Use DescribeSecurityGroups with an Amazon SDK or CLI

    /// <summary>
    /// Retrieve information for an Amazon EC2 security group.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="groupId">The Id of the Amazon EC2 security group.</param>
    /// <returns>A list of security group information.</returns>
    public async Task<List<SecurityGroup>> DescribeSecurityGroups(string groupId)
    {
        var request = new DescribeSecurityGroupsRequest();
        var groupIds = new List<string> { groupId };
        request.GroupIds = groupIds;

        var response = await _amazonEC2.DescribeSecurityGroupsAsync(request);
        return response.SecurityGroups;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Display the information returned by the call to
    /// DescribeSecurityGroupsAsync.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="securityGroup">A list of security group information.</param>
    public void DisplaySecurityGroupInfoAsync(SecurityGroup securityGroup)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"{securityGroup.GroupName}");
        Console.WriteLine("Ingress permissions:");
        securityGroup.IpPermissions.ForEach(permission =>
        {
            Console.WriteLine($"\tFromPort: {permission.FromPort}");
            Console.WriteLine($"\tIpProtocol: {permission.IpProtocol}");

            Console.Write($"\tIpv4Ranges: ");
            permission.Ipv4Ranges.ForEach(range => { Console.Write($"{range.CidrIp} "); });

            Console.WriteLine($"\n\tIpv6Ranges:");
            permission.Ipv6Ranges.ForEach(range => { Console.Write($"{range.CidrIpv6} "); });

            Console.Write($"\n\tPrefixListIds: ");
            permission.PrefixListIds.ForEach(id => Console.Write($"{id.Id} "));

            Console.WriteLine($"\n\tTo Port: {permission.ToPort}");
        });
        Console.WriteLine("Egress permissions:");
        securityGroup.IpPermissionsEgress.ForEach(permission =>
        {
            Console.WriteLine($"\tFromPort: {permission.FromPort}");
            Console.WriteLine($"\tIpProtocol: {permission.IpProtocol}");

            Console.Write($"\tIpv4Ranges: ");
            permission.Ipv4Ranges.ForEach(range => { Console.Write($"{range.CidrIp} "); });

            Console.WriteLine($"\n\tIpv6Ranges:");
            permission.Ipv6Ranges.ForEach(range => { Console.Write($"{range.CidrIpv6} "); });

            Console.Write($"\n\tPrefixListIds: ");
            permission.PrefixListIds.ForEach(id => Console.Write($"{id.Id} "));

            Console.WriteLine($"\n\tTo Port: {permission.ToPort}");
        });
    }

###############################################################################
# function ec2_describe_security_groups
#
# This function describes one or more Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) security groups.
#
# Parameters:
#       -g security_group_id - The ID of the security group to describe (optional).
#
# And:
#       0 - If successful.
#       1 - If it fails.
###############################################################################
function ec2_describe_security_groups() {
  local security_group_id response
  local option OPTARG # Required to use getopts command in a function.

  # bashsupport disable=BP5008
  function usage() {
    echo "function ec2_describe_security_groups"
    echo "Describes one or more Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) security groups."
    echo "  -g security_group_id - The ID of the security group to describe (optional)."
    echo ""
  }

  # Retrieve the calling parameters.
  while getopts "g:h" option; do
    case "${option}" in
      g) security_group_id="${OPTARG}" ;;
      h)
        usage
        return 0
        ;;
      \?)
        echo "Invalid parameter"
        usage
        return 1
        ;;
    esac
  done
  export OPTIND=1

  local query="SecurityGroups[*].[GroupName, GroupId, VpcId, IpPermissions[*].[IpProtocol, FromPort, ToPort, IpRanges[*].CidrIp]]"

  if [[ -n "$security_group_id" ]]; then
    response=$(aws ec2 describe-security-groups --group-ids "$security_group_id" --query "${query}" --output text)
  else
    response=$(aws ec2 describe-security-groups --query "${query}" --output text)
  fi

  local error_code=${?}

  if [[ $error_code -ne 0 ]]; then
    aws_cli_error_log $error_code
    errecho "ERROR: AWS reports describe-security-groups operation failed.$response"
    return 1
  fi

  echo "$response"

  return 0
}

The utility functions used in this example.

