Permissions required Managing access keys (console)Managing access keys (AWS CLI)Managing access keys (AWS API)Rotating access keys Auditing access keys

Managing access keys for IAM users

Note

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Access keys are long-term credentials for an IAM user or the AWS account root user. You can use access keys to sign programmatic requests to the AWS CLI or AWS API (directly or using the AWS SDK). For more information, see Signing AWS API Requests in the Amazon Web Services General Reference.

Important

As a best practice, use temporary security credentials (IAM roles) instead of creating long-term credentials like access keys, and don't create AWS account root user access keys. We don't recommend generating access keys for your root user, because they allow full access to all your resources for all AWS services, including your billing information. For more information, see Best Practices for AWS accounts in the AWS Account Management Reference Guide.

Access keys consist of two parts: an access key ID (for example, AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE) and a secret access key (for example, wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY). You must use both the access key ID and secret access key together to authenticate your requests.

If you still need to use long-term access keys, you can create, modify, view, or rotate your access keys (access key IDs and secret access keys). You can have a maximum of two access keys. To follow best practices, rotate the access keys regularly. For more information, see Rotating access keys.

When you create an access key pair, save the access key ID and secret access key in a secure location. The secret access key is available only at the time you create it. If you lose your secret access key, you must delete the access key and create a new one. For more details, see Resetting lost or forgotten passwords or access keys for AWS.

Important

Manage your access keys securely. Do not provide your access keys to unauthorized parties, even to help find your account identifiers. By doing this, you might give someone permanent access to your account.

Permissions required

Note

iam:TagUser is an optional permission for adding and editing descriptions for the access key. For more information, see Tagging IAM users

To create access keys for your own IAM user, you must have the permissions from the following policy:


{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Sid": "CreateOwnAccessKeys",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "iam:CreateAccessKey",
                "iam:GetUser",
                "iam:ListAccessKeys",
                "iam:TagUser"
            ],
            "Resource": "arn:aws:iam::*:user/${aws:username}"
        }
    ]
}

To rotate access keys for your own IAM user, you must have the permissions from the following policy:


{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Sid": "ManageOwnAccessKeys",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "iam:CreateAccessKey",
                "iam:DeleteAccessKey",
                "iam:GetAccessKeyLastUsed",
                "iam:GetUser",
                "iam:ListAccessKeys",
                "iam:UpdateAccessKey",
                "iam:TagUser"
            ],
            "Resource": "arn:aws:iam::*:user/${aws:username}"
        }
    ]
}

Managing access keys (console)

You can use the AWS Management Console to manage the access keys of an IAM user.

To create, modify, or delete your own IAM user access keys (console)

Use your AWS account ID or account alias, your IAM user name, and your password to sign in to the IAM console.

Note
For your convenience, the AWS sign-in page uses a browser cookie to remember your IAM user name and account information. If you previously signed in as a different user, choose Sign in to a different account near the bottom of the page to return to the main sign-in page. From there, you can type your AWS account ID or account alias to be redirected to the IAM user sign-in page for your account.

To get your AWS account ID, contact your administrator.
In the navigation bar on the upper right, choose your user name, and then choose Security credentials.

Do one of the following:

To create an access key

In the Access keys section, choose Create access key. If you already have two access keys, this button is deactivated and you must delete an access key before you can create a new one.
On the Access key best practices & alternatives page, choose your use case to learn about additional options which can help you avoid creating a long-term access key. If you determine that your use case still requires an access key, choose Other and then choose Next.
(Optional) Set a description tag value for the access key. This adds a tag key-value pair to your IAM user. This can help you identify and rotate access keys later. The tag key is set to the access key id. The tag value is set to the access key description that you specify. When you are finished, choose Create access key.
On the Retrieve access keys page, choose either Show to reveal the value of your user's secret access key, or Download .csv file. This is your only opportunity to save your secret access key. After you've saved your secret access key in a secure location, choose Done.

To deactivate an access key

In the Access keys section find the key you want to deactivate, then choose Actions, then choose Deactivate. When prompted for confirmation, choose Deactivate. A deactivated access key still counts toward your limit of two access keys.

To activate an access key

In the Access keys section, find the key to activate, then choose Actions, then choose Activate.

To delete an access key when you no longer need it

In the Access keys section, find the key you want to delete, then choose Actions, then choose Delete. Follow the instructions in the dialog to first Deactivate and then confirm the deletion. We recommend that you verify that the access key is no longer in use before you permanently delete it.

To create, modify, or delete the access keys of another IAM user (console)

Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.
In the navigation pane, choose Users.
Choose the name of the user whose access keys you want to manage, and then choose the Security credentials tab.
In the Access keys section, do any of the following:
- To create an access key, choose Create access key. If the button is deactivated, then you must delete one of the existing keys before you can create a new one. On the Access key best practices & alternatives page, review the best practices and alternatives. Choose your use case to learn about additional options which can help you avoid creating a long-term access key. If you determine that your use case still requires an access key, choose Other and then choose Next. On the Retrieve access key page, choose Show to reveal the value of your user's secret access key. To save the access key ID and secret access key to a .csv file to a secure location on your computer, choose the Download .csv file button. When you create an access key for your user, that key pair is active by default, and your user can use the pair right away.
- To deactivate an active access key, choose Actions, and then choose Deactivate.
- To activate an inactive access key, choose Actions, and then choose Activate.
- To delete your access key, choose Actions, and then choose Delete. Follow the instructions in the dialog to first Deactivate and then confirm the deletion. AWS recommends that before you do this, you first deactivate the key and test that it’s no longer in use. When you use the AWS Management Console, you must deactivate your key before deleting it.

