# Cloud Operations on AWS — Course Update Research Report

**Research objective:** Identify AWS service updates (What's New, Blogs, Amazon News, Lifecycle Changes, Security Bulletins) from the last 9 months (November 2025 – August 2026) relevant to the AWS services and features covered across all 15 modules of the *Cloud Operations on AWS* course (`Training/CloudOps/`), excluding anything already reflected in current course content and excluding region-only expansions.

**Course context (from Module 0):** 300-level course for systems administrators / cloud operations staff with AWS Technical Essentials-equivalent experience. Objective: deploy, administer, troubleshoot, and monitor AWS systems and network resources in an automatable, reusable manner. Covers: Well-Architected Framework, IAM/Organizations, Systems Manager/Config, CloudFormation/Service Catalog, Auto Scaling, ELB/Route 53, CloudWatch/X-Ray, IAM Access Analyzer/CloudTrail/GuardDuty/Inspector, VPC/CloudFront/WAF/Shield/ACM, EBS/EFS/FSx/Backup, S3, and Cost Management/Trusted Advisor/Compute Optimizer.

**Services researched, mapped to modules:**
- Mod 1: Well-Architected Framework, Well-Architected Tool
- Mod 2: IAM, IAM Access Analyzer, AWS Organizations, SCPs/RCPs
- Mod 3: AWS CLI, CloudShell, Session Manager, Systems Manager, AWS Config
- Mod 4: Tagging, AMIs, EC2 Image Builder, AWS Control Tower
- Mod 5: CloudFormation, Infrastructure Composer, Service Catalog
- Mod 6: Systems Manager (Explorer, OpsCenter, AppConfig, Parameter Store, Automation, Maintenance Windows, Fleet Manager, State Manager, Patch Manager, Distributor)
- Mod 7: Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB/GWLB/CLB), Route 53
- Mod 8: EC2 Auto Scaling, Launch Templates, Spot Instances/Fleets, AWS License Manager
- Mod 9: CloudWatch (Metrics, Dashboards, Alarms, Logs, Logs Insights), EventBridge, AWS Health Dashboard, AWS X-Ray
- Mod 10: IAM Access Analyzer, Permissions Boundaries, CloudTrail, Athena, AWS Config, GuardDuty, Amazon Inspector, Lambda (incident response)
- Mod 11: VPC, Transit Gateway, PrivateLink, VPC Flow Logs, CloudFront, WAF, Shield, ACM/Private CA
- Mod 12: EBS, Data Lifecycle Manager, AWS Backup, EFS, FSx
- Mod 13: S3 (storage classes, lifecycle, replication, versioning, Object Lock)
- Mod 14: Billing and Cost Management, Cost Explorer, Cost & Usage Reports, AWS Budgets, Trusted Advisor, Compute Optimizer
- Mod 15: AWS Skill Builder, AWS Certification, AWS Cloud Quest

---

## 1. What's New

#### AWS Well-Architected Framework & Tool
- [New AWS Well-Architected Lenses for AI and ML workloads](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/new-aws-well-architected-lenses-ai-ml-workloads) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/architecting-for-ai-excellence-aws-launches-three-well-architected-lenses-at-reinvent-2025)

#### AWS IAM / IAM Access Analyzer / Policy Simulator
- [IAM Policy Simulator moves to the IAM console and adds additional capabilities](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/iam-policy-simulator-iam-console/)
- [AWS IAM now provides higher maximum quotas for roles, role trust policies, instance profiles, managed policies, and identity providers](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/05/aws-iam-increased-quotas/)
- [job_workflow_ref accepted as alternative scoping claim for GitHub Actions OIDC provider](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/document-history.html)

#### AWS Organizations
- [AWS Organizations introduces direct account transfers between organizations](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/aws-organizations-direct-account-transfers/)
- [AWS launches Billing Transfer for multi-organization billing and cost management](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/billing-transfer-multi-organization-billing-cost-management) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-aws-billing-transfer-for-centrally-managing-aws-billing-and-costs-across-multiple-organizations)
- [AWS Channel Partners can now resell using Billing Transfer](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/aws-channel-partner-billing-transfer)
- [AWS Organizations emits CloudTrail events for account membership changes](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/05/aws-organizations-cloudtrail/)

#### AWS Control Tower
- [AWS Control Tower introduces a controls-dedicated experience](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/aws-control-tower-controls-dedicated-experience)
- [AWS Control Tower supports automatic enrollment of accounts](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/aws-control-tower-automatic-enrollment)
- [Announcing 176 new AWS Security Hub controls in AWS Control Tower](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/12/176-security-hub-controls-control-tower/)

