Q: What is AWS Identity and
Access Management (IAM)?
You can use AWS IAM to securely control individual and group access to your AWS
resources. You can create and manage user identities ("IAM users")
and grant permissions for those IAM users to access your resources. You can also grant
permissions for users outside of AWS (federated users).
Q: How do I get started with
IAM?
To start using IAM, you must subscribe to at least one of the AWS services that
is integrated with IAM. You then can create and manage users, groups, and permissions via IAM APIs, the AWS CLI, or the IAM console, which gives you a point-and-click, web-based interface. You can also
use the visual editor to create policies.
Q: What problems does IAM
solve?
IAM makes it easy to provide multiple users secure access to your AWS
resources. IAM enables you to:
Manage IAM users and their access: You can create users in AWS's identity management system, assign users
individual security credentials (such as access keys, passwords, multi-factor authentication devices), or request temporary security credentials to provide users access to AWS services and resources. You can
specify permissions to control which operations a user can perform.
Manage access for federated users: You can request security credentials with configurable expirations for
users who you manage in your corporate directory, allowing you to provide your
employees and applications secure access to resources in your AWS account
without creating an IAM user account for them. You specify the permissions for
these security credentials to control which operations a user can perform.
Q: Who can use IAM?
Any AWS customer can use IAM. The service is offered at no additional charge.
You will be charged only for the use of other AWS services by your users.
Q: What is a user?
A user is a unique identity recognized by AWS services and applications.
Similar to a login user in an operating system like Windows or UNIX, a user has
a unique name and can identify itself using familiar security credentials such
as a password or access key. A user can be an individual, system, or
application requiring access to AWS services. IAM supports users (referred to
as "IAM users") managed in AWS's identity management system, and it
also enables you to grant access to AWS resources for users managed outside of
AWS in your corporate directory (referred to as "federated users").
Q: What can a user do?
A user can place requests to web services such as Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2. A
user's ability to access web service APIs is under the control and
responsibility of the AWS account under which it is defined. You can permit a
user to access any or all of the AWS services that have been integrated with
IAM and to which the AWS account has subscribed. If permitted, a user has
access to all of the resources under the AWS account. In addition, if the AWS
account has access to resources from a different AWS account, its users may be
able to access data under those AWS accounts. Any AWS resources created by a
user are under control of and paid for by its AWS account. A user cannot
independently subscribe to AWS services or control resources.
Q: How do users call AWS
services?
Users can make requests to AWS services using security credentials. Explicit
permissions govern a user's ability to call AWS services. By default, users
have no ability to call service APIs on behalf of the account.
Q: How do I get started with
IAM?
To start using IAM, you must subscribe to at least one of the AWS services that
is integrated with IAM. You then can create and manage users, groups, and
permissions via IAM APIs, the AWS CLI, or the IAM console, which gives you a point-and-click, web-based interface. You can also
use the AWS Policy Generator to create policies.
IAM User Management
Q: How are IAM users managed?
IAM supports multiple methods to:
Create and manage IAM users.
Create and manage IAM groups.
Manage users' security
credentials.
Create and manage policies to
grant access to AWS services and resources.
You can create and manage
users, groups, and policies by using IAM APIs, the AWS CLI, or the IAM console. You also can use the visual editor and the IAM policy simulator to create and test policies.
Q: What is a group?
A group is a collection of IAM users. Manage group membership as a simple list:
Add users to or remove them
from a group.
A user can belong to multiple
groups.
Groups cannot belong to other
groups.
Groups can be granted
permissions using access control policies. This makes it easier to manage
permissions for a collection of users, rather than having to manage permissions
for each individual user.
Groups do not have security
credentials, and cannot access web services directly; they exist solely to make
it easier to manage user permissions. For details, see Working with Groups and Users.
Q: What kinds of security
credentials can IAM users have?
IAM users can have any combination of credentials that AWS supports, such as an
AWS access key, X.509 certificate, SSH key, password for web app logins, or
an MFA device. This allows users to interact with AWS in any manner that
makes sense for them. An employee might have both an AWS access key and a
password; a software system might have only an AWS access key to make
programmatic calls; IAM users might have a private SSH key to access AWS
CodeCommit repositories; and an outside contractor might have only an X.509
certificate to use the EC2 command-line interface. For details, see Temporary Security Credentials in the IAM documentation.
Q: Which AWS services support
IAM users?
You can find the complete list of AWS services that support IAM users in
the AWS Services That Work with
IAM section of the IAM documentation. AWS plans
to add support for other services over time.
Q: Can I enable and disable
user access?
Yes. You can enable and disable an IAM user's access keys via the IAM
APIs, AWS CLI, or IAM console. If you disable the access keys, the user cannot programmatically
access AWS services.
Q: Who is able to manage users
for an AWS account?
The AWS account holder can manage users, groups, security credentials, and
permissions. In addition, you may grant permissions to individual users to
place calls to IAM APIs in order to manage other users. For example, an
administrator user may be created to manage users for a corporation—a
recommended practice. When you grant a user permission to manage other users,
they can do this via the IAM APIs, AWS CLI, or IAM console.
Q: Can I structure a
collection of users in a hierarchical way, such as in LDAP?
Yes. You can organize users and groups under paths, similar to object paths in
Amazon S3—for example /mycompany/division/project/joe.
Q: Can I define users
regionally?
Not initially. Users are global entities, like an AWS account is today. No
region is required to be specified when you define user permissions. Users can
use AWS services in any geographic region.
Q: How are MFA devices
configured for IAM users?
You (the AWS account holder) can order multiple MFA devices. You can then
assign these devices to individual IAM users via the IAM APIs, AWS CLI, or IAM console.
Q: What kind of key rotation
is supported for IAM users?
User access keys and X.509 certificates can be rotated just as they are for an
AWS account's root access identifiers. You can manage and rotate
programmatically a user's access keys and X.509 certificates via the IAM
APIs, AWS CLI, or IAM console.
Q: Can IAM users have
individual EC2 SSH keys?
Not in the initial release. IAM does not affect EC2 SSH keys or Windows RDP
certificates. This means that although each user has separate credentials for
accessing web service APIs, they must share SSH keys that are common across the
AWS account under which users have been defined.
Q: Where can I use my SSH
keys?
Currently, IAM users can use
their SSH keys only with AWS CodeCommit to access their repositories.
Q: Do IAM user names have to
be email addresses?
No, but they can be. User names are just ASCII strings that are unique within a
given AWS account. You can assign names using any naming convention you choose,
including email addresses.
Q: Which character sets can I
use for IAM user names?
You can only use ASCII characters for IAM entities.
Q: Are user attributes other
than user name supported?
Not at this time.
