Virtual Machine should use managed identity

Medium Azure General vm-managed-identity

Applies to

Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines

What CGPulse checks

A resource passes this rule when identity.type must be set. Anything else is reported as a finding with the evaluated property value attached as evidence.

How to fix it

Enable managed identity to eliminate stored credentials and improve security. In Azure Portal: VM > Identity > enable System-assigned managed identity. See: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/managed-identities-azure-resources/qs-configure-portal-windows-vm

CLI

az vm identity assign --ids "{id}"

Terraform

resource "azurerm_linux_virtual_machine" "{name}" {
  name                  = "{name}"
  resource_group_name   = "{rg}"
  location              = var.location
  size                  = "Standard_D2s_v5"
  network_interface_ids = [azurerm_network_interface.{name}.id]
  admin_username        = "azureuser"
  identity {
    type = "SystemAssigned"
  }
  os_disk {
    caching              = "ReadWrite"
    storage_account_type = "Standard_LRS"
  }
  # After enabling, grant the managed identity required RBAC roles
}

Compliance frameworks

Cloud Security BaselineIM-3

Vendor documentation

Is your environment compliant with this rule?

CGPulse checks it — and 621 others — against your Azure and AWS accounts with read-only access.

Run a free scan