###############################################################################
# function errecho
#
# This function outputs everything sent to it to STDERR (standard error output).
###############################################################################
function errecho() {
  printf "%s\n" "$*" 1>&2
}

##############################################################################
# function aws_cli_error_log()
#
# This function is used to log the error messages from the AWS CLI.
#
# The function expects the following argument:
#         $1 - The error code returned by the AWS CLI.
#
#  Returns:
#          0: - Success.
#
##############################################################################
function aws_cli_error_log() {
  local err_code=$1
  errecho "Error code : $err_code"
  if [ "$err_code" == 1 ]; then
    errecho "  One or more S3 transfers failed."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 2 ]; then
    errecho "  Command line failed to parse."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 130 ]; then
    errecho "  Process received SIGINT."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 252 ]; then
    errecho "  Command syntax invalid."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 253 ]; then
    errecho "  The system environment or configuration was invalid."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 254 ]; then
    errecho "  The service returned an error."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 255 ]; then
    errecho "  255 is a catch-all error."
  fi

  return 0
}

    Aws::EC2::EC2Client ec2Client(clientConfiguration);
    Aws::EC2::Model::DescribeSecurityGroupsRequest request;

    if (!groupID.empty()) {
        request.AddGroupIds(groupID);
    }

    Aws::String nextToken;
    do {
        if (!nextToken.empty()) {
            request.SetNextToken(nextToken);
        }

        auto outcome = ec2Client.DescribeSecurityGroups(request);
        if (outcome.IsSuccess()) {
            std::cout << std::left <<
                      std::setw(32) << "Name" <<
                      std::setw(30) << "GroupId" <<
                      std::setw(30) << "VpcId" <<
                      std::setw(64) << "Description" << std::endl;

            const std::vector<Aws::EC2::Model::SecurityGroup> &securityGroups =
                    outcome.GetResult().GetSecurityGroups();

            for (const auto &securityGroup: securityGroups) {
                std::cout << std::left <<
                          std::setw(32) << securityGroup.GetGroupName() <<
                          std::setw(30) << securityGroup.GetGroupId() <<
                          std::setw(30) << securityGroup.GetVpcId() <<
                          std::setw(64) << securityGroup.GetDescription() <<
                          std::endl;
            }
        }
        else {
            std::cerr << "Failed to describe security groups:" <<
                      outcome.GetError().GetMessage() << std::endl;
            return false;
        }

        nextToken = outcome.GetResult().GetNextToken();
    } while (!nextToken.empty());

Example 1: To describe a security group

The following describe-security-groups example describes the specified security group.

aws ec2 describe-security-groups \
    --group-ids sg-903004f8

Output:

{
    "SecurityGroups": [
        {
            "IpPermissionsEgress": [
                {
                    "IpProtocol": "-1",
                    "IpRanges": [
                        {
                            "CidrIp": "0.0.0.0/0"
                        }
                    ],
                    "UserIdGroupPairs": [],
                    "PrefixListIds": []
                }
            ],
            "Description": "My security group",
            "Tags": [
                {
                    "Value": "SG1",
                    "Key": "Name"
                }
            ],
            "IpPermissions": [
                {
                    "IpProtocol": "-1",
                    "IpRanges": [],
                    "UserIdGroupPairs": [
                        {
                            "UserId": "123456789012",
                            "GroupId": "sg-903004f8"
                        }
                    ],
                    "PrefixListIds": []
                },
                {
                    "PrefixListIds": [],
                    "FromPort": 22,
                    "IpRanges": [
                        {
                            "Description": "Access from NY office",
                            "CidrIp": "203.0.113.0/24"
                        }
                    ],
                    "ToPort": 22,
                    "IpProtocol": "tcp",
                    "UserIdGroupPairs": []
                    }
            ],
            "GroupName": "MySecurityGroup",
            "VpcId": "vpc-1a2b3c4d",
            "OwnerId": "123456789012",
            "GroupId": "sg-903004f8",
        }
    ]
}

Example 2: To describe security groups that have specific rules

The following describe-security-groups example uses filters to scope the results to security groups that have a rule that allows SSH traffic (port 22) and a rule that allows traffic from all addresses (0.0.0.0/0). The example uses the --query parameter to display only the names of the security groups. Security groups must match all filters to be returned in the results; however, a single rule does not have to match all filters. For example, the output returns a security group with a rule that allows SSH traffic from a specific IP address and another rule that allows HTTP traffic from all addresses.

aws ec2 describe-security-groups \
    --filters Name=ip-permission.from-port,Values=22 Name=ip-permission.to-port,Values=22 Name=ip-permission.cidr,Values='0.0.0.0/0' \
    --query "SecurityGroups[*].[GroupName]" \
    --output text

Output:

default
my-security-group
web-servers
launch-wizard-1

Example 3: To describe security groups based on tags

The following describe-security-groups example uses filters to scope the results to security groups that include test in the security group name, and that have the tag Test=To-delete. The example uses the --query parameter to display only the names and IDs of the security groups.

aws ec2 describe-security-groups \
    --filters Name=group-name,Values=*test* Name=tag:Test,Values=To-delete \
    --query "SecurityGroups[*].{Name:GroupName,ID:GroupId}"

Output:

[
    {
        "Name": "testfornewinstance",
        "ID": "sg-33bb22aa"
    },
    {
        "Name": "newgrouptest",
        "ID": "sg-1a2b3c4d"
    }
]

For additional examples using tag filters, see Working with tags in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

    public static void describeSecurityGroups(Ec2Client ec2, String groupId) {
        try {
            DescribeSecurityGroupsRequest request = DescribeSecurityGroupsRequest.builder()
                .groupIds(groupId)
                .build();