Q: How are user passwords set?
You can set an initial password for an IAM user via the IAM console, AWS CLI, or IAM APIs.
User passwords never appear in clear text after the initial provisioning, and
are never displayed or returned via an API call. IAM users can manage their
passwords via the My Password page in the IAM console. Users access
this page by selecting the Security Credentials option from the
drop-down list in the upper right corner of the AWS Management Console.
Q: Can I define a password
policy for my user’s passwords?
Yes, you can enforce strong passwords by requiring minimum length or at least
one number. You can also enforce automatic password expiration, prevent re-use
of old passwords, and require a password reset upon the next AWS sign-in. For
details, see Setting an Account Policy
Password for IAM Users.
Q: Can I set usage quotas on
IAM users?
No. All limits are on the AWS account as a whole. For example, if your AWS
account has a limit of 20 Amazon EC2 instances, IAM users with EC2 permissions
can start instances up to the limit. You cannot limit what an individual user
can do.
IAM
Role Management
Q: What is an IAM role?
An IAM role is an IAM entity that defines a set of permissions for
making AWS service requests. IAM roles are not associated with a specific user
or group. Instead, trusted entities assume roles, such as IAM users,
applications, or AWS services such as EC2.
Q: What problems do IAM roles solve?
IAM roles allow you to delegate access with defined permissions to trusted
entities without having to share long-term access keys. You can use IAM roles
to delegate access to IAM users managed within your account, to IAM users under
a different AWS account, or to an AWS service such as EC2.
Q: How do I get started with IAM roles?
You create a role in a way similar to how you create a user—name the role and
attach a policy to it. For details, see Creating IAM
Roles.
Q: How do I assume an IAM role?
You assume an IAM role by calling the AWS Security Token Service (STS)
AssumeRole APIs (in other words, AssumeRole, AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity, and
AssumeRoleWithSAML). These APIs return a set of temporary security credentials
that applications can then use to sign requests to AWS service APIs.
Q: How many IAM roles can I assume?
There is no limit to the number of IAM roles you can assume, but you can only
act as one IAM role when making requests to AWS services.
Q: Who can use IAM roles?
Any AWS customer can use IAM roles.
Q: How much do IAM roles cost?
IAM roles are free of charge. You will continue to pay for any resources a role
in your AWS account consumes.
Q: How are IAM roles managed?
You can create and manage IAM roles via the IAM APIs, AWS CLI, or IAM console, which gives
you a point-and-click, web-based interface.
Q: What is the difference between an IAM role and an IAM
user?
An IAM user has permanent long-term credentials and is used to directly
interact with AWS services. An IAM role does not have any credentials and
cannot make direct requests to AWS services. IAM roles are meant to be assumed
by authorized entities, such as IAM users, applications, or an AWS service such
as EC2.
Q: When should I use an IAM user, IAM group, or IAM role?
An IAM user has permanent long-term credentials and is
used to directly interact with AWS services. An IAM group is primarily a
management convenience to manage the same set of permissions for a set of IAM
users. An IAM role is an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) entity with
permissions to make AWS service requests. IAM roles cannot make direct requests
to AWS services; they are meant to be assumed by authorized entities, such as
IAM users, applications, or AWS services such as EC2. Use IAM roles to delegate
access within or between AWS accounts.
Q: Can I add an IAM role to an IAM group?
Not at this time.
Q: How many policies can I attach to an IAM role?
For inline policies: You can add as many inline policies as
you want to a user, role, or group, but the total aggregate policy size (the
sum size of all inline policies) per entity cannot exceed the following limits:
User policy size cannot exceed 2,048 characters.
Role policy size cannot exceed 10,240 characters.
Group policy size cannot exceed 5,120 characters.
For managed policies: You can add up to 10 managed policies
to a user, role, or group. The size of each managed policy cannot exceed 6,144
characters.
Q: How many IAM roles can I create?
You are limited to 1,000 IAM roles under your AWS account. If you need more
roles, submit the IAM limit
increase request form with your use case, and we will consider
your request.
Q: To which services can my application make requests?
Your application can make requests to all AWS services
that support role sessions.
Q: What is IAM roles for EC2 instances?
IAM roles for EC2 instances enables your applications running on EC2 to make
requests to AWS services such as Amazon S3, Amazon SQS, and Amazon SNS without
you having to copy AWS access keys to every instance. For details, see IAM Roles for Amazon EC2.
Q: What are the features of IAM roles for EC2 instances?
IAM roles for EC2 instances provides the following
features:
AWS temporary security credentials to use when making
requests from running EC2 instances to AWS services.
Automatic rotation of the AWS temporary security
credentials.
Granular AWS service permissions for applications running
on EC2 instances.
Q: What problem does IAM roles for EC2 instances solve?
IAM roles for EC2 instances simplifies management and deployment of AWS access
keys to EC2 instances. Using this feature, you associate an IAM role with an
instance. Then your EC2 instance provides the temporary security credentials to
applications running on the instance, and the applications can use these
credentials to make requests securely to the AWS service resources defined in
the role.
Q: How do I get started with IAM roles for EC2 instances?
To understand how roles work with EC2 instances, you need to use the IAM
console to create a role, launch an EC2 instance that uses that role, and then
examine the running instance. You can examine the instance metadata to see how
the role credentials are made available to an instance. You can also see how an
application that runs on an instance can use the role. For more details,
see How Do I Get Started?
Q: Can I use the same IAM role on multiple EC2 instances?
Yes.
Q: Can I change the IAM role on a running EC2 instance?
Yes. Although a role is usually assigned to an EC2 instance when you launch it,
a role can also be assigned to an EC2 instance that is already running. To
learn how to assign a role to a running instance, see IAM Roles for Amazon EC2. You can also change the permissions
on the IAM role associated with a running instance, and the updated permissions
take effect almost immediately.
Q: Can I associate an IAM role with an already running
EC2 instance?
Yes. You can assign a role to an EC2 instance that is already running. To learn
how to assign a role to an already running instance, see IAM Roles for Amazon EC2.
Q: Can I associate an IAM role with an Auto Scaling
group?
Yes. You can add an IAM role as an additional parameter
in an Auto Scaling launch configuration and create an Auto Scaling group with
that launch configuration. All EC2 instances launched in an Auto Scaling group
that is associated with an IAM role are launched with the role as an input
parameter. For more details, see What Is Auto
Scaling? in the Auto Scaling Developer Guide.
Q: Can I
associate more than one IAM role with an EC2 instance?
No. You can only associate one IAM role with an EC2 instance at this
time. This limit of one role per instance cannot be increased.
Q: What happens if I delete an IAM role that is
associated with a running EC2 instance?
