IAM Policy Should Not Have Statements with Admin Access Rule
This rule specifies that IAM policies should not contain statements granting admin access.
| Rule | IAM policy should not have statements with admin access |
| Framework | NIST 800-53 Revision 5 |
| Severity | ✔ High |
IAM Policy Restriction: No Admin Access for NIST 800-53 Revision 5
Description
This rule ensures that IAM policies within an organization's AWS environment do not contain statements granting admin access privileges in accordance with the NIST 800-53 Revision 5 security standard. Admin access provides full control over resources and can pose significant security risks if granted unnecessarily.
Troubleshooting Steps
If this rule is violated, there may be IAM policies in the environment that grant admin access to certain users or roles. To identify and remediate the issue, follow these steps:
- 1.Identify the affected IAM policies by reviewing their statements and permissions.
- 2.Analyze the permissions granted within each policy to determine if admin access is present.
- 3.Update the policies to remove any statements that provide admin access.
- 4.Test the updated policies to ensure they no longer grant admin access.
- 5.Monitor IAM policies regularly to prevent any future admin access violations.
Necessary Code
There is no specific code associated with this rule. However, the following AWS CLI commands can help identify and update IAM policies:
To list all IAM policies:
aws iam list-policies
To get the details of a specific policy:
aws iam get-policy --policy-arn <policy-arn>
To update an IAM policy:
aws iam update-policy --policy-arn <policy-arn> --policy-documents <new-policy-document>
Remediation Steps
Follow these steps to remediate the issue and ensure IAM policies do not contain statements with admin access:
- 1.Review the IAM policies in the AWS environment.
- 2.Identify the policies that grant admin access.
- 3.Edit each of the identified policies to remove the statements providing admin access.
- 4.Update the policies with the revised statement.
- 5.Test the updated policies to ensure they no longer grant admin access.
- 6.Monitor IAM policies regularly to prevent any future admin access violations.
Additional Considerations
- Regularly review IAM policies to ensure compliance with security standards and best practices.
- Restrict the use of admin access privileges to only those who require it for specific tasks.
- Enforce a least privilege approach, granting users and roles only the necessary permissions they need to perform their tasks.
- Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for users with admin access for an additional layer of security.
- Utilize AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools like IAM Access Analyzer to identify and fix policy violations automatically.
By adhering to this policy and promptly resolving any violations, organizations can enhance the security of their AWS environment and comply with the NIST 800-53 Revision 5 standard.