You shouldn't use Amazon CloudFront distribution as an origin

You cannot use an Amazon CloudFront distribution as an origin for another CloudFront distribution directly. CloudFront is primarily a content delivery network (CDN), and it's designed to pull content from an origin such as:

• Amazon S3
• Amazon EC2 / Elastic Load Balancer (ELB)
• AWS MediaPackage
• Custom HTTP servers (e.g., an on-premises web server)

Using one CloudFront distribution as the origin of another creates a loop or unnecessary complexity, which AWS does not recommend or support directly.

Workarounds or Alternatives

If you're considering doing this for performance or architecture reasons, here are some valid options:

1. Use an S3 Bucket with Static Redirects

If your first CloudFront distribution serves S3-hosted content, you can have another bucket with redirect rules and set that as the origin of the second distribution.

2. Use a Lambda@Edge Function

You can route or rewrite requests dynamically at the edge using Lambda@Edge, which might simulate “chaining” behavior without directly setting one CloudFront distribution as another’s origin.

3. Use a Custom Domain Pointing to the First CloudFront

If the first distribution is fronting a service or app, you can set its custom domain (e.g., cdn.example.com) as the origin for the second CloudFront distribution. This works only if the first distribution properly handles the Host header and CORS, if applicable.

Caveats

• Increased latency: Going through multiple CDNs increases latency and complexity.
• Header forwarding: Some headers (like Host) must be carefully handled to avoid issues.
• Cache behavior: CDN-to-CDN chaining can interfere with cache control headers, invalidations, or TTLs.

Conclusion

CloudFront should not be used directly as an origin. If you're trying to solve a specific architecture challenge (like multi-region failover, URL rewriting, or authentication routing), there might be a better alternative depending on your use case. Let me know if you'd like help designing that.