#### AWS Systems Manager
- [AWS AppConfig integrates with New Relic for automated rollbacks](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/aws-appconfig-new-relic-for-automated-rollback/)

#### AWS License Manager
- [AWS License Manager introduces license asset groups for centralized software asset management](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/aws-license-manager-license-asset-groups/) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/modernizing-with-aws/gain-organization-wide-visibility-into-software-licensing-with-aws-license-manager-license-asset-groups/)

#### AWS CloudFormation (+ Infrastructure Composer)
- [AWS CloudFormation accelerates dev-test cycle with early validation and simplified troubleshooting](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/cloudformation-dev-test-cycle-validation-troubleshooting/)
- [Accelerate infrastructure development with AWS CloudFormation intelligent authoring in IDEs](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/aws-cloudformation-intelligent-authoring-ides) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/devops/announcing-cloudformation-ide-experience-end-to-end-development-in-your-ide/)
- [AWS CloudFormation and CDK express mode speeds up infrastructure deployments by up to 4x](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/aws-cloudformation-cdk/)

#### Amazon EC2 (AMIs, Image Builder, Auto Scaling, Spot)
- [EC2 Image Builder enhances lifecycle policies with wildcard support and simplified IAM](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/ec2-image-builder-lifecycle-enhancements/)
- [Announcing EC2 Image Builder support for Lambda and Step Functions](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/ec2-image-builder-lambda-step-functions/)
- [Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling now supports CloudFormation instance refresh](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/ec2-auto-scaling-instance-refresh-cloudformation/)
- [Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling now supports reservations-then-balanced Availability Zone distribution](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/ec2-auto-scaling-res-then-balanced/)

#### Elastic Load Balancing (ALB, NLB, GWLB)
- [AWS Network Load Balancer now supports Listener Rules for custom traffic routing](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/aws-network-load-balancer-supports-listener-rules/)
- [AWS Application Load Balancer launches URL and Host Header Rewrite](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/10/application-load-balancer-url-header-rewrite/) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/networking-and-content-delivery/introducing-url-and-host-header-rewrite-with-aws-application-load-balancers/)
- [Network Load Balancer — secondary IPv4 addresses on load balancer network interfaces](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticloadbalancing/latest/network/doc-history.html)

#### Amazon Route 53 (+ Resolver)
- [Introducing Amazon Route 53 Global Resolver for secure anycast DNS resolution (preview)](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/amazon-route-53-global-resolver-secure-anycast-dns-resolution-preview/) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/introducing-amazon-route-53-global-resolver-for-secure-anycast-dns-resolution-preview/)
- [Amazon Route 53 DNS Firewall adds protection against Dictionary-based DGA attacks](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/amazon-route-53-dns-firewall-protection-dictionary-dga-attacks)
- [Amazon Route 53 Global Resolver now lets you add and remove AWS Regions for anycast DNS resolution](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/05/amazon-route-global-resolver-aws/)
- [Amazon Route 53 Resolver DNS Firewall now supports Palo Alto Networks Advanced DNS Security (Preview)](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/amazon-route-53-resolver-dns/)
- [Amazon Route 53 Resolver now supports AWS PrivateLink](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/10/amazon-route53-resolver-supports-aws-privatelink)

#### Amazon VPC (+ Transit Gateway, PrivateLink, Flow Logs)
- [Amazon VPC Flow Logs introduces additional metadata](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/amazon-flow-logs-metadata/)
- [AWS announces general availability of Policy-Based Routing on AWS Transit Gateway](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/aws-transit-gateway-policy-based-routing/)
- [Introducing AWS Client VPN native AWS Transit Gateway attachment](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/networking-and-content-delivery/introducing-aws-client-vpn-native-aws-transit-gateway-attachment/)

#### Amazon CloudFront
- [Amazon CloudFront announces three new CloudFront Functions capabilities](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/amazon-cloudfront-3-functions-capabilities/)
- [Amazon CloudFront Premium flat-rate pricing plan now supports higher, configurable usage allowances](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/networking-and-content-delivery/cloudfront-premium-flat-rate-plan-supports-configurable-usage-allowances/)

#### AWS WAF
- [AWS WAF now supports Miggo Security managed rule groups for emerging threats and AI/ML application protection](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/aws-waf-miggo-managed-rule-groups)
- [AWS WAF adds pre-parse text transformations and new text transformations](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/aws-waf/)
- [AWS WAF adds AI traffic monetization capability to help content owners charge AI bots for content access](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/aws-waf-adds-ai-traffic-monetization-capability-to-help-content-owners-charge-ai-bots-for-content-access/)

#### AWS Shield
- [AWS Shield Advanced introduces DDoS attack flow logs](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/05/aws-shield-ddos/)