To list the access keys for an IAM user (console)

Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.
In the navigation pane, choose Users.
Choose the name of the intended user, and then choose the Security credentials tab. In the Access keys section, you will see the user's access keys and the status of each key displayed.

Note
Only the user's access key ID is visible. The secret access key can only be retrieved when the key is created.

To list the access key IDs for multiple IAM users (console)

Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.
In the navigation pane, choose Users.
If necessary, add the Access key ID column to the users table by completing the following steps:
1. Above the table on the far right, choose the settings icon ( ).
2. In Manage columns, select Access key ID.
3. Choose Close to return to the list of users.
The Access key ID column shows each access key ID, followed by its state; for example, 23478207027842073230762374023 (Active) or 22093740239670237024843420327 (Inactive).

You can use this information to view and copy the access keys for users with one or two access keys. The column displays None for users with no access key.

Note
Only the user's access key ID and status is visible. The secret access key can only be retrieved when the key is created.

To find which IAM user owns a specific access key (console)

Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.
In the navigation pane, choose Users.
In the search box, type or paste the access key ID of the user you want to find.
If necessary, add the Access key ID column to the users table by completing the following steps:
1. Above the table on the far right, choose the settings icon ( ).
2. In Manage columns, select Access key ID.
3. Choose Close to return to the list of users and confirm that the filtered user owns the specified access key.

Managing access keys (AWS CLI)

To manage the IAM user access keys from the AWS CLI, run the following commands.

To create an access key: aws iam create-access-key
To deactivate or activate an access key: aws iam update-access-key
To list a user's access keys: aws iam list-access-keys
To determine when an access key was most recently used: aws iam get-access-key-last-used
To delete an access key: aws iam delete-access-key

Managing access keys (AWS API)

To manage the access keys of an IAM user from the AWS API, call the following operations.

To create an access key: CreateAccessKey
To deactivate or activate an access key: UpdateAccessKey
To list a user's access keys: ListAccessKeys
To determine when an access key was most recently used: GetAccessKeyLastUsed
To delete an access key: DeleteAccessKey

Rotating access keys

As a security best practice, we recommend that you regularly rotate (change) IAM user access keys. Regularly rotating long-term credentials helps you familiarize yourself with the process. This is useful in case you are ever in a situation where you must rotate credentials, such as when an employee leaves your company. If your administrator granted you the necessary permissions, you can rotate your own access keys.

Administrators, for details about granting your users permissions to rotate their own access keys, see AWS: Allows IAM users to manage their own password, access keys, and SSH public keys on the My security credentials page. You can also apply a password policy to your account to require that all of your IAM users periodically rotate their passwords. You can choose how often they must do so. For more information, see Setting an account password policy for IAM users.

Important

When you create an AWS account, you begin with one sign-in identity that has complete access to all AWS services and resources in the account. This identity is called the AWS account root user and is accessed by signing in with the email address and password that you used to create the account. We strongly recommend that you don't use the root user for your everyday tasks. Safeguard your root user credentials and use them to perform the tasks that only the root user can perform. For the complete list of tasks that require you to sign in as the root user, see Tasks that require root user credentials in the AWS Account Management Reference Guide. Because the AWS account root user credentials are long-term credentials, we recommend that you also regularly rotate them. The account password policy does not apply to the root user credentials. IAM users cannot manage credentials for the AWS account root user. You must use the root user credentials to change the root user credentials.

Topics

Rotating IAM user access keys (console)
Rotating access keys (AWS CLI)
Rotating access keys (AWS API)

Rotating IAM user access keys (console)

You can rotate access keys from the AWS Management Console.

To rotate access keys for an IAM user without interrupting your applications (console)

While the first access key is still active, create a second access key.
1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.
2. In the navigation pane, choose Users.
3. Choose the name of the intended user, and then choose the Security credentials tab.
4. In the Access keys section, choose Create access key. On the Access key best practices & alternatives page, choose Other, then choose Next.
5. (Optional) Set a description tag value for the access key to add a tag key-value pair to this IAM user. This can help you identify and rotate access keys later. The tag key is set to the access key id. The tag value is set to the access key description that you specify. When you are finished, choose Create access key.
6. On the Retrieve access keys page, choose either Show to reveal the value of your user's secret access key, or Download .csv file. This is your only opportunity to save your secret access key. After you've saved your secret access key in a secure location, choose Done.
  
