Publish/Subscribe policy examples
The policy you use depends on how you're connecting to AWS IoT Core. You can
connect to AWS IoT Core by using an MQTT client, HTTP, or WebSocket. When you
connect with an MQTT client, you're authenticating with an X.509 certificate.
When you connect over HTTP or the WebSocket protocol, you're authenticating with
Signature Version 4 and Amazon Cognito.
Policies for MQTT clients
MQTT and AWS IoT Core policies have different wildcard characters and
they should be used with careful consideration. In MQTT, the wildcard
characters + and # are used in MQTT topic
filters to subscribe to multiple topic names. AWS IoT Core
policies follow the same conventions as IAM policies and use * as a wildcard
character, and the MQTT wildcard characters + and
# are treated as literal strings. Therefore, to specify
wildcard characters in topic names and topic filters in AWS IoT Core
policies for MQTT clients, you must use *.
The table below shows the different wildcard characters used in MQTT and AWS IoT Core
policies for MQTT clients.
| Wildcard character |
Is MQTT wildcard character |
Example in MQTT |
Is AWS IoT Core policy wildcard character |
Example in AWS IoT Core policies for MQTT clients |
# |
Yes |
some/# |
No |
N/A |
+ |
Yes |
some/+/topic |
No |
N/A |
* |
No |
N/A |
Yes |
topicfilter/some/*/topic
|
To describe multiple topic names in the resource attribute of
a policy, use the * wildcard character. The following policy
enables a device to publish to all subtopics that start with the same thing
name.
- Registered devices (5)
-
For devices registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry, the
following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using a
client ID that matches the thing name and to publish to any
topic prefixed by the thing name:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}/*"
]
}
]
}
- Unregistered devices (5)
-
For devices not registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry,
the following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using
client ID client1, client2, or
client3 and to publish to any topic prefixed by
the client ID:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client1",
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client2",
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client3"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${iot:ClientId}/*"
]
}
]
}
You can also use the * wildcard character at the end of a topic filter.
Using wildcard characters might lead to granting unintended privileges, so
they should only be used after careful consideration. One situation in which
they might be useful is when devices must subscribe to messages with many
different topics (for example, if a device must subscribe to reports from
temperature sensors in multiple locations).
- Registered devices (6)
-
For devices registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry, the
following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using the
device's thing name as the client ID, and to subscribe to a
topic prefixed by the thing name, followed by room,
followed by any string. (It is expected that these topics are,
for example, thing1/room1,
thing1/room2, and so on):
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}/room*"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Receive"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}/room*"
]
}
]
}
- Unregistered devices (6)
-
For devices not registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry,
the following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using
client IDs client1, client2,
client3, and to subscribe to a topic prefixed
by the client ID, followed by room, followed by any
string. (It is expected that these topics are, for example,
client1/room1, client1/room2, and
so on):
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client1",
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client2",
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client3"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/${iot:ClientId}/room*"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Receive"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${iot:ClientId}/room*"
]
}
]
}
When you specify topic filters in AWS IoT Core policies for MQTT clients,
MQTT wildcard characters + and # are treated as
literal strings. Their use might result in unexpected behavior.
- Registered devices (4)
-
For devices registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry,
the following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core
with the client ID that matches the thing name, and to subscribe
to the topic filter some/+/topic only. Note in
topicfilter/some/+/topic of the resource ARN, +
is treated as a literal string in AWS IoT Core policies for MQTT
clients, meaning that only the string some/+/topic
matches the topic filter.
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/some/+/topic"
]
}
]
}
For devices registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry,
the following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core
with the client ID that matches the thing name, and to subscribe
to the topic filter some/*/topic. Note in
topicfilter/some/*/topic of the resource ARN, *
is treated as a wildcard character in AWS IoT Core policies for
MQTT clients, meaning that any string in the level that contains
the character matches the topic filter. (It is expected that
these topics are, for example, some/string1/topic,
some/string2/topic, and so on)
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/some/*/topic"
]
}
]
}
- Unregistered devices (4)
-
For devices not registered as things in the AWS IoT Core
registry, the following policy grants permission to connect to
AWS IoT Core with client ID client1 and subscribe to
the topic filter some/+/topic only. Note in
topicfilter/some/+/topic of the resource ARN, +
is treated as a literal string in AWS IoT Core policies for MQTT
clients, meaning that only the string some/+/topic
matches the topic filter.
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client1"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/some/+/topic"
]
}
]
}
For devices not registered as things in the AWS IoT Core
registry, the following policy grants permission to connect to
AWS IoT Core with client ID client1 and subscribe to
the topic filter some/+/topic. Note in
topicfilter/some/*/topic of the resource ARN, *
is treated as a wildcard character in AWS IoT Core policies for
MQTT clients, meaning that any string in the level that contains
the character matches the topic filter. (It is expected that
these topics are, for example, some/string1/topic,
some/string2/topic, and so on)
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client1"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/some/*/topic"
]
}
]
}
The MQTT wildcards + and # are treated as
literal strings in an AWS IoT Core policy for MQTT clients. To specify
wildcard characters in topic names and topic filters in AWS IoT Core
policies for MQTT clients, you must use *.