Any application running on the instance that is using the role will be denied
access immediately.
Q: Can I control which IAM roles an IAM user can
associate with an EC2 instance?
Yes. For details, see Permissions Required for Using Roles with Amazon EC2.
Q: Which permissions are required to launch EC2 instances
with an IAM role?
You must grant an IAM user two distinct permissions to successfully launch EC2
instances with roles:
Permission to launch EC2 instances.
Permission to associate an IAM role with EC2 instances.
Q: Who can access the access keys on an EC2 instance?
Any local user on the instance can access the access keys associated with the
IAM role.
Q: How do I use the IAM role with my application on the
EC2 instance?
If you develop your application with the AWS SDK, the AWS SDK automatically
uses the AWS access keys that have been made available on the EC2 instance. If
you are not using the AWS SDK, you can retrieve the access keys from the EC2 instance
metadata service. For details, see Using an IAM
Role to Grant Permissions to Applications Running on Amazon EC2 Instances.
Q: How do I rotate the temporary security credentials on
the EC2 instance?
The AWS temporary security credentials associated with an IAM role are
automatically rotated multiple times a day. New temporary security credentials
are made available no later than five minutes before the existing temporary
security credentials expire.
Q: Can I use IAM roles for EC2 instances with any
instance type or Amazon Machine Image?
Yes. IAM roles for EC2 instances also work in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud
(VPC), with spot and reserved instances.
Q: What is a service-linked role?
A service-linked role is a type of role that links to an
AWS service (also known as a linked service) such that only the linked
service can assume the role. Using these roles, you can delegate permissions to
AWS services to create and manage AWS resources on your behalf.
Q: Can I assume a service-linked role?
No. A service-linked role can be assumed only by the linked service. This is
the reason why the trust policy of a service-linked role cannot be modified.
Q: Can I delete a service-linked role?
Yes. If you no longer want an AWS service to perform actions on your behalf,
you can delete its service-linked role. Before you delete the role, you must
delete all AWS resources that depend on the role. This step ensures that you do
not inadvertently delete a role required for your AWS resources to function
properly.
Q: How do I delete a service-linked role?
You can delete a service-linked role from the IAM console.
Choose Roles in the navigation pane, choose the service-linked role
that you want to delete, and choose Delete
role. (Note: For Amazon Lex, you must use the Amazon Lex
console to delete the service-linked role.)
Permissions
Q: How do permissions work?
Access control policies are
attached to users, groups, and roles to assign permissions to AWS resources. By
default, IAM users, groups, and roles have no permissions; users with
sufficient permissions must use a policy to grant the desired permissions.
Q: How do I assign permissions
using a policy?
To set permissions, you can
create and attach policies using the AWS Management Console, the IAM API, or
the AWS CLI. Users who have been granted the necessary permissions can create
policies and assign them to IAM users, groups, and roles.
Q: What are managed policies?
Managed policies are IAM
resources that express permissions using the IAM policy language. You can
create, edit, and manage separately from the IAM users, groups, and roles to
which they are attached. After you attach a managed policy to multiple IAM
users, groups, or roles, you can update that policy in one place and the
permissions automatically extend to all attached entities. Managed policies are
managed either by you (these are called customer managed policies) or by AWS
(these are called AWS managed policies). For more information about managed
policies, see Managed
Policies and Inline Policies.
Q: How do I create a customer
managed policy?
You can use the visual editor or the JSON editor in the IAM console. The visual editor is
a point-and-click editor that guides you through the process of granting
permissions in a policy without requiring you to write the policy in JSON. You can create policies in JSON by using the CLI and SDK.
Q: How do I assign commonly
used permissions?
AWS provides a set of commonly
used permissions that you can attach to IAM users, groups, and roles in your
account. These are called AWS managed policies. One example is read-only access
for Amazon S3. When AWS updates these policies, the permissions are applied
automatically to the users, groups, and roles to which the policy is attached.
AWS managed policies automatically appear in the Policies section of
the IAM console. When you assign permissions, you can use an AWS managed policy
or you can create your own customer managed policy. Create a new policy based
on an existing AWS managed policy, or define your own.
Q: How do group-based
permissions work?
Use IAM groups to assign the
same set of permissions to multiple IAM users. A user can also have individual
permissions assigned to them. The two ways to attach permissions to users work
together to set overall permissions.
Q: What is the difference
between assigning permissions using IAM groups and assigning permissions using
managed policies?
Use IAM groups to collect IAM
users and define common permissions for those users. Use managed policies to
share permissions across IAM users, groups, and roles. For example, if you want
a group of users to be able to launch an Amazon EC2 instance, and you also want
the role on that instance to have the same permissions as the users in the
group, you can create a managed policy and assign it to the group of users and
the role on the Amazon EC2 instance.
Q: How are IAM policies
evaluated in conjunction with Amazon S3, Amazon SQS, Amazon SNS, and AWS KMS
resource-based policies?
IAM policies are evaluated
together with the service’s resource-based policies. When a policy of any type
grants access (without explicitly denying it), the action is allowed. For more
information about the policy evaluation logic, see IAM Policy Evaluation Logic.
Q: Can I use a managed policy
as a resource-based policy?
Managed policies can only be
attached to IAM users, groups, or roles. You cannot use them as resource-based
policies.
Q: How do I set granular
permissions using policies?
Using policies, you can
specify several layers of permission granularity. First, you can define
specific AWS service actions you wish to allow or explicitly deny access to.
Second, depending on the action, you can define specific AWS resources the
actions can be performed on. Third, you can define conditions to specify when
the policy is in effect (for example, if MFA is enabled or not).
Q: How can I easily remove
unnecessary permissions?
To help you determine which
permissions are needed, the IAM console now displays service
last accessed data that shows
the hour when an IAM entity (a user, group, or role) last accessed an AWS
service. Knowing if and when an IAM entity last exercised a permission can help
you remove unnecessary permissions and tighten your IAM policies with less
effort.
Q: Can I grant permissions to
access or change account-level information (for example, payment instrument,
contact email address, and billing history)?
Yes, you can delegate the
ability for an IAM user or a federated user to view AWS billing data and modify
AWS account information. For more information about controlling access to your
billing information, see Controlling
Access.
Q: Who can create and manage
access keys in an AWS account?
Only the AWS account owner can
manage the access keys for the root account. The account owner and IAM users or
roles that have been granted the necessary permissions can manage access keys
for IAM users.
Q: Can I grant permissions to
access AWS resources owned by another AWS account?
Yes. Using IAM roles, IAM users and federated users can access resources in
another AWS account via the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the APIs.
See Manage IAM Roles for more information.
Q: What does a policy look like?
