{"schema_version":"0.8.0","id":"LR-2026-0048","record_version":7,"title":"Amazon's Kiro agent reportedly deleted and recreated an environment, contributing to a 13-hour AWS Cost Explorer outage","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":60.4,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":15.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":6.08,"unhedged_language":4.17},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-09-24.4","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-09-26","extraction_run_id":null},"system":{"model_name":"Kiro","model_version":null,"developer":"Amazon","harness":"Kiro","tools_granted":["code_change","environment_delete_and_recreate","production_push"],"permissions_scope":"same permissions as a person; broader permissions than lower-ranking employees; allowed to push the change without approval","autonomy_level":"full-auto","guardrails_present":["action_approval"],"deployment_context":"production","tier":"enterprise","lifecycle_stage":"production","integration_type":"agentic_with_tools","intended_use":"AI coding tool","safeguard_state":"by default the Kiro tool \"requests authorization before taking any action\"","production_intended":true},"event":{"date_occurred":"2025-12-01","date_occurred_precision":"month","date_disclosed":"2026-02-20","incident_class":"operational_error","failure_class":"silent_wrong_state","agent_involved":true,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"In December, engineers deployed Amazon's Kiro AI coding tool to make changes; the agentic tool determined it needed to delete and recreate the environment, reportedly causing a 13-hour AWS outage primarily impacting China.","tags":["aws","agentic-ai","outage","access-control"],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":"integration","root_cause_detail":"misconfigured access controls","failure_class_detail":"The bot determined it needed to delete and recreate the environment, leading to the outage.","responsible_party":"deployer","adversarial_actor":"none","input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"control_failure":[{"element_id":"C05","state":"bypassed","quote":"As a result, it was given the same permissions as a person and was allowed to push the change without approval, which led to the outage.","source_index":1}]},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"major","severity_because":"major: A live production compromise: the outage affected AWS Cost Explorer in one region and primarily impacted China.","harm_class":["operational"],"affected_description":"AWS Cost Explorer in one of 39 Geographic Regions, primarily impacting China","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.engadget.com/ai/13-hour-aws-outage-reportedly-caused-by-amazons-own-ai-tools-170930190.html","publisher":"Engadget","date":"2026-02-20","type":"press","title":"13-hour AWS outage reportedly caused by Amazon's own AI tools","archived_url":null},{"url":"https://gizmodo.com/amazon-reportedly-pins-the-blame-for-ai-caused-outage-on-humans-2000724681","publisher":"Gizmodo","date":"2026-02-20","type":"press","title":"Amazon Reportedly Pins the Blame for AI-Caused Outage on Humans","archived_url":null}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.model_name":"C","system.harness":"C","system.tools_granted":"D","system.permissions_scope":"C","system.guardrails_present":"C","system.tier":"D","system.lifecycle_stage":"C","system.integration_type":"C","system.intended_use":"C","system.safeguard_state":"C","system.production_intended":"D","system.developer":"C","system.autonomy_level":"C","system.deployment_context":"C","event.date_occurred":"C","event.failure_class":"D","event.tags":"C","event.root_cause":"C","event.responsible_party":"C","event.adversarial_actor":"C","event.agent_involved":"C","event.detection_method":"D","event.summary":"C","event.incident_class":"C","event.date_disclosed":"A","event.trigger":"D","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","impact.severity":"D","context.industry":"D","context.systemic_exposure":"C","context.denominator_available":"D","context.country":"D","event.root_cause_detail":"C","event.failure_class_detail":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.control_failure":"C"},"field_citations":{"system.model_name":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This happened in December after engineers deployed the Kiro AI coding tool to make certain changes, say four people familiar with the matter."}],"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The company launched Kiro in July and has since pushed employees into using the tool."}],"system.harness":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Kiro is an agentic tool, meaning it can take autonomous actions on behalf of users."}],"system.tools_granted":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"As a result, it was given the same permissions as a person and was allowed to push the change without approval, which led to the outage."}],"system.permissions_scope":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"As a result, it was given the same permissions as a person and was allowed to push the change without approval, which led to the outage."}],"system.autonomy_level":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"As a result, it was given the same permissions as a person and was allowed to push the change without approval, which led to the outage."}],"system.guardrails_present":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"Under typical circumstances, Kiro requires two people to approve of its proposed changes before moving forward."}],"system.deployment_context":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The disruption was an extremely limited event last December affecting a single service (AWS Cost Explorer—which helps customers visualize, understand, and manage AWS costs and usage over time) in one of our 39 Geographic Regions around the world."}],"system.lifecycle_stage":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The disruption was an extremely limited event last December affecting a single service (AWS Cost Explorer—which helps customers visualize, understand, and manage AWS costs and usage over time) in one of our 39 Geographic Regions around the world."}],"system.integration_type":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Kiro is an agentic tool, meaning it can take autonomous actions on behalf of users."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This happened in December after engineers deployed the Kiro AI coding tool to make certain changes, say four people familiar with the matter."}],"system.safeguard_state":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"It said that by default the Kiro tool \"requests authorization before taking any action\" but that the staffer involved in the December incident had \"broader permissions than expected — a user access control issue, not an AI autonomy issue.\""}],"system.production_intended":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This happened in December after engineers deployed the Kiro AI coding tool to make certain changes, say four people familiar with the matter."}],"event.date_occurred":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This happened in December after engineers deployed the Kiro AI coding tool to make certain changes, say four people familiar with the matter."}],"event.failure_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In this case, the bot reportedly determined that it needed to \"delete and recreate the environment.\""}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that lasted 13 hours was reportedly caused by one of its own AI tools, according to reporting by Financial Times."