- Registered devices (7)
-
For devices registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry, the
following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using the
device's thing name as the client ID, and to subscribe to the
topics my/topic and
my/othertopic:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/my/topic",
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/my/othertopic"
]
}
]
}
- Unregistered devices (7)
-
For devices not registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry,
the following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using
client ID client1, and to subscribe to the topics
my/topic and my/othertopic:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client1"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/my/topic",
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/my/othertopic"
]
}
]
}
- Registered devices (8)
-
For devices registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry, the
following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using the
device's thing name as the client ID and to subscribe to a topic
unique to that thing name/client ID:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/my/topic/${iot:Thing.ThingName}"
]
}
]
}
- Unregistered devices (8)
-
For devices not registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry,
the following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using
client ID client1, and to publish to a topic unique
to that client ID:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client1"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/my/topic/${iot:ClientId}"
]
}
]
}
- Registered devices (9)
-
For devices registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry, the
following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using the
device's thing name as the client ID and to publish to any topic
prefixed by that thing name or client except for one topic
ending with bar:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${iot:Thing.ThingName}/*"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Deny",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${iot:Thing.ThingName}/bar"
]
}
]
}
- Unregistered devices (9)
-
For devices not registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry,
the following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using
client IDs client1 and client1 and to
publish to any topic prefixed by the client ID used to connect,
except for one topic ending with bar:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client1",
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client2"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${iot:ClientId}/*"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Deny",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${iot:ClientId}/bar"
]
}
]
}
- Registered devices (10)
-
For devices registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry, the
following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using the
device's thing name as the client ID. The device can subscribe
to the topic my/topic, but cannot publish to the
thing-name
/barthing-name is the name of
the IoT thing connecting to AWS IoT Core:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/my/topic"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Deny",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${iot:Thing.ThingName}/bar"
]
}
]
}
- Unregistered devices (10)
-
For devices not registered as things in the AWS IoT Core registry,
the following policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core using
client ID client1 and to subscribe to the topic
my/topic:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client1"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/my/topic"
]
}
]
}
Thing policy variables are also replaced when a certificate or
authenticated Amazon Cognito Identity is attached to a thing. The following policy grants
permission to connect to AWS IoT Core with client ID client1 and to
publish and receive topic iotmonitor/provisioning/987654321098.
It also allows the certificate holder to subscribe to this topic.
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client1"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish",
"iot:Receive"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/iotmonitor/provisioning/987654321098"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/iotmonitor/provisioning/987654321098"
]
}
]
}
Policies for HTTP and WebSocket
clients
Amazon Cognito identities can be authenticated or unauthenticated. Authenticated identities
belong to users who are authenticated by any supported identity provider. Unauthenticated
identities typically belong to guest users who do not authenticate with an identity
provider. Amazon Cognito provides a unique identifier and AWS credentials to support unauthenticated
identities.
For the following operations, AWS IoT Core uses AWS IoT Core policies attached to Amazon Cognito
identities (through the AttachPolicy API) to scope down the
permissions attached to the Amazon Cognito Identity pool with authenticated identities.
-
iot:Connect
-
iot:Publish
-
iot:Subscribe
-
iot:Receive
-
iot:GetThingShadow
-
iot:UpdateThingShadow
-
iot:DeleteThingShadow
That
means an Amazon Cognito Identity needs permission from the IAM role policy attached to the
pool and the AWS IoT Core policy attached to the Amazon Cognito Identity through the AWS IoT Core
AttachPolicy API.
Authenticated and unauthenticated users are different identity types. If you don't attach an AWS IoT policy to the Amazon Cognito Identity,
an authenticated user fails authorization in AWS IoT and doesn't have access to AWS IoT resources and actions.
For other AWS IoT Core operations or for unauthenticated identities, AWS IoT Core
does not scope down the permissions attached to the Amazon Cognito identity pool
role. For both authenticated and unauthenticated identities, this is the
most permissive policy that we recommend you attach to the Amazon Cognito pool
role.
HTTP
To allow unauthenticated Amazon Cognito identities to publish messages over HTTP on
a topic specific to the Amazon Cognito Identity, attach the following IAM policy to the Amazon Cognito Identity
pool role:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish",
],
"Resource": ["arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${cognito-identity.amazonaws.com:sub}"]
}
]
}
To allow authenticated users, attach the preceding policy to the Amazon Cognito Identity
pool role and to the Amazon Cognito Identity using the AWS IoT Core AttachPolicy API.
When authorizing Amazon Cognito identities, AWS IoT Core considers both policies and
grants the least privileges specified. An action is allowed only if both
policies allow the requested action. If either policy disallows an
action, that action is unauthorized.
MQTT
To allow unauthenticated Amazon Cognito identities to publish MQTT messages over
WebSocket on a topic specific to the Amazon Cognito Identity in your account, attach the
following IAM policy to the Amazon Cognito Identity pool role:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Publish"
],
"Resource": ["arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/${cognito-identity.amazonaws.com:sub}"]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": ["arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/${cognito-identity.amazonaws.com:sub}"]
}
]
}
To allow authenticated users, attach the preceding policy to the Amazon Cognito Identity
pool role and to the Amazon Cognito Identity using the AWS IoT Core AttachPolicy API.
When authorizing Amazon Cognito identities, AWS IoT Core considers both and grants
the least privileges specified. An action is allowed only if both
policies allow the requested action. If either policy disallows an
action, that action is unauthorized.
Receive policy examples
- Registered devices (11)
-
For devices registered in AWS IoT Core registry, the following policy
grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core with a client ID that
matches the thing name and to subscribe to and receive messages
on the my/topic topic:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": ["arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/${iot:Connection.Thing.ThingName}"]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/my/topic"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Receive"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/my/topic"
]
}
]
}
- Unregistered devices (11)
-
For devices not registered in AWS IoT Core registry, the following
policy grants permission to connect to AWS IoT Core with client ID
client1 and to subscribe to and receive
messages on one topic:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Connect"
],
"Resource": ["arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:client/client1"]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Subscribe"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topicfilter/my/topic"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iot:Receive"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:topic/my/topic"
]
}
]
}