The following policy grants
access to add, update, and delete objects from a specific folder,
example_folder, in a specific bucket, example_bucket.
{
"Version":"2012-10-17",
"Statement":[
{
"Effect":"Allow",
"Action":[
"s3:PutObject",
"s3:GetObject",
"s3:GetObjectVersion",
"s3:DeleteObject",
"s3:DeleteObjectVersion"
],
"Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::example_bucket/example_folder/*"
}
]
}
Q: What is a policy summary?
If you are using the IAM
console and choose a policy, you will see a policy summary. A policy summary
lists the access level, resources, and conditions for each service defined in a
policy (see the following screenshot for an example). The access level (View,
Read, Write, or Permissions management) is defined by actions granted for each
service in the policy. You can view the policy in JSON by choosing
the JSON button.
Service
|
Access Level
|
Resource
|
Request Condition
|
Allow (10 of 94
Services)
| |||
Cloud
Formation
|
Full: List; Limited: Read,
Write
|
All Resourcess
|
None
|
CloudWatch
Logs
|
Full Access
|
Multiple
|
None
|
EC2
|
Full: List; Limited: Read
|
All Resourcess
|
None
|
Elastic
Beanstalk
|
Full Access
|
All Resourcess
|
Elasticbeanstalk:In Application= arn:aws:
elasticbeanstalk*.111…
|
Policy Simulator
Q: What is the
IAM policy simulator?
The IAM policy simulator is a tool to help you understand, test, and validate
the effects of your access control policies.
Q: What can the
policy simulator be used for?
You can use the policy simulator in several ways. You can test policy changes
to ensure they have the desired effect before committing them to production.
You can validate existing policies attached to users, groups, and roles to
verify and troubleshoot permissions. You can also use the policy simulator to
understand how IAM policies and resource-based
policieswork together to
grant or deny access to AWS resources.
Q: Who can use
the policy simulator?
The policy simulator is available to all AWS customers.
Q: How much does
the policy simulator cost?
The policy simulator is available at no extra cost.
Q: How do I get
started?
Go to https://policysim.aws.amazon.com, or click the link on the IAM console under
“Additional Information.” Specify a new policy or choose an existing set of
policies from a user, group, or role that you’d like to evaluate. Then select a
set of actions from the list of AWS services, provide any required information
to simulate the access request, and run the simulation to determine whether the
policy allows or denies permissions to the selected actions and resources. To
learn more about the IAM policy simulator, watch our Getting
Started video or
see the documentation.
Q: What kinds of
policies does the IAM policy simulator support?
The policy simulator supports testing of newly entered policies and existing
policies attached to users, groups, or roles. In addition, you can simulate
whether resource-level policies grant access to a particular resource for
Amazon S3 buckets, Amazon Glacier vaults, Amazon SNS topics, and Amazon SQS
queues. These are included in the simulation when an Amazon Resource Name (ARN)
is specified in the Resource field in Simulation
Settings for a service that supports resource policies.
Q: If I change a
policy in the policy simulator, do those changes persist in production?
No. To apply changes to production, copy the policy that you’ve modified in the
policy simulator and attach it to the desired IAM user, group, or role.
Q: Can I use the
policy simulator programmatically?
Yes. You can use the policy simulator using the AWS SDKs or AWS CLI in addition
to the policy simulator console. Use the iam:SimulatePrincipalPolicy API to programmatically test your existing
IAM policies. To test the effects of new or updated policies that are not yet
attached to a user, group, or role, call the iam:SimulateCustomPolicy API.
Signing In
Q: How does an
IAM user sign in?
To sign in to
the AWS Management Console as an IAM user, you must provide your account ID or
account alias in addition to your user name and password. When your
administrator created your IAM user in the
console, they should
have provided you with your user name and the URL to your account sign-in page.
That URL includes your account ID or account alias.
https://My_AWS_Account_ID.signin.aws.amazon.com/console/
You can also
sign in at the following general sign-in endpoint and type your account ID or
account alias manually:
https://console.aws.amazon.com/
For convenience,
the AWS sign-in page uses a browser cookie to remember the IAM user name and
account information. The next time the user goes to any page in the AWS
Management Console, the console uses the cookie to redirect the user to the
account sign-in page.
Note: IAM users
can still use the URL link provided to them by their administrator to sign in
to the AWS Management Console.
Q: What is an
AWS account alias?
The account
alias is a name you define to make it more convenient to identify your account.
You can create an alias using the IAM APIs, AWS Command Line Tools, or the IAM console. You can have one alias per AWS account.
Q: Which AWS
sites can IAM users access?
IAM users can
sign in to the following AWS sites:
Q: Can IAM users
sign in to other Amazon.com properties with their credentials?
No. Users created with IAM are recognized only by AWS services and
applications.
Q: Is there an
authentication API to verify IAM user sign-ins?
No. There is no programmatic way to verify user sign-ins.
Q: Can users SSH
to EC2 instances using their AWS user name and password?
No. User security credentials created with IAM are not supported for direct
authentication to customer EC2 instances. Managing EC2 SSH credentials is the
customer’s responsibility within the EC2 console.
Temporary Security Credentials
Q: What are
temporary security credentials?
Temporary security credentials consist of the AWS access key ID, secret access
key, and security token. Temporary security credentials are valid for a
specified duration and for a specific set of permissions. Temporary security
credentials are sometimes simply referred to as tokens. Tokens can
be requested for IAM users or for federated users you manage in your own
corporate directory. For more information, see Common Scenarios for Temporary
Credentials.
Q: What are the
benefits of temporary security credentials?
Temporary security credentials allow you to:
Extend your
internal user directories to enable federation to AWS, enabling your employees
and applications to securely access AWS service APIs without needing to create
an AWS identity for them.
Request
temporary security credentials for an unlimited number of federated users.
Configure the
time period after which temporary security credentials expire, offering
improved security when accessing AWS service APIs through mobile devices where
there is a risk of losing the device.
Q: How can I
request temporary security credentials for federated users?
You can call the GetFederationToken, AssumeRole, AssumeRoleWithSAML, or AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity STS APIs.
Q: How can IAM
users request temporary security credentials for their own use?
IAM users can request temporary security credentials for their own use by
calling the AWS STS GetSessionToken API. The default expiration for these
temporary credentials is 12 hours; the minimum is 15 minutes, and the maximum
is 36 hours.
Q: How can I use
temporary security credentials to call AWS service APIs?
If you're making direct HTTPS API requests to AWS, you can sign those requests
with the temporary security credentials that you get from AWS Security Token
Service (AWS STS). To do this, do the following:
Use the access
key ID and secret access key that are provided with the temporary security
credentials the same way you would use long-term credentials to sign a request.