#### AWS Certificate Manager (ACM)
- [AWS Certificate Manager updates default certificate validity to comply with new guidelines](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/aws-certificate-manager-updates-default/) (public certs issued after Mar 15, 2026 limited to 200-day max validity)

#### Amazon CloudWatch
- [Amazon CloudWatch supports creating alarms from log queries](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/amazon-cloudwatch-log-alarms/)
- [CloudWatch Application Signals now automatically captures errors, performance anomalies, and deployment events](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/cloudwatch-service-events/)
- [Amazon CloudWatch Logs Insights adds 23 new query commands and functions](https://aws.amazon.com/fr/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/amazon-cloudwatch-logs-insights-new/)
- [AWS CloudWatch alarm muting rules eliminate alert fatigue](https://aws.amazon.com/jp/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-cloudwatch-alarm-muting-rules/)

#### Amazon EventBridge
- [Amazon EventBridge introduces enhanced visual rule builder](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/eventbridge-enhanced-visual-rule-builder)
- [Amazon EventBridge Scheduler adds 619 new SDK API actions, including Lambda Managed Instances](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/05/amazon-eventbridge-sdk-integrations/)
- [More room to build: serverless services now support payloads up to 1 MB](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/more-room-to-build-serverless-services-now-support-payloads-up-to-1-mb/) (Lambda async, SQS, EventBridge payload limits raised 256 KB → 1 MB)

#### AWS X-Ray
- [X-Ray SDK/Daemon enters maintenance mode on February 25, 2026; migrate to OpenTelemetry](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/devguide/document-history.html)

#### AWS Lambda
- [AWS Lambda announces scalable network bandwidth up to 3,000 Mbps for functions outside a VPC](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/08/aws-lambda-network-bandwidth/)
- [AWS Lambda supports scheduled scaling of functions on Lambda Managed Instances](https://aws.amazon.com/fr/about-aws/whats-new/2026/05/aws-lambda-managed-instances/)
- [Lambda durable functions now available in 16 additional AWS Regions](https://aws.amazon.com/it/about-aws/whats-new/2026/04/lambda-durable-functions-16-new-regions/) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/building-fault-tolerant-long-running-application-with-aws-lambda-durable-functions)

#### Amazon EBS (+ Data Lifecycle Manager)
- [AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery now supports Amazon EBS volume initialization rate](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/aws-drs-fast-hydration/)
- [AWS Compute Optimizer applies AWS-generated tags to EBS snapshots created during automation](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/aws-compute-optimizer-applies-tags-ebs-snapshots/)

#### AWS Backup
- [AWS Backup for Amazon S3 now supports direct access to backup data](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/08/aws-backup-amazon-s3-direct-access/)
- [AWS Backup announces PrivateLink support for SAP HANA on AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/aws-backup-announces-privatelink-sap-hana-aws/)
- [Amazon GuardDuty Malware Protection for AWS Backup supports Amazon S3 continuous backups](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/05/amazon-guardduty-aws-backup-s3-continuous/)

#### Amazon EFS
- [Announcing the new Amazon EFS Archive storage class](https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/new/2026/announcing-new-amazon-efs-archive-storage-class/)
- [Amazon EFS now supports cross-account Replication in AWS GovCloud (US)](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/amazon-efs-cross-account-replication-aws-gov-cloud-us)
- [AWS DataSync Enhanced mode now supports Amazon EFS and Amazon FSx for Lustre](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/aws-datasync-amazon-efs-fsx-lustre/)

#### Amazon FSx
- [AWS Transfer Family now supports Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/01/aws-transfer-family-amazon-fsx-netapp-ontap) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/storage/secure-sftp-file-sharing-with-aws-transfer-family-amazon-fsx-for-netapp-ontap-and-s3-access-points/)
- [Second-generation Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP is now available in four additional Regions](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/04/second-gen-amazon-fsx-ontap-regions/)
- [Amazon FSx for OpenZFS now supports on-demand data replication in all AWS opt-in Regions](https://aws.amazon.com/es/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/on-demand-cross-region-replication/)

#### Amazon S3
- [Amazon S3 removes 30-day minimum for transitions to S3 Standard-IA and S3 One Zone-IA](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/s3-removes-30-day-transitions-standard-ia-one-zone-ia/)

#### Amazon Athena
- [Amazon Athena simplifies federated queries with managed connectors](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/04/amazon-athena/)
- [Amazon Athena now supports 1-minute reservations and 4 DPU minimum capacity](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-athena-one-minute-capacity-reservations) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/big-data/amazon-athena-adds-1-minute-reservations-and-new-capacity-control-features/)

