diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/cloudformation.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/cloudformation.py
index eb4db41f5a..9d4283f79c 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/cloudformation.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/cloudformation.py
@@ -143,6 +143,13 @@ options:
     version_added: "2.8"
     type: int
     required: False
+  capabilities:
+    description:
+    - Specify capabilites that stack template contains.
+    - Valid values are CAPABILITY_IAM, CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM and CAPABILITY_AUTO_EXPAND.
+    type: list
+    version_added: "2.8"
+    default: [ CAPABILITY_IAM, CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM ]
 
 author: "James S. Martin (@jsmartin)"
 extends_documentation_fragment:
@@ -605,6 +612,7 @@ def main():
         backoff_retries=dict(type='int', default=10, required=False),
         backoff_delay=dict(type='int', default=3, required=False),
         backoff_max_delay=dict(type='int', default=30, required=False),
+        capabilities=dict(type='list', default=['CAPABILITY_IAM', 'CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM'])
     )
     )
 
@@ -616,9 +624,19 @@ def main():
     if not HAS_BOTO3:
         module.fail_json(msg='boto3 and botocore are required for this module')
 
+    invalid_capabilities = []
+    user_capabilities = module.params.get('capabilities')
+    for user_cap in user_capabilities:
+        if user_cap not in ['CAPABILITY_IAM', 'CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM', 'CAPABILITY_AUTO_EXPAND']:
+            invalid_capabilities.append(user_cap)
+
+    if invalid_capabilities:
+        module.fail_json(msg="Specified capabilities are invalid : %r,"
+                             " please check documentation for valid capabilities" % invalid_capabilities)
+
     # collect the parameters that are passed to boto3. Keeps us from having so many scalars floating around.
     stack_params = {
-        'Capabilities': ['CAPABILITY_IAM', 'CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM'],
+        'Capabilities': user_capabilities,
         'ClientRequestToken': to_native(uuid.uuid4()),
     }
     state = module.params['state']