Azure Policy built-in policy definitions for Azure API Management
APPLIES TO: All API Management tiers
This page is an index of Azure Policy built-in policy definitions for Azure API Management. For additional Azure Policy built-ins for other services, see Azure Policy built-in definitions. If you're looking for policies you can use to modify API behavior in API Management, see API Management policy reference.
The name of each built-in policy definition links to the policy definition in the Azure portal. Use the link in the Version column to view the source on the Azure Policy GitHub repo.
Azure API Management
| Name (Azure portal) |
Description | Effect(s) | Version (GitHub) |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Preview]: API Management Service should be Zone Redundant | API Management Service can be configured to be Zone Redundant or not. An API Management Service is Zone Redundant if its sku name is 'Premium' and it has at least two entries in it's zones array. This policy identifies API Management Services lacking the redundancy needed to withstand a zone outage. | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.0.1-preview |
| API endpoints in Azure API Management should be authenticated | API endpoints published within Azure API Management should enforce authentication to help minimize security risk. Authentication mechanisms are sometimes implemented incorrectly or are missing. This allows attackers to exploit implementation flaws and to access data. Learn More about the OWASP API Threat for Broken User Authentication here: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/api-management/mitigate-owasp-api-threats#broken-user-authentication | AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.1 |
| API endpoints that are unused should be disabled and removed from the Azure API Management service | As a security best practice, API endpoints that haven't received traffic for 30 days are considered unused and should be removed from the Azure API Management service. Keeping unused API endpoints may pose a security risk to your organization. These may be APIs that should have been deprecated from the Azure API Management service but may have been accidentally left active. Such APIs typically do not receive the most up to date security coverage. | AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.1 |
| API Management APIs should use only encrypted protocols | To ensure security of data in transit, APIs should be available only through encrypted protocols, like HTTPS or WSS. Avoid using unsecured protocols, such as HTTP or WS. | Audit, Disabled, Deny | 2.0.2 |
| API Management calls to API backends should be authenticated | Calls from API Management to backends should use some form of authentication, whether via certificates or credentials. Does not apply to Service Fabric backends. | Audit, Disabled, Deny | 1.0.1 |
| API Management calls to API backends should not bypass certificate thumbprint or name validation | To improve the API security, API Management should validate the backend server certificate for all API calls. Enable SSL certificate thumbprint and name validation. | Audit, Disabled, Deny | 1.0.2 |
| API Management direct management endpoint should not be enabled | The direct management REST API in Azure API Management bypasses Azure Resource Manager role-based access control, authorization, and throttling mechanisms, thus increasing the vulnerability of your service. | Audit, Disabled, Deny | 1.0.2 |
| API Management minimum API version should be set to 2019-12-01 or higher | To prevent service secrets from being shared with read-only users, the minimum API version should be set to 2019-12-01 or higher. | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.0.1 |
| API Management secret named values should be stored in Azure Key Vault | Named values are a collection of name and value pairs in each API Management service. Secret values can be stored either as encrypted text in API Management (custom secrets) or by referencing secrets in Azure Key Vault. To improve security of API Management and secrets, reference secret named values from Azure Key Vault. Azure Key Vault supports granular access management and secret rotation policies. | Audit, Disabled, Deny | 1.0.2 |
| API Management service should use a SKU that supports virtual networks | With supported SKUs of API Management, deploying service into a virtual network unlocks advanced API Management networking and security features which provides you greater control over your network security configuration. Learn more at: https://aka.ms/apimvnet. | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| API Management services should use a virtual network | Azure Virtual Network deployment provides enhanced security, isolation and allows you to place your API Management service in a non-internet routable network that you control access to. These networks can then be connected to your on-premises networks using various VPN technologies, which enables access to your backend services within the network and/or on-premises. The developer portal and API gateway, can be configured to be accessible either from the Internet or only within the virtual network. | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.0.2 |
| API Management should disable public network access to the service configuration endpoints | To improve the security of API Management services, restrict connectivity to service configuration endpoints, like direct access management API, Git configuration management endpoint, or self-hosted gateways configuration endpoint. | AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.1 |
| API Management should have username and password authentication disabled | To better secure developer portal, username and password authentication in API Management should be disabled. Configure user authentication through Azure AD or Azure AD B2C identity providers and disable the default username and password authentication. | Audit, Disabled | 1.0.1 |
| API Management subscriptions should not be scoped to all APIs | API Management subscriptions should be scoped to a product or an individual API instead of all APIs, which could result in an excessive data exposure. | Audit, Disabled, Deny | 1.1.0 |
| Azure API Management platform version should be stv2 | Azure API Management stv1 compute platform version will be retired effective 31 August 2024, and these instances should be migrated to stv2 compute platform for continued support. Learn more at https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/api-management/breaking-changes/stv1-platform-retirement-august-2024 | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Configure API Management services to disable access to API Management public service configuration endpoints | To improve the security of API Management services, restrict connectivity to service configuration endpoints, like direct access management API, Git configuration management endpoint, or self-hosted gateways configuration endpoint. | DeployIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.1.0 |
| Enable logging by category group for API Management services (microsoft.apimanagement/service) to Event Hub | Resource logs should be enabled to track activities and events that take place on your resources and give you visibility and insights into any changes that occur. This policy deploys a diagnostic setting using a category group to route logs to an Event Hub for API Management services (microsoft.apimanagement/service). | DeployIfNotExists, AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.1.0 |
| Enable logging by category group for API Management services (microsoft.apimanagement/service) to Log Analytics | Resource logs should be enabled to track activities and events that take place on your resources and give you visibility and insights into any changes that occur. This policy deploys a diagnostic setting using a category group to route logs to a Log Analytics workspace for API Management services (microsoft.apimanagement/service). | DeployIfNotExists, AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Enable logging by category group for API Management services (microsoft.apimanagement/service) to Storage | Resource logs should be enabled to track activities and events that take place on your resources and give you visibility and insights into any changes that occur. This policy deploys a diagnostic setting using a category group to route logs to a Storage Account for API Management services (microsoft.apimanagement/service). | DeployIfNotExists, AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Modify API Management to disable username and password authentication | To better secure developer portal user accounts and their credentials, configure user authentication through Azure AD or Azure AD B2C identity providers and disable the default username and password authentication. | Modify | 1.1.0 |
Next steps
- See the built-ins on the Azure Policy GitHub repo.
- Review the Azure Policy definition structure.
- Review Understanding policy effects.
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