#### Amazon GuardDuty
- [Introducing Amazon GuardDuty AI Protection for AWS AI workloads](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/amazon-guardduty-ai-protection-aws/)
- [Amazon GuardDuty AI-powered investigations accelerate threat response (Preview)](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/amazon-guardduty/) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/introducing-the-amazon-guardduty-investigation-agent-on-demand-ai-powered-threat-assessment/)

#### Amazon Inspector
- [Amazon Inspector launches improved agent-based scanning for EC2](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/05/amazon-inspector-ec2-agent-scanning-improvements/)

#### AWS Billing and Cost Management
- [AWS Billing and Cost Management Dashboards now supports scheduled email delivery](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/04/aws-billing-and-cost-management-dashboards-scheduled-email-delivery/)
- [Track cost efficiency trends directly in Billing and Cost Management Dashboards with the new Cost Efficiency widget](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/07/monitor-cost-efficiency-using-dashboards/)
- [Monitor AWS Budgets directly in Billing and Cost Management Dashboards with new Budgets widget](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/05/monitor-aws-budgets-using-dashboards/)

#### AWS Cost Explorer
- [AWS Cost Explorer launches Natural Language Query capabilities powered by Amazon Q](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/04/AWS-Cost-Explorer-Natural-Language-Query/) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws-cloud-financial-management/introducing-ai-powered-cost-analysis-in-aws-cost-explorer/)
- [AWS launches Cost Explorer historical data retention for accounts in billing groups](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/aws-cost-explorer/)

#### AWS Cost and Usage Reports
- [AWS Cost and Usage Report 2.0 now supports table configurations update](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/aws-cost-usage-report/)

#### AWS Trusted Advisor
- [AWS Trusted Advisor now delivers more accurate unused NAT Gateway checks powered by AWS Compute Optimizer](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/trusted-advisor-unused-nat-gateway-check/)

#### AWS Compute Optimizer
- [AWS Compute Optimizer supports 162 new EC2 instance types and 32 new RDS DB instance classes](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/04/aws-compute-optimizer-ec2-rds/)
- [AWS Compute Optimizer now supports idle recommendations for six additional resource types](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/aws-compute-optimizer-six-new-idle/) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws-cloud-financial-management/announcing-six-new-idle-resource-recommendations-in-aws-compute-optimizer/)
- [AWS Compute Optimizer now supports unused NAT Gateway recommendations](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/aws-compute-optimizer-unused-nat-gateway-recommendations) | [Blog](https://aws.amazon.com/jp/blogs/aws-cloud-financial-management/announcing-unused-nat-gateway-recommendations-in-aws-compute-optimizer/)

---

## 2. Amazon News

- [AWS Unveils Frontier Agents, a New Class of AI Agents That Work as an Extension of Your Software Development Team](https://press.aboutamazon.com/2025/12/aws-unveils-frontier-agents-a-new-class-of-ai-agents-that-work-as-an-extension-of-your-software-development-team) (Dec 2025 — Kiro autonomous agent, AWS Security Agent, AWS DevOps Agent launched at re:Invent)
- [AWS Introduces Graviton5, the Company's Most Powerful and Efficient CPU](https://press.aboutamazon.com/2025/12/aws-introduces-graviton5-the-companys-most-powerful-and-efficient-cpu) (Dec 2025 — new EC2 M9g instances)
- [AWS Launches AWS European Sovereign Cloud and Announces Expansion Across Europe](https://press.aboutamazon.com/aws/2026/1/aws-launches-aws-european-sovereign-cloud-and-announces-expansion-across-europe) (Jan 15, 2026 — GA of an independent, EU-only sovereign cloud)
- [AWS and Cerebras Collaboration Aims to Set a New Standard for AI Inference Speed and Performance in the Cloud](https://press.aboutamazon.com/aws/2026/3/aws-and-cerebras-collaboration-aims-to-set-a-new-standard-for-ai-inference-speed-and-performance-in-the-cloud) (Mar 13, 2026)
- [U.S. Bank Expands Collaboration with AWS to Accelerate Progressive Technology Transformation](https://press.aboutamazon.com/aws/2026/5/u-s-bank-expands-collaboration-with-aws-to-accelerate-progressive-technology-transformation-and-ai-driven-customer-experience-innovation) (May 2026 — large-scale banking modernization/migration to AWS)
- [CEO Andy Jassy on why AWS is booming and what it means for customers](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-aws-revenue-growth-q2-2026-earnings) (Jul 31, 2026 — AWS Q2 2026 revenue growth accelerated to 36.7% YoY, fastest in 18 quarters)
- [Amazon.com Announces Second Quarter Results](https://ir.aboutamazon.com/news-release/news-release-details/2026/Amazon-com-Announces-Second-Quarter-Results/default.aspx) (Q2 2026 — AWS segment sales up 37% YoY to $42.2B; operating income $16.6B vs $10.2B prior year)

