against the corresponding Level 1 profile which is intended to be practical and prudent, provide a clear security benefit, and not inhibit the utility of the technology beyond acceptable means. No packages are installed on or removed from this image outside of those already present on the base image or as recommended in alignment with the corresponding CIS Benchmark recommendations.
To demonstrate conformance to the CIS Rocky Linux 8 Level 1 Benchmark, industry-recognized hardening guidance, each image includes an HTML report from CIS Configuration Assessment Tool (CIS-CAT® Pro). Each CIS Hardened Image contains the following files:
Base_CIS-CAT_Report.html - this provides a report of CIS-CAT Pro run against the instance before any change is made by CIS (e.g., software updates, CIS hardening).
basevm.txt - this provides a list of the packages resident on the instance prior to any change being made by CIS (e.g., software updates, CIS hardening).
CIS-CAT_Report.html - this provides a report of CIS-CAT Pro run against the instance after the corresponding CIS Benchmark was applied to the image.
Exceptions.txt - this provides a list of recommendations that are not applied because the configuration of those recommendations may inhibit the use of this image in this CSP, require environment-specific expertise, or hinder the integration of this image with CSP services or extensions.
afterhardening.txt - this provides a list of packages resident on the instance after the corresponding CIS Benchmark was applied to the image.
These reports are located in /home/CIS_Hardened_Reports.
Hardened according to a Level 1 CIS Benchmark that is developed in a consensus-based process and that is accepted by government, business, industry, and academia.
Helps with compliance to PCI DSS, FedRAMP, DoD Cloud Computing SRG, FISMA, select NIST publications, and more.
Pre-configured to align with industry best practices that are developed and supported by CIS, this image has hardened account and local policies, firewall configuration, and computer-based and user-based administrative templates.
AWS Marketplace now accepts line of credit payments through the PNC Vendor Finance program. This program is available to select AWS customers in the US, excluding NV, NC, ND, TN, & VT.
Pricing is based on actual usage, with charges varying according to how much you consume. Subscriptions have no end date and may be canceled any time. Alternatively, you can pay upfront for a contract, which typically covers your anticipated usage for the contract duration. Any usage beyond contract will incur additional usage-based costs.
Additional AWS infrastructure costs may apply. Use the AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate your infrastructure costs.
If you are an AWS Free Tier customer with a free plan, you are eligible to subscribe to this offer. You can use free credits to cover the cost of eligible AWS infrastructure. See AWS Free Tier for more details. If you created an AWS account before July 15th, 2025, and qualify for the Legacy AWS Free Tier, Amazon EC2 charges for Micro instances are free for up to 750 hours per month. See Legacy AWS Free Tier for more details.
You pay by the hour for this pre-hardened virtual machine image running on Rocky Linux 8. Pricing scales with the EC2 instance type you select. Each dimension maps to a specific instance size and family, from small general-purpose types up to large compute, memory, storage, and accelerated options. Larger or more powerful instances carry higher hourly rates. You pick the instance that fits your workload, and billing follows your actual runtime hours. There are no upfront commitments or fixed terms. The software charge is added on top of the standard AWS infrastructure cost for that instance.
Top-of-mind questions for buyers
What does one hourly unit cover on this Rocky Linux 8 image?
Each unit is one running EC2 instance of the type you select, billed per hour. The rate covers the pre-hardened Rocky Linux 8 software layer for that instance. Instance size and family set the rate. You run the image on standard EC2 infrastructure, which is billed separately.
Am I charged for the software when an instance is stopped?
The hourly software charge meters running time only. A stopped or powered-off instance does not accrue software charges. You may still see standard AWS storage fees for the attached volume while the instance is stopped. Charges resume when you start the instance again.
Does moving to a bigger instance type change my software rate automatically?
Yes. The software rate is tied to the instance type you launch. Switching to a compute, memory, storage, or accelerated instance applies that type's hourly rate. There is no manual plan upgrade. Your bill follows whichever instance you run and for how many hours.
www.cisecurity.org
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Vendor refund policy
Refunds through AWS are not available at this time. You will only be billed for actual time of instance use. As with all CIS security products, our aim is always 100 percent customer/member satisfaction.
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An AMI is a virtual image that provides the information required to launch an instance. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances are virtual servers on which you can run your applications and workloads, offering varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. You can launch as many instances from as many different AMIs as you need.
Version release notes
Monthly updates
Additional details
Usage instructions
No sensitive information supplied by customers will be stored outside this instance. No data encryption configuration is applicable to this instance. You can encrypt the instance EBS volume per standard EC2 processes. No programmatic system credentials and cryptographic keys are used by this instance. Launch the instance via the AWS Marketplace or EC2 console. Navigate to your Amazon EC2 console and verify that you're in the correct region. Choose instance and select your launched instance. Select the server to display your metadata page and choose the Status checks tab at the bottom of the page to review if your status checks passed or failed. Connect using SSH. Use rocky as the username. Immediately apply latest security updates to the instance.
AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.
Image hardened according to CIS Benchmark Level 1 profile developed through consensus-based process and accepted by government, business, industry, and academia.
Regulatory Compliance Support
Supports compliance with PCI DSS, FedRAMP, DoD Cloud Computing SRG, FISMA, and select NIST publications.
Pre-configured Security Controls
Includes hardened account and local policies, firewall configuration, and computer-based and user-based administrative templates aligned with industry best practices.
Automated Compliance Verification
Includes CIS Configuration Assessment Tool (CIS-CAT Pro) HTML reports demonstrating conformance to CIS Rocky Linux 8 Level 1 Benchmark with baseline and post-hardening assessment documentation.
Regular Security Updates
Patched monthly in alignment with software vendor updates to maintain alignment with latest security standards.
FIPS Certification
FIPS 140-2 certified kernel and cryptographic modules included out of the box with ongoing security updates
Extended Security Coverage
Security patches available for over 23,000 open source packages in the Ubuntu Universe repository with 10 years of support through Expanded Security Maintenance
Compliance Hardening Profiles
CIS and DISA-STIG hardening profiles accessible through Ubuntu Security Guide tooling for guided compliance configuration
Cryptographic Module Updates
FIPS-certified cryptographic components with continuous security updates maintained throughout the support lifecycle
Long-term Support
10-year security coverage period for the operating system and included packages
Operating System Hardening
Amazon Linux 2 configured with STIG Benchmark High standard for enhanced security posture
Security Standards Compliance
Implementation of Defense Information System Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) for system hardening
EMR Compatibility
Tested and compatible with Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR) for distributed computing workloads
Continuous Security Updates
Access to continuous security updates available through new versions of the image
Multi-Application Support
Suitable for deployment across various applications beyond EMR environments
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