For more information about signing HTTPS API requests, see Signing
AWS API Requests in
the AWS General Reference.
Use the session
token that is provided with the temporary security credentials. Include the
session token in the "x-amz-security-token" header. See the following
example request.
For Amazon S3,
via the "x-amz- security-token" HTTP header.
For other AWS
services, via the SecurityToken parameter.
Q: Which AWS
services accept temporary security credentials?
Q: What is the
maximum size of the access policy that I can specify when requesting temporary
security credentials (either GetFederationToken or AssumeRole)?
The policy plaintext must be 2048 bytes or shorter. However, an internal
conversion compresses it into a packed binary format with a separate limit.
Q: Can a
temporary security credential be revoked prior to its expiration?
No. When requesting temporary credentials, we recommend the following:
When creating
temporary security credentials, set the expiration to a value that is
appropriate for your application.
Because root
account permissions cannot be restricted, use an IAM user and not the root
account for creating temporary security credentials. You can revoke permissions
of the IAM user that issued the original call to request it. This action almost
immediately revokes privileges for all temporary security credentials issued by
that IAM user
Q: Can I
reactivate or extend the expiration of temporary security credentials?
No. It is a good practice to actively check the expiration and request a new
temporary security credential before the old one expires. This rotation process
is automatically managed for you when temporary security credentials are used
in roles for EC2 instances.
Q: Are temporary
security credentials supported in all regions?
Customers can request tokens from AWS STS endpoints in all regions, including
AWS GovCloud (US) and China (Beijing) regions. Temporary credentials from AWS
GovCloud (US) and China (Beijing) can be used only in the region from which
they originated. Temporary credentials requested from any other region such as
US East (N. Virginia) or EU (Ireland) can be used in all regions except AWS
GovCloud (US) and China (Beijing).
Q: Can I
restrict the use of temporary security credentials to a region or a subset of
regions?
No. You cannot
restrict the temporary security credentials to a particular region or subset of
regions, except the temporary security credentials from AWS GovCloud (US) and
China (Beijing), which can be used only in the respective regions from which
they originated.
Q: What do I
need to do before I can start using an AWS STS endpoint?
AWS STS
endpoints are active by default in all regions and you can start using them
without any further actions.
Q: What happens
if I try to use a regional AWS STS endpoint that has been deactivated for
my AWS account?
If you attempt
to use a regional AWS STS endpoint that has been deactivated for your AWS
account, you will see an AccessDenied exception from AWS STS with the
following message: “AWS STS is not activated in this region for account: AccountID.
Your account administrator can activate AWS STS in this region using the IAM
console.”
Q: What
permissions are required to activate or deactivate AWS STS regions from the
Account Settings page?
Only users with
at least iam:* permissions can activate or deactivate AWS STS regions from the Account
Settings page in the IAM console. Note that the AWS STS endpoints in US
East (N. Virginia), AWS GovCloud (US), and China (Beijing) regions are always
active and cannot be deactivated.
Q: Can I use the
API or CLI to activate or deactivate AWS STS regions?
No. There is no
API or CLI support at this time to activate or deactivate AWS STS regions. We
plan to provide API and CLI support in a future release.
Identity Federation
Q: What is identity
federation?
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) supports identity federation for
delegated access to the AWS Management Console or AWS APIs. With identity
federation, external identities are granted secure access to resources in your
AWS account without having to create IAM users. These external identities can
come from your corporate identity provider (such as Microsoft Active Directory
or from the AWS Directory Service) or from a web identity provider (such
as Amazon Cognito, Login with Amazon, Facebook, Google, or any OpenID
Connect-compatible provider).
Q: What are federated users?
Federated users (external identities) are users you manage outside of AWS in
your corporate directory, but to whom you grant access to your AWS account
using temporary security credentials. They differ from IAM users, which are
created and maintained in your AWS account.
Q: Do you support SAML?
Yes, AWS supports the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 2.0.
Q: What SAML profiles does AWS
support?
The AWS single sign-on (SSO) endpoint supports the IdP-initiated HTTP-POST
binding WebSSO SAML Profile. This enables a federated user to sign in to the
AWS Management Console using a SAML assertion. A SAML assertion can also be used to request temporary security
credentials using the AssumeRoleWithSAML API. For more information, see About
SAML 2.0-Based Federation.
Q: Can federated users access
AWS APIs?
Yes. You can programmatically request temporary security credentials for your
federated users to provide them secure and direct access to AWS APIs. We have
provided a sample application that demonstrates how you can enable identity federation,
providing users maintained by Microsoft Active Directory access to AWS service
APIs. For more information, see Using Temporary Security
Credentials to Request Access to AWS Resources.
Q: Can federated users access
the AWS Management Console?
Yes. There are a couple ways to achieve this. One way is by programmatically
requesting temporary security credentials (such as GetFederationToken or
AssumeRole) for your federated users and including those credentials as part of
the sign-in request to the AWS Management Console. After you have authenticated
a user and granted them temporary security credentials, you generate a sign-in
token that is used by the AWS single sign-on (SSO) endpoint. The user’s actions
in the console are limited to the access control policy associated with the temporary security credentials. For more
details, see Creating
a URL that Enables Federated Users to Access the AWS Management Console (Custom
Federation Broker).
Alternatively, you can post a
SAML assertion directly to AWS sign-in (https://signin.aws.amazon.com/saml). The user’s actions in the console are limited to the access control
policy associated with the IAM role that is assumed using the SAML assertion.
For more details, see Enabling SAML 2.0 Federated
Users to Access the AWS Management Console.
Using either approach allows a
federated user to access the console without having to sign in with a user name
and password. We have provided a sample application that demonstrates how you can enable identity federation,
providing users maintained by Microsoft Active Directory access to the AWS
Management Console.
Q: How do I control what a
federated user is allowed to do when signed in to the console?
When you request temporary security credentials for your federated user using
an AssumeRole API, you can optionally include an access policy with the
request. The federated user’s privileges are the intersection of permissions
granted by the access policy passed with the request and the access policy
attached to the IAM role that was assumed. The access policy passed with the
request cannot elevate the privileges associated with the IAM role being
assumed. When you request temporary security credentials for your federated
user using the GetFederationToken API, you must provide an access control
policy with the request. The federated user’s privileges are the intersection
of the permissions granted by the access policy passed with the request and the
access policy attached to the IAM user that was used to make the request. The
access policy passed with the request cannot elevate the privileges associated
with the IAM user used to make the request. These federated user permissions
apply to both API access and actions taken within the AWS Management Console.
Q: What permissions does a
federated user need to use the console?
