DependencyViolation: resource has dependent objects (destroy) Terraform Origin: Platform & cloud OSI layer 7 · Application Last updated 5 Nov 2026

Terraform: Error: deleting EC2 VPC (vpc-0abc): DependencyViolation: The vpc 'vpc-0abc' has dependencies and cannot be deleted

Destroy failed because something else still uses the resource (ENIs, subnets, gateways, security group rules).

Exact message you may see Error: deleting EC2 VPC (vpc-0abc): DependencyViolation: The vpc 'vpc-0abc' has dependencies and cannot be deletedDependencyViolation: resource sg-0abc has a dependent objectError: deleting Security Group: DependencyViolationError: error deleting subnet: DependencyViolation: The subnet has dependencies and cannot be deletedError deleting: DependencyViolation
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Seen on: Terraform AWS

Meaning

Find what's attached (network interfaces, load balancers, endpoints, Lambda ENIs, resources created outside Terraform). Remove/detach them first, or fix dependency ordering with depends_on. Lambda/EKS leave ENIs that take minutes to release — retry. Use console/CLI (aws ec2 describe-network-interfaces --filters Name=vpc-id,Values=...) to locate blockers.

Common causes

  • ENIs from Lambda/EKS/ELB still attached
  • Resources created manually in the VPC/subnet
  • Security group referenced by another SG
  • Missing dependency ordering
  • Eventual consistency delay

⚡ Quick fix

  1. List dependents with the CLI and delete them
  2. Retry destroy after a few minutes
  3. Add explicit depends_on or manage dependents in Terraform

Detailed fix by platform

AWS

  1. aws ec2 describe-network-interfaces --filters Name=vpc-id,Values=vpc-0abc --query 'NetworkInterfaces[].[NetworkInterfaceId,Description]'

How to diagnose

  1. Dependents — Which?
  2. Origin — Managed by TF?
  3. Retry — After delay?

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Platform & cloud. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

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