How do I delete unconfirmed subscriptions for removed topic?

Question

That's as follow-up to my previous inquire (the one ignored by AWS staff).  
  
How do I actually remove the HTTP(S) subscription(s) that can't be confirmed?  
  
SNS pretends to send requests to confirm the subscriptions (pretends, sicne Web servers register NO requests from whatever IPs to the URLs in question; firewall registers NO connections from SNS IP ranges), and it began to cost me money (even though small one).   
  
I removed the test topic, but subscriptions still remain (??), SNS still imitates the confirmation requests, but began to charge me for them!  
  
When topic is removed, how do I remove its unconfirmed subscriptions?

Answer

The support person responded:  
  
_Kindly note that when deleting SNS Subscriptions, pending confirmations cannot be deleted. After 3 days, it is automatically deleted by the Amazon SNS team._  
  
In other words, if something goes wrong with SNS service, the "undead" subscriptions will raise count of attempts (regardless of whether they actually call your URL or not), raising your invoice. If it's  SNS issue, it will still be your problem. How extremely nice!  
  
It's obviously and definitely wrong, there should be a means to remove runaway subscriptions immediately.

Answer

See also: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sns/latest/dg/sns-tutorial-delete-subscription-topic.html

Answer

Hi @temmokan,

Apologies for the inconveniences. Are you currently still facing this issue?

We now have an updated [AWS SNS blog](https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/sns-cannot-delete-topic-subscription/) that explains why by default orphaned subscriptions can't be deleted and possible resolution steps. The take away point from the above blog is that :

> *If an Amazon SNS topic has subscriptions that are in the Deleted or Pending Confirmation status when you delete the topic, the subscriptions can't be removed from your account manually. You must wait three days for Amazon SNS to automatically remove the subscriptions from your account. *

- If after 3 days your orphaned subscription is not automatically  detected please contact [**AWS Support**](https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/aws-phone-support/) so that the orphaned subscriptions can be deleted manually.

Should you have any follow-up questions related to this reported issue feel free to let us know by clicking the **comment** button.

Answer

Have you tried deleting a subscription using this command:  
  
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/sns/unsubscribe.html

Answer

It doesn't work.  
  
The problem subscriptions are unconfirmed. As such, they have no valid ARNs: insetad of ARN, "PendingConfirmation" is displayed. If I try using "PendingCOnfirmation" in aws command call, error is returned:  
  
"_An error occurred (InvalidParameter) when calling the Unsubscribe operation: Invalid parameter: SubscriptionArn Reason: An ARN must have at least 6 elements, not 1_"  
  
Hence, AWS efficiently prevents me from removing the subscriptions (meanwhile, they are increasing calls count, and I can do absolutely nothing about that).

How do I delete unconfirmed subscriptions for removed topic?

Relevant content