A user requires permissions to the AWS service APIs called by the AWS
Management Console. Common permissions required to access AWS services are
documented in Using
Temporary Security Credentials to Request Access to AWS Resources.
Q: How do I control how
long a federated user has access to the AWS Management Console?
Depending on the API used to create the temporary security credentials, you can
specify a session limit between 15 minutes and 36 hours (for GetFederationToken
and GetSessionToken) and between 15 minutes and 12 hours (for AssumeRole*
APIs), during which time the federated user can access the console. When the
session expires, the federated user must request a new session by returning to
your identity provider, where you can grant them access again. Learn more
about setting
session duration.
Q: What happens when the
identity federation console session times out?
The user is presented with a message stating that the console session has timed
out and that they need to request a new session. You can specify a URL to
direct users to your local intranet web page where they can request a new
session. You add this URL when you specify an Issuer parameter as part of your
sign-in request. For more information, see Enabling
SAML 2.0 Federated Users to Access the AWS Management Console.
Q: How many federated users
can I give access to the AWS Management Console?
There is no limit to the number of federated users who can be given access to
the console.
Q: What is web identity
federation?
Web identity federation allows
you to create AWS-powered mobile apps that use public identity providers (such
as Amazon Cognito, Login with Amazon, Facebook, Google, or any OpenID
Connect-compatible provider) for
authentication. With web identity federation, you have an easy way to integrate
sign-in from public identity providers (IdPs) into your apps without having to
write any server-side code and without distributing long-term AWS security
credentials with the app.
For more information about web
identity federation and to get started, see About Web
Identity Federation.
Q: How do I enable web
identity federation with accounts from public IdPs?
For best results, use Amazon
Cognito as your identity broker for almost all web identity federation
scenarios. Amazon Cognito is easy to use and provides additional capabilities
such as anonymous (unauthenticated) access, and synchronizing user data across
devices and providers. However, if you have already created an app that uses
web identity federation by manually calling the AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity API,
you can continue to use it and your apps will still work.
Here are the basic steps to
enable identify federation using one of the supported web IdPs:
- Sign up as a developer with the IdP and configure your app with the IdP, who gives you a unique ID for your app.
- If you use an IdP that is compatible with OIDC, create an identity provider entity for it in IAM.
- In AWS, create one or more IAM roles.
- In your application, authenticate your users with the public IdP.
- In your app, make an unsigned call to the AssumeRoleWithWebidentity API to request temporary security credentials.
- Using the temporary security credentials you get in the AssumeRoleWithWebidentity response, your app makes signed requests to AWS APIs.
Your app caches the temporary security credentials so that you do not
have to get new ones each time the app needs to make a request to AWS.
Q: How does identity federation using AWS Directory
Service differ from using a third-party identity management solution?
If you want your federated users to be able to
access only the AWS Management Console, using AWS Directory Service provides
similar capabilities compared to using a third-party
identity management solution. End users are
able to sign in using their existing corporate credentials and access the AWS
Management Console. Because AWS Directory Service is a managed service,
customers do not need to set up or manage federation infrastructure, but rather
need to create an AD Connector directory to integrate with their on-premises
directory. If you are interested in providing your federated users access to
AWS APIs, use a third-party offering, or deploy your own proxy server.
No, this is not currently supported.
Q: Does the IAM service cost anything?
No, this is a feature of your AWS account provided at no additional charge.Q: Who pays for usage incurred by users under an AWS Account?
The AWS account owner controls and is responsible for all usage, data, and resources under the account.Q: Is billable user activity logged in AWS usage data?Not currently. This is planned for a future release.
Billing
Q: Does AWS Billing provide aggregated usage and cost breakdowns by user?No, this is not currently supported.
Q: Does the IAM service cost anything?
No, this is a feature of your AWS account provided at no additional charge.Q: Who pays for usage incurred by users under an AWS Account?
The AWS account owner controls and is responsible for all usage, data, and resources under the account.Q: Is billable user activity logged in AWS usage data?Not currently. This is planned for a future release.
Q: How does IAM compare with Consolidated Billing?
IAM and Consolidated Billing are complementary features. Consolidated Billing enables you to consolidate payment for multiple AWS accounts within your company by designating a single paying account. The scope of IAM is not related to Consolidated Billing. A user exists within the confines of an AWS account and does not have permissions across linked accounts. For more details, see Paying Bills for Multiple Accounts Using Consolidated Billing.
Q: Can a user access the AWS accounts billing information?
Yes, but only if you let them. In order for IAM users to access billing information, you must first grant access to the Account Activity or Usage Reports. See Controlling Access.
Additional Questions
Q: What happens
if a user tries to access a service that has not yet been integrated with IAM?
The service returns an “Access denied” error.
Q: Are IAM
actions logged for auditing purposes?
Yes. You can log IAM actions, STS actions, and AWS Management Console sign-ins
by activating AWS CloudTrail. To learn more about AWS logging, see AWS CloudTrail.
Q: Is there any
distinction between people and software agents as AWS entities?
No, both of these entities are treated like users with security credentials and
permissions. However, people are the only ones to use a password in the AWS
Management Console.
Q: Do users work
with AWS Support Center and Trusted Advisor?
Yes, IAM users have the ability to create and modify support cases as well as
use Trusted Advisor.
Q: Are there any
default quota limits associated with IAM?
Yes, by default your AWS account has initial quotas set for all IAM-related
entities. For details see Limitations
on IAM Entities and Objects.
These quotas are
subject to change. If you require an increase, you can access the Service Limit Increase form via the Contact Us page, and choose IAM
Groups and Users from the Limit Type drop-down list.
Multi-Factor Authentication
Q. What is AWS
MFA?
AWS multi-factor authentication (AWS MFA) provides an extra level of security
that you can apply to your AWS environment. You can enable AWS MFA for your AWS
account and for individual AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) users you
create under your account.
Q. How does AWS
MFA work?
AWS MFA uses an authentication device that continually generates random,
six-digit, single-use authentication codes. There are two primary ways to
authenticate using an AWS MFA device:
- AWS Management Console users: When a user with MFA enabled signs in to an AWS website, they are prompted for their user name and password (the first factor–what they know), and an authentication code from their AWS MFA device (the second factor–what they have). All AWS websites that require sign-in, such as the AWS Management Console, fully support AWS MFA. You can also use AWS MFA together with Amazon S3 secure delete for additional protection of your S3 stored versions.
- AWS API users: You can enforce MFA authentication by adding MFA restrictions to your IAM policies. To access APIs and resources protected in this way, developers can request temporary security credentials and pass optional MFA parameters in their AWS Security Token Service (STS) API requests (the service that issues temporary security credentials). MFA-validated temporary security credentials can be used to call MFA-protected APIs and resources.Q. How do I help protect my AWS resources with MFA?Follow two easy steps:1. Get an authentication device. You have two options:
- Purchase a hardware device from Gemalto, a third-party provider.
