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AWS auth method (API)

This is the API documentation for the Vault AWS auth method. For general information about the usage and operation of the AWS method, please see the Vault AWS method documentation.

This documentation assumes the AWS method is mounted at the /auth/aws path in Vault. Since it is possible to enable auth methods at any location, please update your API calls accordingly.

Configure client

Configures the credentials required to perform API calls to AWS as well as custom endpoints to talk to AWS APIs. The instance identity document fetched from the PKCS#7 signature will provide the EC2 instance ID. The credentials configured using this endpoint will be used to query the status of the instances via DescribeInstances API. If static credentials are not provided using this endpoint, then the credentials will be retrieved from the environment variables AWS_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_SECRET_KEY and AWS_REGION respectively. If the credentials are still not found and if the method is configured on an EC2 instance with metadata querying capabilities, the credentials are fetched automatically.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/config/client

Parameters

  • max_retries (int: -1) - Number of max retries the client should use for recoverable errors. The default (-1) falls back to the AWS SDK's default behavior.

  • access_key (string: "") - AWS Access key with permissions to query AWS APIs. The permissions required depend on the specific configurations. If using the iam auth method without inferencing, then no credentials are necessary. If using the ec2 auth method or using the iam auth method with inferencing, then these credentials need access to ec2:DescribeInstances. If additionally a bound_iam_role is specified, then these credentials also need access to iam:GetInstanceProfile. If, however, an alternate sts configuration is set for the target account, then the credentials must be permissioned to call sts:AssumeRole on the configured role, and that role must have the permissions described here.

  • secret_key (string: "") - AWS Secret key with permissions to query AWS APIs.

  • endpoint (string: "") - URL to override the default generated endpoint for making AWS EC2 API calls.

  • iam_endpoint (string: "") - URL to override the default generated endpoint for making AWS IAM API calls.

  • sts_endpoint (string: "") - URL to override the default generated endpoint for making AWS STS API calls. If set, sts_region should also be set.

  • sts_region (string: "") - Region to override the default region for making AWS STS API calls. Should only be set if sts_endpoint is set. If so, should be set to the region in which the custom sts_endpoint resides.

  • use_sts_region_from_client (boolean: false) - If set, overrides both sts_endpoint and sts_region to instead use the region specified in the client request headers for IAM-based authentication . This can be useful when you have client requests coming from different regions and want flexibility in which regional STS API is used.

  • iam_server_id_header_value (string: "") - The value to require in the X-Vault-AWS-IAM-Server-ID header as part of GetCallerIdentity requests that are used in the iam auth method. If not set, then no value is required or validated. If set, clients must include an X-Vault-AWS-IAM-Server-ID header in the headers of login requests, and further this header must be among the signed headers validated by AWS. This is to protect against different types of replay attacks, for example a signed request sent to a dev server being resent to a production server. Consider setting this to the Vault server's DNS name.

  • allowed_sts_header_values (string: "") A comma separated list of additional request headers permitted when providing the iam_request_headers for an IAM based login call. In any case, a default list of headers AWS STS expects for a GetCallerIdentity are allowed.

Sample payload

{
  "access_key": "VKIAJBRHKH6EVTTNXDHA",
  "secret_key": "vCtSM8ZUEQ3mOFVlYPBQkf2sO6F/W7a5TVzrl3Oj"
}

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    --data @payload.json \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/client

Read config

Returns the previously configured AWS access credentials.

MethodPath

GET

/auth/aws/config/client

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/client

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "access_key": "VKIAJBRHKH6EVTTNXDHA",
    "endpoint": "",
    "iam_endpoint": "",
    "sts_endpoint": "",
    "sts_region": "",
    "use_sts_region_from_client": false,
    "iam_server_id_header_value": ""
  }
}

Delete config

Deletes the previously configured AWS access credentials.

MethodPath

DELETE

/auth/aws/config/client

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request DELETE \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/client

Rotate root credentials

When you have configured Vault with static credentials, you can use this endpoint to have Vault rotate the access key it used. Note that, due to AWS eventual consistency, after calling this endpoint, subsequent calls from Vault to AWS may fail for a few seconds until AWS becomes consistent again.

In order to call this endpoint, Vault's AWS access key MUST be the only access key on the IAM user; otherwise, generation of a new access key will fail. Once this method is called, Vault will now be the only entity that knows the AWS secret key is used to access AWS.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/config/rotate-root

Parameters

There are no parameters to this operation.

Sample request

    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/rotate-root

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "access_key": "AKIA..."
  }
}

The new access key Vault uses is returned by this operation.

