Creating a condition with multiple keys or values

You can use the Condition element of a policy to test multiple keys or multiple values for a single key in a request. When you make a request to AWS, either programmatically or through the AWS Management Console, your request includes information about your principal, operation, tags, and more. To learn about information and data included in a request, see Request. You can use condition keys to test the values of the matching keys in the request. For example, you can use a condition key to control access to specific attributes of a DynamoDB table or to an Amazon EC2 instance based on tags.

A Condition element can contain multiple conditions, and each condition can contain multiple key-value pairs. Most condition keys support using multiple values. The following figure illustrates this. Unless otherwise specified, all keys can have multiple values.

Evaluation logic for conditions with multiple keys or values

If your policy has multiple condition operators or multiple keys attached to a single condition operator, the conditions are evaluated using a logical AND. If a single condition operator includes multiple values for one key, that condition operator is evaluated using a logical OR. All conditions must resolve to true to trigger the desired Allow or Deny effect.

Note

When multiple values are listed in a policy for negated matching condition operators such as StringNotEquals and DateNotEquals, the effective permissions work like a logical AND. For example, if there are multiple aws:PrincipalAccount values in a StringNotEquals condition operator, the string cannot match any of the aws:PrincipalAccount values listed to resolve the condition to true.

Using multiple keys and values

To compare your condition against a request context with multiple key values, you must use the ForAllValues or ForAnyValue set operators. These set operators are used to compare two sets of values.

When a policy condition compares two sets of values, such as the set of tags in a request and the set of tags in a policy condition, you need to tell AWS how to compare the sets. IAM defines two set operators, ForAnyValue and ForAllValues. You must use set operators with multivalued condition keys. Do not use set operators with single-valued condition keys.

To determine whether an AWS condition key is single-valued or multivalued, review its data type. To view the condition key data types for a service, see Actions, Resources, and Condition Keys for AWS Services and choose the service whose condition keys you want to view. If the condition Type field includes the ArrayOf prefix, the condition key is multivalued. For example, AWS Key Management Service supports condition keys with the String single-valued data type and the ArrayOfString multivalued data type.

• Single-valued condition keys have at most one value in the request context. For example, you can tag resources in AWS. Resource tags are stored as tag key-value pairs. A resource tag key can have a single tag value. Therefore, aws:ResourceTag/tag-key is a single-valued condition key. Do not use a set operator with a single-valued condition key.

• Multivalued condition keys can have multiple values in the request context. For example, you can tag resources in AWS and include multiple tag key-value pairs in a request. Therefore, aws:TagKeys is a multivalued condition key. Multivalued condition keys require a set operator.

The ForAllValues and ForAnyValue qualifiers add set-operation functionality to the condition operator so that you can test multiple request values against multiple condition values. Additionally, if you include a multivalued string key in your policy with a wildcard or a variable, you must also use the StringLike condition operator. For requests that include multiple values for a single key, you must enclose the condition key values within brackets like an array. For example, "Key2":["Value2A", "Value2B"].

• ForAllValues – Use with multivalued condition keys. Tests whether the value of every member of the request set is a subset of the condition key set. The condition returns true if every key value in the request matches at least one value in the policy. It also returns true if there are no keys in the request, or if the key values resolve to a null data set, such as an empty string. Do not use ForAllValues with an Allow effect because it can be overly permissive.

• ForAnyValue – Use with multivalued condition keys. Tests whether at least one member of the set of request values matches at least one member of the set of condition key values. The condition returns true if any one of the key values in the request matches any one of the condition values in the policy. For no matching key or a null dataset, the condition returns false.

  Note

  The the difference between single-valued and multivalued condition keys depends on the number of values in the request context, not the number of values in the policy condition.

Examples of using multiple values with condition set operators

You can create a policy to test multiple values in a request against one or more values that you specify in the policy. Assume that you have an Amazon DynamoDB table named Thread that is used to store information about threads in a technical support forum. The table has attributes named ID, UserName, PostDateTime, Message, and Tags.

{	
  ID=101
  UserName=Bob
  PostDateTime=20130930T231548Z
  Message="A good resource for this question is docs.aws.amazon.com"
  Tags=["AWS", "Database", "Security"]
}

For information about how set operators are used in DynamoDB to implement fine-grained access to individual data items and attributes, see Fine-Grained Access Control for DynamoDB in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

You can create a policy that allows users to see only the PostDateTime, Message, and Tags attributes. If the user's request contains any of these attributes, it is allowed. But if the request contains any other attributes (for example, ID), the request is denied. Logically speaking, you want to create a list of allowed attributes (PostDateTime, Message, Tags). You also want to indicate in the policy that all of the user's requested attributes must be in that list of allowed attributes.

The following example policy shows how to use the ForAllValues qualifier with the StringEquals condition operator. The condition allows a user to request only the attributes ID, Message, or Tags from the DynamoDB table named Thread.

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "dynamodb:GetItem",
            "Resource": "arn:aws:dynamodb:*:*:table/Thread",
            "Condition": {
                "ForAllValues:StringEquals": {
                    "dynamodb:Attributes": [
                        "ID",
                        "Message",
                        "Tags"
                    ]
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Assume the user makes a request to DynamoDB to get the attributes Message and Tags from the Thread table. In that case, the request is allowed because the user's requested attributes all match values specified in the policy. The GetItem operation requires the user to pass the ID attribute as the database table key, which is also allowed in the policy. However, if the user's request includes the UserName attribute, the request fails. The reason is that UserName is not within the list of allowed attributes and the ForAllValues qualifier requires all requested values to be listed in the policy.