- Install a virtual MFA–compatible application on a device such as your smartphone.2. After you have an authentication device, you must activate it in the IAM console. You can also use the IAM CLI to activate the device for an IAM user.
- Q. Is there a fee associated with using AWS MFA?
- AWS does not charge any additional fees for using AWS MFA with your AWS account. However, if you want to use a physical authentication device then you will need to purchase an authentication device that is compatible with AWS MFA from Gemalto, a third party provider. For more details, please visit Gemalto’s website.
- Yes. Each IAM user can have its own authentication device. However, each identity (IAM user or root account) can be associated with only one authentication device.Q. Can I use my authentication device with multiple AWS accounts?
- No. The authentication device or mobile phone number is bound to an individual AWS identity (IAM user or root account). If you have a TOTP-compatible application installed on your smartphone, you can create multiple virtual MFA devices on the same smartphone. Each one of the virtual MFA devices is bound to a single identity, just like a hardware device. If you dissociate (deactivate) the authentication device, you can then reuse it with a different AWS identity. The authentication device cannot be used by more than one identity simultaneously
- No. AWS MFA relies on knowing a unique secret associated with your authentication device in order to support its use. Because of security constraints that mandate such secrets never be shared between multiple parties, AWS MFA cannot support the use of your existing hardware authentication device. Only a compatible hardware authentication device purchased from Gemalto can be used with AWS MFA.
- Purchasing an MFA DeviceQ. I’m having a problem with an order for an authentication device using the third-party provider Gemalto’s website. Where can I get help?
- Q. I received a defective or damaged authentication device from the third party provider Gemalto. Where can I get help?
- Q. I just received an authentication device from the third party provider Gemalto. What should I do?You simply need to activate the authentication device to enable AWS MFA for your AWS account. See the IAM console to perform this task.
- Provisioning a Virtual MFA Device
- Q. What is a virtual MFA device?A virtual MFA device is an entry created in a TOTP compatible software application that can generate six-digit authentication codes. The software application can run on any compatible computing device, such as a smartphone.
- Q. What are the differences between a virtual MFA device and physical MFA devices?Virtual MFA devices use the same protocols as the physical MFA devices. Virtual MFA devices are software based and can run on your existing devices such as smartphones. Most virtual MFA applications also allow you to enable more than one virtual MFA device, which makes them more convenient than physical MFA devices.
- Q. Which virtual MFA applications can I use with AWS MFA?You can use applications that generate TOTP-compliant authentication codes, such as the Google Authenticator application, with AWS MFA. You can provision virtual MFA devices either automatically by scanning a QR code with the device's camera or by manual seed entry in the virtual MFA application.
- Q. What is a QR code?A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that is readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and most smartphones. The code consists of black squares arranged in larger square patterns on a white background. The QR code contains the required security configuration information to provision a virtual MFA device in your virtual MFA application.
- Q. How do I provision a new virtual MFA device?You can configure a new virtual MFA device in the IAM console for your IAM users as well as for your AWS root account. You can also use the aws iam create-virtual-mfa-device command in the AWS CLI or the CreateVirtualMFADevice API to provision new virtual MFA devices under your account. The aws iam create-virtual-mfa-device and the CreateVirtualMFADevice API return the required configuration information, called a seed, to configure the virtual MFA device in your AWS MFA compatible application. You can either grant your IAM users the permissions to call this API directly or perform the initial provisioning for them.
- Q. How should I handle and distribute the seed material for virtual MFA devices?You should treat seed material like any other secret (for example the AWS secret keys and passwords).Q. How can I enable an IAM user to manage virtual MFA devices under my account?Grant the IAM user the permission to call the CreateVirtualMFADevice API. You can use this API to provision new virtual MFA devices.
- SMS MFAQ. Can I still request preview access to the SMS MFA?We are no longer accepting new participants for the SMS MFA preview. We encourage you to use MFA on your AWS account by using either a hardware or virtual MFA device.
- Q. How can I begin using the SMS option during the preview?For existing SMS MFA participants, you can navigate to the IAM console and enable SMS MFA for IAM users. The process involves entering a phone number for each IAM user. Then, when the IAM user signs in to the AWS Management Console, the user receives a six-digit security code via a standard SMS text message and must enter it when signing in.
- Enabling AWS MFA Devices
- Q. Where do I enable AWS MFA?You can enable AWS MFA for an AWS account and your IAM users in the IAM console, the AWS CLI, or by calling the AWS API.
- Q. What information do I need to activate a hardware or virtual authentication device?If you are activating the MFA device with the IAM console then you only need the device. If you are using the AWS CLI or the IAM API then you need the following:1. The serial number of the authentication device. The format of the serial number depends on whether you are using a hardware device or a virtual device:
Q. Can I have multiple authentication devices active for my AWS account?
- Hardware MFA device: The serial number is on the bar-coded label on the back of the device.
- Virtual MFA device: The serial number is the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) value returned when you run the iam-virtualmfadevicecreate command in the AWS CLI or call the CreateVirtualMFADevice API.2. Two consecutive authentication codes displayed by the authentication device.
- Q. My authentication device seems to be working normally, but I am not able to activate it. What should I do?
- Using AWS MFAQ. If I enable AWS MFA for my AWS root account or my IAM users, do they always have to use an authentication code to sign in to the AWS Management Console?Yes. The AWS root credential user and IAM users must have their MFA device with them any time they need to sign in to any AWS website.If your MFA device is lost, damaged, stolen, or not working, you can sign in using alternative factors of authentication, deactivate the MFA device, and activate a new device. As a security best practice, we recommend that you change your root account's password.With virtual and hardware MFA, if your IAM users lose or damage their authentication device, or if it is stolen or stops working, you can disable AWS MFA yourself by using the IAM console or the AWS CLI.
- Q. If I enable AWS MFA for my AWS root account or IAM users, do they always need to enter an MFA code to directly call AWS APIs?No, it’s optional. However, you must enter an MFA code if you plan to call APIs that are secured by MFA-protected API access.If you are calling AWS APIs using access keys for your AWS root account or IAM user, you do not need to enter an MFA code. For security reasons, we recommend that you remove all access keys from your AWS root account and instead call AWS APIs with the access keys for an IAM user that has the required permissions.
- Q. How do I sign in to the AWS Portal and AWS Management Console using my authentication device?Follow these two steps:If you are signing in as an AWS root account, sign in as usual with your user name and password when prompted. To sign in as an IAM user, use the account-specific URL and provide youruser name and password when prompted.On the next page, enter the six-digit authentication code that appears on your authentication device.
