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AWS lambda medium security documentation change

Service: lambda · 2025-11-22 · Security-related medium

File: lambda/latest/dg/troubleshooting-execution.md

Summary

Added new section 'Kafka: Error handling and retry configuration issues' with guidance on Kafka event source mapping retry settings, common configuration errors, and permission requirements

Security assessment

The change addresses security-related misconfigurations such as infinite retries (potential resource exhaustion), same-topic recursion (data integrity risks), and missing kafka:WriteData permissions (access control). These could lead to message loss, infinite processing loops, or unauthorized access if misconfigured.

Diff

diff --git a/lambda/latest/dg/troubleshooting-execution.md b/lambda/latest/dg/troubleshooting-execution.md
index fcc344e98..8d96607b8 100644
--- a//lambda/latest/dg/troubleshooting-execution.md
+++ b//lambda/latest/dg/troubleshooting-execution.md
@@ -5 +5 @@
-Lambda: Remote debugging with Visual Studio CodeLambda: Execution takes too longLambda: Unexpected event payloadLambda: Unexpectedly large payload sizesLambda: JSON encoding and decoding errorsLambda: Logs or traces don't appearLambda: Not all of my function's logs appearLambda: The function returns before execution finishesLambda: Running an unintended function version or aliasLambda: Detecting infinite loopsGeneral: Downstream service unavailabilityAWS SDK: Versions and updatesPython: Libraries load incorrectlyJava: Your function takes longer to process events after updating to Java 17 from Java 11
+Lambda: Remote debugging with Visual Studio CodeLambda: Execution takes too longLambda: Unexpected event payloadLambda: Unexpectedly large payload sizesLambda: JSON encoding and decoding errorsLambda: Logs or traces don't appearLambda: Not all of my function's logs appearLambda: The function returns before execution finishesLambda: Running an unintended function version or aliasLambda: Detecting infinite loopsGeneral: Downstream service unavailabilityAWS SDK: Versions and updatesPython: Libraries load incorrectlyJava: Your function takes longer to process events after updating to Java 17 from Java 11Kafka: Error handling and retry configuration issues
@@ -44,0 +45,2 @@ When your function code or the Lambda runtime return an error, the status code i
+  * Kafka: Error handling and retry configuration issues
+
@@ -286,0 +289,19 @@ Tune your compiler using the `JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS` parameter. Lambda runtimes for
+## Kafka: Error handling and retry configuration issues
+
+**Issue:** _Kafka event source mapping fails to configure retry settings or on-failure destinations_
+
+Kafka retry configurations and on-failure destinations are only available for event source mappings with provisioned mode enabled. Ensure that you have configured `MinimumPollers` in your `ProvisionedPollerConfig` before attempting to set retry configurations.
+
+Common configuration errors:
+
+  * **Infinite retries with bisect batch** – You cannot enable `BisectBatchOnFunctionError` when `MaximumRetryAttempts` is set to -1 (infinite). Set a finite retry limit or disable bisect batch.
+
+  * **Same topic recursion** – The Kafka on-failure destination topic cannot be the same as any of your source topics. Choose a different topic name for your dead letter topic.
+
+  * **Invalid Kafka destination format** – Use the `kafka://<topic-name>` format when specifying a Kafka topic as an on-failure destination.
+
+  * **kafka:WriteData permission issues** – Ensure your execution role has `kafka-cluster:WriteData` permissions for the destination topic. Topic doesn't exist timeout exceptions or write API throttling issues may require increasing the account limits.
+
+
+
+