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AWS AWSEC2 documentation change

Service: AWSEC2 · 2025-09-10 · Documentation low

File: AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/instance-identity-documents.md

Summary

Updated instance metadata documentation with IPv6 support details and deprecated privateIp field

Security assessment

While the changes improve documentation clarity for IP address handling, there's no evidence of addressing a security vulnerability. The deprecation notice appears to be for API evolution rather than security fixes.

Diff

diff --git a/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/instance-identity-documents.md b/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/instance-identity-documents.md
index c0cfd29ab..5f0966aac 100644
--- a//AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/instance-identity-documents.md
+++ b//AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/instance-identity-documents.md
@@ -17 +17 @@ Data | Description
-`availabilityZone` | The Availability Zone in which the instance is running.  
+`availabilityZone` | The name of the Availability Zone in which the instance is running. For example, `us-east-1`. Keep in mind that Availability Zone names might differ across AWS accounts.  
@@ -26 +26,3 @@ Data | Description
-`privateIp` | The private IPv4 address of the instance.  
+`privateIp` (deprecated) | The private IP address of the instance. For IPv4-only and dual-stack instances, this contains the IPv4 address. For IPv6-only instances, this contains the IPv6 address. This field is deprecated; use `privateIPv4Address` or `primaryIPv6Address` instead.  
+`primaryIPv6Address` | The IPv6 address associated with the instance's primary network interface. This field contains the IPv6 address for IPv6-only and dual-stack instances, and is `null` for IPv4-only instances.  
+`privateIPv4Address` | The IPv4 address associated with the instance's primary network interface. This field contains the IPv4 address for IPv4-only and dual-stack instances, and is `null` for IPv6-only instances.  
@@ -30,0 +33,4 @@ Data | Description
+###### Note
+
+The `privateIp` field is deprecated but maintained for backward compatibility. For new implementations, use `privateIPv4Address` to access the IPv4 address or `primaryIPv6Address` to access the IPv6 address.
+