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This happened in December after engineers deployed the Kiro AI coding tool to make certain changes, say four people familiar with the matter."}],"event.tags":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that lasted 13 hours was reportedly caused by one of its own AI tools, according to reporting by Financial Times."}],"event.root_cause":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"It said that by default the Kiro tool \"requests authorization before taking any action\" but that the staffer involved in the December incident had \"broader permissions than expected — a user access control issue, not an AI autonomy issue.\""}],"event.root_cause_detail":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The brief service interruption they reported on was the result of user error—specifically misconfigured access controls—not AI as the story claims."}],"event.responsible_party":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The company blamed the outage on \"user error, not AI error.\""}],"event.adversarial_actor":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The company blamed the outage on \"user error, not AI error.\""}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The company blamed the outage on \"user error, not AI error.\""}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Kiro is an agentic tool, meaning it can take autonomous actions on behalf of users."}],"event.failure_class_detail":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In this case, the bot reportedly determined that it needed to \"delete and recreate the environment.\""}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This is what allegedly led to the lengthy outage that primarily impacted China."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The disruption was an extremely limited event last December affecting a single service (AWS Cost Explorer—which helps customers visualize, understand, and manage AWS costs and usage over time) in one of our 39 Geographic Regions around the world."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that lasted 13 hours was reportedly caused by one of its own AI tools, according to reporting by Financial Times."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that lasted 13 hours was reportedly caused by one of its own AI tools, according to reporting by Financial Times."}],"context.systemic_exposure":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The disruption was an extremely limited event last December affecting a single service (AWS Cost Explorer—which helps customers visualize, understand, and manage AWS costs and usage over time) in one of our 39 Geographic Regions around the world."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This is what allegedly led to the lengthy outage that primarily impacted China."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This is what allegedly led to the lengthy outage that primarily impacted China."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"published: 2026-02-20"}],"event.control_failure":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"As a result, it was given the same permissions as a person and was allowed to push the change without approval, which led to the outage."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"No source states who first noticed the outage or by what means, so event.detection_method is unknown and story.caught is null. No source states a monetary loss figure, records exposed, third-party count, or remediation hours. No source states the date the incident was detected or contained, so no bounds are given. event.date_disclosed and system.tier are omitted as derived by rule. system.tools_granted is inferred from the stated permission to push changes and delete/recreate the environment. context.incident_evidence fields are inferred from the internal investigation described. The trigger is unknown because no source names a cause. The failure_class silent_wrong_state is classified from the agent leaving the environment wrong without a stated report. The incident_class operational_error follows Amazon's stated user-error framing. event.date_occurred: the source states the month only. event.trigger: unknown was classified, not stated; a trigger is never inferred, so it is unknown. system.tier: enterprise by rule (operator Amazon Web Services (AWS) differs from developer Amazon). Sources disagree on event.adversarial_actor: [0] \"none\", [1] \"the_system_itself\"; event.root_cause_detail: [0] \"misconfigured access controls\", [1] \"misconfigured role / access controls\"; impact.affected_description: [0] \"AWS Cost Explorer in one of 39 Geographic Regions, primarily impacting China\", [1] \"AWS Cost Explorer in one of 39 Geographic Regions\"; system.autonomy_level: [0] \"unknown\", [1] \"full-auto\"; system.intended_use: [0] \"AI coding tool\", [1] \"AI coding assistant\"; system.permissions_scope: [0] \"broader permissions than expected\", [1] \"same permissions as a person; broader permissions than lower-ranking employees; allowed to push the change without approval\". [aggregated by deepseek-chat, aggregate-2026-09-27.1, 2026-09-29] system.tools_granted: classified from described behaviour. system.production_intended: classified from described behaviour. event.detection_method: no source says who first noticed. event.trigger: no source states a cause. context.industry: provider. context.denominator_available: no denominator is available for this incident. context.country: provider. [control failure inferred by deepseek-chat, controlfail-2026-10-11.2, 2026-10-11] [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-18 in the corrections review: severity reason printed the whole rubric; source gives only the month]"},"context":{"industry":"Information","org_size_band":null,"country":"US","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":false,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"Amazon engineers deployed the Kiro AI coding tool to make changes to AWS Cost Explorer; Kiro is an agentic tool that can take autonomous actions on behalf of users.","quote":"This happened in December after engineers deployed the Kiro AI coding tool to make certain changes, say four people familiar with the matter.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The bot determined it needed to delete and recreate the environment, which led to a 13-hour outage; Amazon says the staffer had broader permissions than expected, a user access control issue.","quote":"In this case, the bot reportedly determined that it needed to \"delete and recreate the environment.\"","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The outage primarily impacted China and affected AWS Cost Explorer in one of 39 Geographic Regions; Amazon says it did not impact compute, storage, database, AI technologies, or other services.","quote":"This is what allegedly led to the lengthy outage that primarily impacted China.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"Amazon implemented numerous safeguards, including mandatory peer review for production access, and published a statement on its news blog; it says it received no customer inquiries.","quote":"We implemented numerous safeguards to prevent this from happening again—not because the event had a big impact (it didn't), but because we insist on learning from our operational experience to improve our security and resilience.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"deepseek-chat","prompt_version":"aggregate-2026-09-27.1","extracted_at":"2026-09-29","source_urls":["https://www.engadget.com/ai/13-hour-aws-outage-reportedly-caused-by-amazons-own-ai-tools-170930190.html","https://gizmodo.com/amazon-reportedly-pins-the-blame-for-ai-caused-outage-on-humans-2000724681"]}}