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AWS Security Hub · SageMaker

SageMaker.4: Endpoint variants should have > 1 instance

Written and reviewed by Emnode · Last reviewed

What does AWS Security Hub SageMaker.4 check?

SageMaker.4 fails when a production variant in an endpoint configuration has `InitialInstanceCount` set to 1, leaving the endpoint with no Availability Zone redundancy.

Why does SageMaker.4 matter?

A single-instance variant has nowhere to fail over to. When AWS reclaims the instance during an AZ maintenance event, SageMaker must reprovision (pulling the image and loading model weights) and the endpoint returns 5xx errors for minutes while it does. For a model on a checkout or recommendation path, that downtime hits revenue directly.

How do I fix SageMaker.4?

  1. Inventory endpoint configs and flag any production variant with an instance count of 1.
  2. Create a new endpoint configuration with the count raised to 2 or more, spreading instances across AZs.
  3. Update the endpoint to the new config; SageMaker swaps it in with no downtime.
  4. For endpoints where a second instance genuinely is not worth the cost, document a tracked exception.

Remediation script · bash

# Disable root across every notebook that has it on (mutable on a stopped instance).
for n in $(aws sagemaker list-notebook-instances \
    --query 'NotebookInstances[].NotebookInstanceName' --output text); do
  root=$(aws sagemaker describe-notebook-instance --notebook-instance-name "$n" \
    --query 'RootAccess' --output text)
  if [ "$root" = "Enabled" ]; then
    aws sagemaker stop-notebook-instance --notebook-instance-name "$n"
    aws sagemaker wait notebook-instance-stopped --notebook-instance-name "$n"
    aws sagemaker update-notebook-instance --notebook-instance-name "$n" --root-access Disabled
    aws sagemaker start-notebook-instance --notebook-instance-name "$n"
    echo "$n: root access disabled"
  fi
done

# Immutable settings need a rebuild. Recreate a notebook locked down: private subnet,
# no direct internet. (DirectInternetAccess and SubnetId cannot be changed in place.)
aws sagemaker create-notebook-instance \
  --notebook-instance-name ml-feature-exploration \
  --instance-type ml.t3.medium \
  --role-arn arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/SageMakerExecution \
  --subnet-id subnet-0ab12cd34ef56 \
  --security-group-ids sg-0aa11bb22cc33 \
  --direct-internet-access Disabled \
  --root-access Disabled

Full walkthrough (console steps, edge cases and verification) in the lesson Harden SageMaker and ML workloads.

Is SageMaker.4 a false positive?

This is one of the rare findings where remediation costs money. Low-value or batch-style endpoints may legitimately run single-instance; the right move there is a documented exception, not blind remediation.

Full lesson Harden SageMaker and ML workloads Step-by-step remediation with CLI, code and persona-specific context.
AWS documentation for SageMaker controls ↗ Check your own account for SageMaker.4 →
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