  When you create an access key for your user, that key pair is active by default, and your user can use the pair right away. At this point, the user has two active access keys.
Update all applications and tools to use the new access key.
Determine whether the first access key is still in use by reviewing the Last used information for the oldest access key. One approach is to wait several days and then check the old access key for any use before proceeding.
Even if the Last used information indicates that the old key has never been used, we recommend that you do not immediately delete the first access key. Instead, choose Actions and then choose Deactivate to deactivate the first access key.
Use only the new access key to confirm that your applications are working. Any applications and tools that still use the original access key will stop working at this point because they no longer have access to AWS resources. If you find such an application or tool, you can reactivate the first access key. Then return to Step 3 and update this application to use the new key.
After you wait some period of time to ensure that all applications and tools have been updated, you can delete the first access key:
1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.
2. In the navigation pane, choose Users.
3. Choose the name of the intended user, and then choose the Security credentials tab.
4. In the Access keys section for the access key you want to delete, choose Actions, and then choose Delete. Follow the instructions in the dialog to first Deactivate and then confirm the deletion.

To determine when access keys need rotating (console)

Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.
In the navigation pane, choose Users.
If necessary, add the Access key age column to the users table by completing the following steps:
1. Above the table on the far right, choose the settings icon ( ).
2. In Manage columns, select Access key age.
3. Choose Close to return to the list of users.
The Access key age column shows the number of days since the oldest active access key was created. You can use this information to find users with access keys that need rotating. The column displays None for users with no access key.

Rotating access keys (AWS CLI)

You can rotate access keys from the AWS Command Line Interface.

To rotate access keys without interrupting your applications (AWS CLI)

While the first access key is still active, create a second access key, which is active by default. Run the following command:
- aws iam create-access-key
  
  At this point, the user has two active access keys.
Update all applications and tools to use the new access key.
Determine whether the first access key is still in use by using this command:
- aws iam get-access-key-last-used
One approach is to wait several days and then check the old access key for any use before proceeding.
Even if step Step 3 indicates no use of the old key, we recommend that you do not immediately delete the first access key. Instead, change the state of the first access key to Inactive using this command:
- aws iam update-access-key
Use only the new access key to confirm that your applications are working. Any applications and tools that still use the original access key will stop working at this point because they no longer have access to AWS resources. If you find such an application or tool, you can switch its state back to Active to reactivate the first access key. Then return to step Step 2 and update this application to use the new key.
After you wait some period of time to ensure that all applications and tools have been updated, you can delete the first access key with this command:
- aws iam delete-access-key

For more information, see the following:

How to Rotate Access Keys for IAM users. This entry on the AWS Security Blog provides more information on key rotation.
Security best practices in IAM. This page provides general recommendations for helping to secure your AWS resources.

Rotating access keys (AWS API)

You can rotate access keys using the AWS API.

To rotate access keys without interrupting your applications (AWS API)

While the first access key is still active, create a second access key, which is active by default. Call the following operation:
- CreateAccessKey
  
  At this point, the user has two active access keys.
Update all applications and tools to use the new access key.
Determine whether the first access key is still in use by calling this operation:
- GetAccessKeyLastUsed
One approach is to wait several days and then check the old access key for any use before proceeding.
Even if step Step 3 indicates no use of the old key, we recommend that you do not immediately delete the first access key. Instead, change the state of the first access key to Inactive calling this operation:
- UpdateAccessKey
Use only the new access key to confirm that your applications are working. Any applications and tools that still use the original access key will stop working at this point because they no longer have access to AWS resources. If you find such an application or tool, you can switch its state back to Active to reactivate the first access key. Then return to step Step 2 and update this application to use the new key.
After you wait some period of time to ensure that all applications and tools have been updated, you can delete the first access key calling this operation:
- DeleteAccessKey

For more information, see the following:

How to Rotate Access Keys for IAM users. This entry on the AWS Security Blog provides more information on key rotation.
Security best practices in IAM. This page provides general recommendations for helping to secure your AWS resources.

Auditing access keys

You can review the AWS access keys in your code to determine whether the keys are from an account that you own. You can pass an access key ID using the aws sts get-access-key-info AWS CLI command or the GetAccessKeyInfo AWS API operation.

The AWS CLI and AWS API operations return the ID of the AWS account to which the access key belongs. Access key IDs beginning with AKIA are long-term credentials for an IAM user or an AWS account root user. Access key IDs beginning with ASIA are temporary credentials that are created using AWS STS operations. If the account in the response belongs to you, you can sign in as the root user and review your root user access keys. Then, you can pull a credentials report to learn which IAM user owns the keys. To learn who requested the temporary credentials for an ASIA access key, view the AWS STS events in your CloudTrail logs.

For security purposes, you can review AWS CloudTrail logs to learn who performed an action in AWS. You can use the sts:SourceIdentity condition key in the role trust policy to require users to specify an identity when they assume a role. For example, you can require that IAM users specify their own user name as their source identity. This can help you determine which user performed a specific action in AWS. For more information, see sts:SourceIdentity.

This operation does not indicate the state of the access key. The key might be active, inactive, or deleted. Active keys might not have permissions to perform an operation. Providing a deleted access key might return an error that the key doesn't exist.

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Document Conventions

How an IAM user changes their own password

Retrieving lost passwords or access keys