Configure identity integration

This configures the way that Vault interacts with the Identity store. The default (as of Vault 1.0.3) is role_id for both values.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/config/identity

Parameters

  • iam_alias (string: "role_id") - How to generate the identity alias when using the iam auth method. Valid choices are role_id, unique_id, and full_arn When role_id is selected, the randomly generated ID of the role is used. When unique_id is selected, the IAM Unique ID of the IAM principal (either the user or role) is used as the identity alias name. When full_arn is selected, the ARN returned by the sts:GetCallerIdentity call is used as the alias name. This is either arn:aws:iam::<account_id>:user/<optional_path/><user_name> or arn:aws:sts::<account_id>:assumed-role/<role_name_without_path>/<role_session_name>. Note: if you select full_arn and then delete and recreate the IAM role, Vault won't be aware and any identity aliases set up for the role name will still be valid.

  • iam_metadata (string: "default") - The metadata to include on the token returned by the login endpoint. This metadata will be added to both audit logs, and on the iam_alias. By default, it includes account_id and auth_type. Additionally, canonical_arn, client_arn, client_user_id, inferred_aws_region, inferred_entity_id, and inferred_entity_type are available. To include no metadata, set to "" via the CLI or [] via the API. To use only particular fields, select the explicit fields. To restore to defaults, send only a field of default. Only select fields that will have a low rate of change for your iam_alias because each change triggers a storage write and can have a performance impact at scale.

  • ec2_alias (string: "role_id") - Configures how to generate the identity alias when using the ec2 auth method. Valid choices are role_id, instance_id, and image_id. When role_id is selected, the randomly generated ID of the role is used. When instance_id is selected, the instance identifier is used as the identity alias name. When image_id is selected, AMI ID of the instance is used as the identity alias name.

  • ec2_metadata (string: "default") - The metadata to include on the token returned by the login endpoint. This metadata will be added to both audit logs, and on the ec2_alias. By default, it includes account_id and auth_type. Additionally, ami_id, instance_id, and region, are available. To include no metadata, set to "" via the CLI or [] via the API. To use only particular fields, select the explicit fields. To restore to defaults, send only a field of default. Only select fields that will have a low rate of change for your ec2_alias because each change triggers a storage write and can have a performance impact at scale.

Sample payload

{
  "iam_alias": "unique_id"
}

Sample request

$ curl \
    -- header "X-Vault-Token:..." \
    --request POST
    --data @payload.json \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/identity

Read identity integration configuration

Returns the previously configured Identity integration configuration

MethodPath

GET

/auth/aws/config/identity

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token:..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/identity

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "iam_alias": "full_arn"
  }
}

Create certificate configuration

Registers an AWS public key to be used to verify the instance identity documents. Indicate the type of the public key using the type parameter. Vault has the default documented set of AWS certificates built-in.

The pkcs7 type is used to verify PKCS#7 signatures from the AWS http://169.254.169.254/latest/dynamic/instance-identity/pkcs7 and http://169.254.169.254/latest/dynamic/instance-identity/rsa2048 endpoints.

The identity type is used to verify signatures from the http://169.254.169.254/latest/dynamic/instance-identity/document and http://169.254.169.254/latest/dynamic/instance-identity/signature endpoints.

See the AWS docs for more information on the signature types and the corresponding certificates.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/config/certificate/:cert_name

Parameters

  • cert_name (string: <required>) - Name of the certificate.

  • aws_public_cert (string: <required>) - Base64-encoded AWS Public key required to verify PKCS#7 signature of the EC2 instance metadata.

  • type (string: "pkcs7") - Takes the value of either "pkcs7" or "identity", indicating the type of document which can be verified using the given certificate. The PKCS#7 document can be a DSA digest from the /pkcs7 endpoint or an RSA-2048 signature from the /rsa2048 endpoint. The identity signature is used to validate RSA signatures from the /signature endpoint. Defaults to "pkcs7".

Sample payload

{
  "aws_public_cert": "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"
}

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    --data @payload.json \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/certificate/test-cert

Read certificate configuration

Returns the previously configured AWS public key.

MethodPath

GET

/auth/aws/config/certificate/:cert_name

Parameters

  • cert_name (string: <required>) - Name of the certificate.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/certificate/test-cert

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "aws_public_cert": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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\n7HX32MxXYruse9ACFBNGmdX2ZBrVNGrN9N2f6ROk0k9K\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n",
    "type": "pkcs7"
  }
}

Delete certificate configuration

Removes the previously configured AWS public key.

MethodPath

DELETE

/auth/aws/config/certificate/:cert_name

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request DELETE \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/certificate/test-cert

List certificate configurations

Lists all the AWS public certificates that are registered with the method.

MethodPath

LIST

/auth/aws/config/certificates

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request LIST \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/certificates

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "keys": ["cert1"]
  }
}

Create STS role

Allows the explicit association of STS roles to satellite AWS accounts (i.e. those which are not the account in which the Vault server is running.) Vault will use credentials obtained by assuming these STS roles when validating IAM principals or EC2 instances in the particular AWS account.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/config/sts/:account_id

Parameters

  • account_id (string: <required>) - AWS account ID to be associated with STS role. If set, Vault will use assumed credentials to verify any login attempts from EC2 instances in this account.

