Rule: IAM Groups, Users, and Roles No Inline Policies

Rule Description:

Potential Risk:

2. 1.

   Escalation of privileges: Inline policies can provide excessive permissions to IAM entities, allowing unauthorized access to resources.

4. 2.

   Inconsistent permission management: With multiple inline policies attached to different IAM entities, it becomes difficult to maintain consistent access controls across the AWS environment.

6. 3.

   Policy drift: Over time, inline policies may become outdated, leading to inconsistencies between intended and implemented access controls.

8. 4.

   Policy conflicts: Conflicting inline policies attached to the same IAM entity can cause unintended consequences and potential access control gaps.

10. 5.

    Policy sprawl: As the number of IAM entities and inline policies increases, it becomes challenging to manage and audit the access permissions effectively.

Remediation:

2. 1.

   Identify IAM entities with inline policies: Determine which IAM groups, users, and roles have inline policies attached to them. You can use the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or AWS SDKs/APIs to retrieve this information.

4. 2.

   Analyze and understand existing policies: Review the logic, permissions, and scope of each inline policy to assess their necessity and find alternatives in AWS Managed Policies or Customer Managed Policies.

6. 3.

   Create AWS Managed Policies or Customer Managed Policies: Develop new policies or modify existing ones as needed to replace the functionality provided by the inline policies. Follow the principle of least privilege to grant only the necessary permissions.

8. 4.

   Attach Managed Policies: Update the affected IAM entities to detach the inline policies and instead attach the required Managed Policies to them.

   • AWS Management Console:

     • Open the IAM Management Console.
     • Navigate to the "Groups," "Users," or "Roles" sections depending on the IAM entity you want to modify.
     • Select the entity with an inline policy and click on it.
     • In the "Permissions" tab, click on the "Detach Policy" button and confirm the action.
     • In the same "Permissions" tab, click on the "Attach Policies" button and select the appropriate Managed Policies.
     • Review and confirm the changes.

   • AWS CLI:

     • Use the

       aws iam detach-group-policy

       ,

       aws iam detach-user-policy

       , or

       aws iam detach-role-policy

       command to detach the inline policy from the desired IAM entity.
     • Use the

       aws iam attach-group-policy

       ,

       aws iam attach-user-policy

       , or

       aws iam attach-role-policy

       command to attach the necessary Managed Policies to the IAM entity.
10. 5.

    Repeat steps 4 for all IAM entities with inline policies: Repeat the detachment and attachment process for each identified IAM group, user, or role until all inline policies are replaced.

12. 6.

    Validate and test permissions: After attaching the Managed Policies and detaching the inline policies, thoroughly test the updated IAM permissions to ensure they meet the required functionality without any unintended consequences.

Troubleshooting Steps:

2. 1.

   Inspect error messages: If you receive an error message while attaching or detaching policies, carefully review the message to identify the cause of the issue. It may indicate a problem with permissions or policy syntax.

4. 2.

   Verify IAM entity names and identifiers: Double-check that you are providing the correct IAM entity name or unique identifier (ARN) when using the AWS CLI or SDKs/APIs. Mistakenly specifying the wrong entity can lead to errors.

6. 3.

   Check IAM entity permissions: Ensure that the IAM entity performing the attachment or detachment has the necessary IAM permissions. The entity must have appropriate permissions for

   iam:DetachUserPolicy

   ,

   iam:AttachUserPolicy

   ,

   iam:DetachGroupPolicy

   ,

   iam:AttachGroupPolicy

   ,

   iam:DetachRolePolicy

   , or

   iam:AttachRolePolicy

   actions.

8. 4.

   Review policy permissions: When creating Managed Policies, make sure to grant the required permissions to the IAM entities. Insufficient or excess permissions within the Managed Policies might cause unexpected behavior.

10. 5.

    Validate policy syntax: Use the AWS Policy Simulator or AWS CLI command

    aws iam simulate-principal-policy

    to verify the syntax and evaluate the permissions granted by Managed Policies. Correct any syntax errors or permission inconsistencies.