Important

If you use dynamodb:Attributes, you must specify the names of all of the primary key and index key attributes for the table. You must also specify any secondary indexes that are listed in the policy. Otherwise, DynamoDB can't use these key attributes to perform the requested action.

Alternatively, you might want to make sure that users are explicitly forbidden to include some attributes in a request, such as the ID and UserName attributes. For example, you might exclude attributes when the user is updating the DynamoDB table, because an update (PUT operation) should not change certain attributes. In that case, you create a list of forbidden attributes (ID, UserName). If any of the user's requested attributes match any of the forbidden attributes, the request is denied.

The following example shows how to use the ForAnyValue qualifier to deny access to the ID and PostDateTime attributes if the user tries to perform the PutItem action. That is, if the user tries to update either of those attributes in the Thread table. Notice that the Effect element is set to Deny.

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": {
        "Effect": "Deny",
        "Action": "dynamodb:PutItem",
        "Resource": "arn:aws:dynamodb:*:*:table/Thread",
        "Condition": {
            "ForAnyValue:StringEquals": {
                "dynamodb:Attributes": [
                    "ID",
                    "PostDateTime"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Assume that the user makes a request to update the PostDateTime and Message attributes of the Thread table. The ForAnyValue qualifier determines whether any of the requested attributes appear in the list in the policy. In this case, there is one match (PostDateTime), so the condition is true. Assuming the other values in the request also match (for example, the resource), the overall policy evaluation returns true. Because the policy's effect is Deny, the request is denied.

Imagine the user instead makes a request to perform PutItem with just the UserName attribute. None of the attributes in the request (just UserName) match any of attributes listed in the policy (ID, PostDateTime). The condition returns false, so the effect of the policy (Deny) is also false, and the request is not denied by this policy. (For the request to succeed, it must be explicitly allowed by a different policy. It is not explicitly denied by this policy, but all requests are implicitly denied.)

Warning

When you use the ForAllValues condition operator, it returns true if there are no keys in the request, or if the key values resolve to a null data set, such as an empty string. To require that the request includes at least one value, you must use another condition in the policy. For an example, see Controlling access during AWS requests.

Evaluation logic for multiple values with condition set operators

This section discusses the specifics of the evaluation logic used with the ForAllValues and ForAnyValue operators. The following table illustrates possible keys that might be included in a request (PostDateTime and UserName) and a policy condition that includes the values PostDateTime, Message, and Tags.

Key (in the request)	Condition value (in the policy)
PostDateTime	PostDateTime
UserName	Message
	Tags

The evaluation for the combination is this:

PostDateTime matches PostDateTime?

PostDateTime matches Message?

PostDateTime matches Tags?

UserName matches PostDateTime?

UserName matches Message?

UserName matches Tags?

The result of the condition operator depends on which modifier is used with the policy condition:

• ForAllValues. If every key in the request (PostDateTime or UserName) matches at least one condition value in the policy (PostDateTime, Message, Tags), the condition operator returns true. Stated another way, in order for the condition to be true, (PostDateTime must equal PostDateTime, Message, or Tags) and (UserName must equal PostDateTime, Message, or Tags).

• ForAnyValue. If any combination of request value and policy value (any one of the six in the example) returns true, the condition operator returns true.

The following policy includes a ForAllValues qualifier:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": {
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Action": "dynamodb:GetItem",
        "Resource": "arn:aws:dynamodb:*:*:table/Thread",
        "Condition": {
            "ForAllValues:StringEquals": {
                "dynamodb:Attributes": [
                    "PostDateTime",
                    "Message",
                    "Tags"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Suppose that the user makes a request to DynamoDB to get the attributes PostDateTime and UserName. The evaluation for the combination is this:

PostDateTime matches PostDateTime?	True
PostDateTime matches Message?	False
PostDateTime matches Tags?	False
UserName matches PostDateTime?	False
UserName matches Message?	False
UserName matches Tags?	False

The policy includes the ForAllValues condition operator modifier, meaning that there must be at least one match for PostDateTime and one match for UserName. There's no match for UserName, so the condition operator returns false, and the policy does not allow the request.

The following policy includes a ForAnyValue qualifier:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": {
        "Effect": "Deny",
        "Action": "dynamodb:PutItem",
        "Resource": "arn:aws:dynamodb:*:*:table/Thread",
        "Condition": {
            "ForAnyValue:StringEquals": {
                "dynamodb:Attributes": [
                    "ID",
                    "PostDateTime"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Notice that the policy includes "Effect":"Deny" and the action is PutItem. Imagine that the user makes a PutItem request that includes the attributes UserName, Message, and PostDateTime. The evaluation is this:

UserName matches ID?	False
UserName matches PostDateTime?	False
Messages matches ID?	False
Message matches PostDateTime?	False
PostDateTime matches ID?	False
PostDateTime matches PostDateTime?	True

With the modifier ForAnyValue, if any one of these tests returns true, the condition returns true. The last test returns true, so the condition is true; because the Effect element is set to Deny, the request is denied.

Note

If the key values in the request resolve to an empty data set, such as an empty list, a condition operator modified by ForAllValues returns true. A condition operator modified by ForAnyValue returns false.