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| layout | page_title | sidebar_current | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| docs | Secret Backend: AWS | docs-secrets-aws | The AWS secret backend for Vault generates access keys dynamically based on IAM policies. |
AWS Secret Backend
Name: aws
The AWS secret backend for Vault generates AWS access credentials dynamically based on IAM policies. This makes IAM much easier to use: credentials could be generated on the fly, and are automatically revoked when the Vault lease is expired.
This page will show a quick start for this backend. For detailed documentation
on every path, use vault path-help after mounting the backend.
Quick Start
The first step to using the aws backend is to mount it.
Unlike the generic backend, the aws backend is not mounted by default.
$ vault mount aws
Successfully mounted 'aws' at 'aws'!
Next, we must configure the root credentials that are used to manage IAM credentials:
$ vault write aws/config/root \
access_key=AKIAJWVN5Z4FOFT7NLNA \
secret_key=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 \
region=us-east-1
The following parameters are required:
access_key- the AWS access key that has permission to manage IAM credentials.secret_key- the AWS secret key that has permission to manage IAM credentials.regionthe AWS region for API calls.
The next step is to configure a role. A role is a logical name that maps to a policy used to generated those credentials. For example, lets create a "deploy" role:
$ vault write aws/roles/deploy \
policy=@policy.json
This path will create a named role along with the IAM policy used to restrict permissions for it. This is used to dynamically create a new pair of IAM credentials when needed.
The @ tells Vault to load the policy from the file named policy.json. Here
is an example IAM policy to get started:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": {
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": "iam:*",
"Resource": "*"
}
}
For more information on IAM policies, please see the AWS IAM policy documentation.
To generate a new set of IAM credentials, we simply read from that role:
$ vault read aws/creds/deploy
Key Value
lease_id aws/creds/deploy/7cb8df71-782f-3de1-79dd-251778e49f58
lease_duration 3600
access_key AKIAIOMYUTSLGJOGLHTQ
secret_key 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
If you run the command again, you will get a new set of credentials:
$ vault read aws/creds/deploy
Key Value
lease_id aws/creds/deploy/82d89562-ff19-382e-6be9-cb45c8f6a42d
lease_duration 3600
access_key AKIAJZ5YRPHFH3QHRRRQ
secret_key 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
If you get an error message similar to either of the following, the root credentials that you wrote to aws/config/root have insufficient privilege:
$ vault read aws/creds/deploy
* Error creating IAM user: User: arn:aws:iam::000000000000:user/hashicorp is not authorized to perform: iam:CreateUser on resource: arn:aws:iam::000000000000:user/vault-root-1432735386-4059
$ vault revoke aws/creds/deploy/774cfb27-c22d-6e78-0077-254879d1af3c
Revoke error: Error making API request.
URL: PUT http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/revoke/aws/creds/deploy/774cfb27-c22d-6e78-0077-254879d1af3c
Code: 400. Errors:
* invalid request
The root credentials need permission to perform various IAM actions. These are the actions that the AWS secret backend uses to manage IAM credentials. Here is an example IAM policy that would grant these permissions:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iam:CreateAccessKey",
"iam:CreateUser",
"iam:PutUserPolicy",
"iam:ListGroupsForUser",
"iam:ListUserPolicies",
"iam:ListAccessKeys",
"iam:DeleteAccessKey",
"iam:DeleteUserPolicy",
"iam:RemoveUserFromGroup",
"iam:DeleteUser"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iam::ACCOUNT-ID-WITHOUT-HYPHENS:user/vault-*"
]
}
]
}
Note that this policy example is unrelated to the policy you wrote to aws/roles/deploy. This policy example should be applied to the IAM user (or role) associated with the root credentials that you wrote to aws/config/root. You have to apply it yourself in IAM. The policy you wrote to aws/roles/deploy is the policy you want the AWS secret backend to apply to the temporary credentials it returns from aws/creds/deploy.
If you get stuck at any time, simply run vault path-help aws or with a subpath for
interactive help output.
A Note on Consistency
Unfortunately, IAM credentials are eventually consistent with respect to other Amazon services. If you are planning on using these credential in a pipeline, you may need to add a delay of 5-10 seconds (or more) after fetching credentials before they can be used successfully.
API
/aws/config/root
POST
- Description
- Configures the root IAM credentials used. This is a root protected endpoint.
- Method
- POST
- URL
- `/aws/config/root`
- Parameters
-
- access_key required The AWS Access Key
- secret_key required The AWS Secret Key
- region required The AWS region for API calls
- Returns
- A `204` response code.
/aws/config/lease
POST
- Description
- Configures the lease settings for generated credentials. This is a root protected endpoint.
- Method
- POST
- URL
- `/aws/config/lease`
- Parameters
-
- lease required The lease value provided as a string duration with time suffix. Hour is the largest suffix.
- lease_max required The maximum lease value provided as a string duration with time suffix. Hour is the largest suffix.
- Returns
- A `204` response code.
/aws/roles/
POST
- Description
- Creates or updates a named role.
- Method
- POST
- URL
- `/aws/roles/`
- Parameters
-
- policy required The IAM policy in JSON format.
- Returns
- A `204` response code.
GET
- Description
- Queries a named role.
- Method
- GET
- URL
- `/aws/roles/`
- Parameters
- None
- Returns
-
```javascript { "data": { "policy": "..." } } ```
DELETE
- Description
- Deletes a named role.
- Method
- DELETE
- URL
- `/aws/roles/`
- Parameters
- None
- Returns
- A `204` response code.
/aws/creds/
GET
- Description
- Generates a dynamic IAM credential based on the named role.
- Method
- GET
- URL
- `/aws/creds/`
- Parameters
- None
- Returns
-
```javascript { "data": { "access_key": "...", "secret_key": "..." } } ```