            // Use a paginator.
            DescribeSecurityGroupsIterable listGroups = ec2.describeSecurityGroupsPaginator(request);
            listGroups.stream()
                .flatMap(r -> r.securityGroups().stream())
                .forEach(group -> System.out
                    .println(" Group id: " +group.groupId() + " group name = " + group.groupName()));

        } catch (Ec2Exception e) {
            System.err.println(e.awsErrorDetails().errorMessage());
            System.exit(1);
        }
    }

import { DescribeSecurityGroupsCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-ec2";

import { client } from "../libs/client.js";

// Log the details of a specific security group.
export const main = async () => {
  const command = new DescribeSecurityGroupsCommand({
    GroupIds: ["SECURITY_GROUP_ID"],
  });

  try {
    const { SecurityGroups } = await client.send(command);
    console.log(JSON.stringify(SecurityGroups, null, 2));
  } catch (err) {
    console.error(err);
  }
};

suspend fun describeEC2SecurityGroups(groupId: String) {
    val request =
        DescribeSecurityGroupsRequest {
            groupIds = listOf(groupId)
        }

    Ec2Client { region = "us-west-2" }.use { ec2 ->

        val response = ec2.describeSecurityGroups(request)
        response.securityGroups?.forEach { group ->
            println("Found Security Group with id ${group.groupId}, vpc id ${group.vpcId} and description ${group.description}")
        }
    }
}

Example 1: This example describes the specified security group for a VPC. When working with security groups belonging to a VPC you must use the security group ID (-GroupId parameter), not name (-GroupName parameter), to reference the group.

Get-EC2SecurityGroup -GroupId sg-12345678

Output:

Description         : default VPC security group
GroupId             : sg-12345678
GroupName           : default
IpPermissions       : {Amazon.EC2.Model.IpPermission}
IpPermissionsEgress : {Amazon.EC2.Model.IpPermission}
OwnerId             : 123456789012
Tags                : {}
VpcId               : vpc-12345678

Example 2: This example describes the specified security group for EC2-Classic. When working with security groups for EC2-Classic you may use either the group name (-GroupName parameter) or group ID (-GroupId parameter) to reference the security group.

Get-EC2SecurityGroup -GroupName my-security-group

Output:

Description         : my security group
GroupId             : sg-45678901
GroupName           : my-security-group
IpPermissions       : {Amazon.EC2.Model.IpPermission, Amazon.EC2.Model.IpPermission}
IpPermissionsEgress : {}
OwnerId             : 123456789012
Tags                : {}
VpcId               :

Example 3: This example retrieves all the security groups for the vpc-0fc1ff23456b789eb

Get-EC2SecurityGroup -Filter @{Name="vpc-id";Values="vpc-0fc1ff23456b789eb"}

class SecurityGroupWrapper:
    """Encapsulates Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) security group actions."""

    def __init__(self, ec2_resource, security_group=None):
        """
        :param ec2_resource: A Boto3 Amazon EC2 resource. This high-level resource
                             is used to create additional high-level objects
                             that wrap low-level Amazon EC2 service actions.
        :param security_group: A Boto3 SecurityGroup object. This is a high-level object
                               that wraps security group actions.
        """
        self.ec2_resource = ec2_resource
        self.security_group = security_group

    @classmethod
    def from_resource(cls):
        ec2_resource = boto3.resource("ec2")
        return cls(ec2_resource)


    def describe(self):
        """
        Displays information about the security group.
        """
        if self.security_group is None:
            logger.info("No security group to describe.")
            return

        try:
            print(f"Security group: {self.security_group.group_name}")
            print(f"\tID: {self.security_group.id}")
            print(f"\tVPC: {self.security_group.vpc_id}")
            if self.security_group.ip_permissions:
                print(f"Inbound permissions:")
                pp(self.security_group.ip_permissions)
        except ClientError as err:
            logger.error(
                "Couldn't get data for security group %s. Here's why: %s: %s",
                self.security_group.id,
                err.response["Error"]["Code"],
                err.response["Error"]["Message"],
            )
            raise

    TRY.
        DATA lt_group_ids TYPE /aws1/cl_ec2groupidstrlist_w=>tt_groupidstringlist.
        APPEND NEW /aws1/cl_ec2groupidstrlist_w( iv_value = iv_group_id ) TO lt_group_ids.
        oo_result = lo_ec2->describesecuritygroups( it_groupids = lt_group_ids ).         " oo_result is returned for testing purposes. "
        DATA(lt_security_groups) = oo_result->get_securitygroups( ).
        MESSAGE 'Retrieved information about security groups.' TYPE 'I'.
      CATCH /aws1/cx_rt_service_generic INTO DATA(lo_exception).
        DATA(lv_error) = |"{ lo_exception->av_err_code }" - { lo_exception->av_err_msg }|.
        MESSAGE lv_error TYPE 'E'.
    ENDTRY.