- Q. Does AWS MFA affect how I access AWS Service APIs?AWS MFA changes the way IAM users access AWS Service APIs only if the account administrator(s) choose to enable MFA-protected API access. Administrators may enable this feature to add an extra layer of security over access to sensitive APIs by requiring that callers authenticate with an AWS MFA device. For more information, see the MFA-protected API access documentation in more detail.Other exceptions include S3 PUT bucket versioning, GET bucket versioning, and DELETE object APIs, which allow you to require MFA authentication to delete or change the versioning state of your bucket. For more information see the S3 documentation discussing Configuring a Bucket with MFA Delete in more detail.For all other cases, AWS MFA does not currently change the way you access AWS service APIs.
- Q. Can I use a given authentication code more than once?No. For security reasons, you can use each authentication code only once.
- Q. I was recently asked to resync my authentication device because my authentication codes were being rejected. Should I be concerned?No, this can happen occasionally. AWS MFA relies on the clock in your authentication device being in sync with the clock on our servers. Sometimes, these clocks can drift apart. If this happens, when you use the authentication device to sign in to access secure pages on the AWS website or the AWS Management Console, AWS automatically attempts to resync the authentication device by requesting that you provide two consecutive authentication codes (just as you did during activation).
- Q. My authentication device seems to be working normally, but I am not able to use it to sign in to the AWS Management Console. What should I do?We suggest you resynchronize MFA devices for your IAM user's credentials. If you already tried to resync and are still having trouble signing in, you can sign in using alternate factors of authentication and reset your MFA device. If you are still encountering issues, contact us for help.
- Q. My authentication device is lost, damaged, stolen, or not working, and now I can’t sign in to the AWS Management Console. What should I do?If your authentication device is associated with an AWS root account:
- You can reset your MFA device on the AWS Management Console by first signing in with your password and then verifying the email address and phone number associated with your root account.
- If your MFA device is lost, damaged, stolen or not working, you can sign in using alternative factors of authentication, deactivate the MFA device, and activate a new MFA device. As a security best practice, we recommend that you change your root account’s password.
- If you need a new authentication device, you can purchase a new hardware authentication device from the third-party provider, Gemalto, or provision a new virtual MFA device under your account by using the IAM console.
- If you have tried the preceding approaches and are still having trouble signing in, contact AWS Support.
- Q. How do I disable AWS MFA?To disable AWS MFA for your AWS account, you can deactivate your authentication device using the Security Credentials page. To disable AWS MFA for your IAM users,
- you need to use the IAM console or the AWS CLI.
- Q. Can I use AWS MFA in GovCloud?Yes, you can use AWS virtual MFA and hardware MFA devices in GovCloud.
- MFA-protected API access
- Q. What is MFA-protected API access?MFA-protected API access is optional functionality that lets account administrators enforce additional authentication for customer-specified APIs by requiring that users provide a second authentication factor in addition to a password. Specifically, it enables administrators to include conditions in their IAM policies that check for and require MFA authentication for access to selected APIs. Users making calls to those APIs must first get temporary credentials that indicate the user entered a valid MFA code.
- Q. What problem does MFA-protected API access solve?Previously, customers could require MFA for access to the AWS Management Console, but could not enforce MFA requirements on developers and applications interacting directly with AWS service APIs. MFA-protected API access ensures that IAM policies are universally enforced regardless of access path. As a result, you can now develop your own application that uses AWS and prompts the user for MFA authentication before calling powerful APIs or accessing sensitive resources.
- Q. How do I get started with MFA-protected API access?You can get started in two simple steps:
Assign an MFA device to your IAM users. You can purchase a hardware key fob, or download a free TOTP-compatible application for your smartphone, tablet, or computer. See the MFA detail page for more information on AWS MFA devices.
Enable MFA-protected API access by creating permission policies for the IAM users and/or IAM groups from which you want to require MFA authentication. To learn more about access policy language syntax, see the access policy language documentation.
Q. How do developers and users access APIs and resources secured with MFA-protected API access?Developers and users interact with MFA-protected API access both in the AWS Management Console and at the APIs.
In the AWS Management Console, any MFA-enabled IAM user must authenticate with their device to sign in. Users that do not have MFA do not receive access to MFA-protected APIs and resources.
At the API level, developers can integrate AWS MFA into their applications to prompt users to authenticate using their assigned MFA devices before calling powerful APIs or accessing sensitive resources. Developers enable this functionality by adding optional MFA parameters (serial number and MFA code) to requests to obtain temporary security credentials (such requests are also referred to as “session requests”). If the parameters are valid, temporary security credentials that indicate MFA status are returned. See the temporary security credentials documentation for more information.
Q. Who can use MFA-protected API access?
MFA-protected API access is available for free to all AWS customers.
Q. Which services does
MFA-protected API access work with?
MFA-protected API access is supported by all AWS services that support
temporary security credentials. For a list of supported services, see AWS
Services that Work with IAM and
review the column labeled Supports temporary security credentials.
Q. What happens if a user
provides incorrect MFA device information when requesting temporary security
credentials?
The request to issue temporary security credentials fails. Temporary security
credential requests that specify MFA parameters must provide the correct serial
number of the device linked to the IAM user as well as a valid MFA code.
Q. Does MFA-protected API
access control API access for AWS root accounts?
No, MFA-protected API access only controls access for IAM users. Root accounts
are not bound by IAM policies, which is why we recommend that you create IAM
users to interact with AWS service APIs rather than use AWS root account
credentials.
Q. Do users have to have an
MFA device assigned to them in order to use MFA-protected API access?
Yes, a user must first be assigned a unique hardware or virtual MFA device.
Q. Is MFA-protected API access
compatible with S3 objects, SQS queues, and SNS topics?
Yes.
Q. How does MFA-protected API
access interact with existing MFA use cases such as S3 MFA Delete?
MFA-protected API access and S3 MFA Delete do not interact with each other. S3
MFA Delete currently does not support temporary security credentials. Instead,
calls to the S3 MFA Delete API must be made using long-term access keys.
Q. Does MFA-protected API
access work in the GovCloud (US) region?
Yes.
Q. Does MFA-protected API
access work for federated users?
Customers cannot use MFA-protected API access to control access for federated
users. The GetFederatedSession API does not accept MFA parameters. Since
federated users can’t authenticate with AWS MFA devices, they are unable to
access resources designated using MFA-protected API access.
Pricing
Q. What will I be charged for
using AWS IAM?
IAM is a feature of your AWS
account offered at no additional charge. You will be charged only for the use
of other AWS services by your users.
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