---

## 3. Lifecycle Changes

- [AWS Systems Manager Application Manager availability change](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/application-manager-availability-change.html) (no longer open to new customers starting July 30, 2026 — Systems Manager)
- [AWS Systems Manager Change Manager availability change](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/change-manager.html) (no longer open to new customers starting November 7, 2025 — Systems Manager)
- [AWS Systems Manager Incident Manager availability change](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/incident-manager/latest/userguide/incident-manager-availability-change.html) (no longer open to new customers starting November 7, 2025 — Systems Manager)
- [AWS Systems Manager CloudWatch Dashboard retirement](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/reference.html) (no longer available after April 30, 2026 — Systems Manager)
- [AWS Systems Manager SSM Agent dashboard retirement](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/fr_fr/systems-manager/latest/userguide/ssm-agent-windows.html) (dashboard no longer available after April 30, 2026 — Systems Manager/EC2 Windows)
- [Amazon Inspector Classic end of support](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/inspector/v1/userguide/inspector-migration.html) (May 20, 2026 — console/resources become inaccessible; migrate to current-gen Amazon Inspector)
- [CloudTrail Lake availability change](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awscloudtrail/latest/userguide/cloudtrail-lake-availability-change.html) (closed to new customers starting May 31, 2026; existing customers unaffected)
- [AWS X-Ray SDKs/Daemon enter maintenance mode](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/devguide/xray-sdk-daemon-timeline.html) (Feb 25, 2026 — security-fix-only mode; migrate to OpenTelemetry)
- [Anti-DDoS Managed Rule Group supersedes Layer 7 Auto Mitigation as default AWS WAF DDoS protection](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/waf/latest/developerguide/ddos-automatic-app-layer-response.html) (effective March 26, 2026 — AWS WAF/Shield Advanced)
- [ACM public certificate maximum validity reduced to 200 days](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/acm/latest/userguide/dochistory.html) (effective for certs issued after March 15, 2026, per CA/Browser Forum mandate; renewal window updated to 45 days)
- [Amazon ECS-Optimized Amazon Linux 2 AMI reaches end-of-life](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/ecs-optimized_AMI.html) (June 30, 2026 — mirrors upstream Amazon Linux 2 EOL; affects EC2/ECS)
- [AWS Windows AMI version history — previous Amazon-published AMIs made private](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/windows-ami-version-history.html) (AMIs dated Nov 12, 2025 and earlier made private after March 9, 2026; affects EC2 Windows AMIs)

---

## 4. Security Bulletins

- [CVE-2025-55182: RCE in React Server Components ("React2Shell")](https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/AWS-2025-030/) (Dec 3, 2025 — critical CVSS 10.0 unauthenticated RCE affecting React 19.x/Next.js App Router deployments on AWS; AWS WAF managed rule updated)
- [Issue with HTTP/2 multi-frame request body inspection in AWS WAF (CVE-2026-13763)](https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/2026-048-aws/) (2026 — affects AWS WAF deployed with Application Load Balancer; crafted multi-frame HTTP/2 requests could bypass full body inspection)
- [CVE-2026-15738 – AWS Load Balancer Controller cross-namespace traffic interception via HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute priority ordering](https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/2026-055-aws/) (Jul 14, 2026 — fixed in v3.4.2)
- [CVE-2026-13769 – Insecure file permissions in AWS CLI](https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/2026-049-aws/) (2026 — world-readable credential/config files on Unix-like systems when umask isn't restrictive)
- [CVE-2026-12043 – Heap double-free vulnerability in AWS Common Runtime aws-c-http](https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/2026-043-aws/) (2026 — affects AWS SDKs/services built on AWS Common Runtime, including Lambda and EC2-based clients)
- [CVE-2026-50195, CVE-2026-53488, CVE-2026-53492, CVE-2026-53489, CVE-2026-47262 – containerd vulnerabilities](https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/2026-046-aws/) (2026 — affects EKS/ECS container runtime; includes image cache poisoning and DoS via memory exhaustion)

---

*Research performed August 9, 2026, covering announcements dated November 2025 – August 2026. No AWS Skill Builder / AWS Certification / AWS Cloud Quest updates meeting the criteria were found for Module 15. AWS CloudShell, Service Catalog, and standalone Launch Template updates within the window were also not found. Not a substitute for reviewing the live AWS What's New feed at time of course delivery.*