  • sts_role (string: <required>) - AWS ARN for STS role to be assumed when interacting with the account specified. The Vault server must have permissions to assume this role.

Sample payload

{
  "sts_role": "arn:aws:iam:111122223333:role/myRole"
}

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    --data @payload.json \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/sts/111122223333

Read STS role

Returns the previously configured STS role.

MethodPath

GET

/auth/aws/config/sts/:account_id

Parameters

  • account_id (string: <required>) - AWS account ID that has been previously associated with STS role.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/sts/111122223333

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "sts_role ": "arn:aws:iam:111122223333:role/myRole"
  }
}

List STS roles

Lists all the AWS Account IDs for which an STS role is registered.

MethodPath

LIST

/auth/aws/config/sts

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request LIST \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/sts

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "keys": ["111122223333", "999988887777"]
  }
}

Delete STS role

Deletes a previously configured AWS account/STS role association.

MethodPath

DELETE

/auth/aws/config/sts/:account_id

Parameters

  • account_id (string: <required>) - AWS account ID that has been previously associated with STS role.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request DELETE \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/sts/111122223333

Configure identity access list tidy operation

Configures the periodic tidying operation of the access listed identity entries.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/config/tidy/identity-accesslist

Parameters

  • safety_buffer (string: "72h") - The amount of extra time that must have passed beyond the roletag expiration, before it is removed from the method storage. Defaults to 72h.

  • disable_periodic_tidy (bool: false) - If set to 'true', disables the periodic tidying of the identity-accesslist/<instance_id> entries.

Sample payload

{
  "safety_buffer": "48h"
}

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    --data @payload.json \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/tidy/identity-accesslist

Read identity access list tidy settings

Returns the previously configured periodic access list tidying settings.

MethodPath

GET

/auth/aws/config/tidy/identity-accesslist

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/tidy/identity-accesslist

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "safety_buffer": 600,
    "disable_periodic_tidy": false
  }
}

Delete identity access list tidy settings

Deletes the previously configured periodic access list tidying settings.

MethodPath

DELETE

/auth/aws/config/tidy/identity-accesslist

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request DELETE \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/tidy/identity-accesslist

Configure role tag deny list tidy operation

Configures the periodic tidying operation of the deny listed role tag entries.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/config/tidy/roletag-denylist

Parameters

  • safety_buffer (string: "72h") - The amount of extra time that must have passed beyond the roletag expiration, before it is removed from the method storage. Defaults to 72h.

  • disable_periodic_tidy (bool: false) - If set to 'true', disables the periodic tidying of the roletag-denylist/<instance_id> entries.

Sample payload

{
  "safety_buffer": "48h"
}

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    --data @payload.json \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/tidy/roletag-denylist

Read role tag deny list tidy settings

Returns the previously configured periodic deny list tidying settings.

MethodPath

GET

/auth/aws/config/tidy/roletag-denylist

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/tidy/roletag-denylist

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "safety_buffer": 600,
    "disable_periodic_tidy": false
  }
}

Delete role tag deny list tidy settings

Deletes the previously configured periodic deny list tidying settings.

MethodPath

DELETE

/auth/aws/config/tidy/roletag-denylist

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request DELETE \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/config/tidy/roletag-denylist

Create/Update role

Registers a role in the method. Only those instances or principals which are using the role registered using this endpoint, will be able to perform the login operation. Constraints can be specified on the role, that are applied on the instances or principals attempting to login. At least one constraint must be specified on the role. The available constraints you can choose are dependent on the auth_type of the role and, if the auth_type is iam, then whether inferencing is enabled. A role will not let you configure a constraint if it is not checked by the auth_type and inferencing configuration of that role. For the constraints which accept a list of values, the authenticating instance/principal must match any one value in the list in order to satisfy that constraint.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/role/:role

Parameters

  • role (string: <required>) - Name of the role. Vault normalizes all role names to lower case. If you create two roles, "Web-Workers" and "WEB-WORKERS", they will both be normalized to "web-workers" and will be regarded as the same role. This is to prevent unexpected behavior due to casing differences. At all points, Vault can be provided the role in any casing, and it will internally handle sending it to lower case and seeking it inside its storage engine.

  • auth_type (string: "iam") - The auth type permitted for this role. Valid choices are "ec2" or "iam". If no value is specified, then it will default to "iam" (except for legacy aws-ec2 auth types, for which it will default to "ec2"). Only those bindings applicable to the auth type chosen will be allowed to be configured on the role.

  • bound_ami_id (list: []) - If set, defines a constraint on the EC2 instances that they should be using one of the AMI ID specified by this parameter. This constraint is checked during ec2 auth as well as the iam auth method only when inferring an EC2 instance. This is a comma-separated string or JSON array.

  • bound_account_id (list: []) - If set, defines a constraint on the EC2 instances that the account ID in its identity document to match one of the ones specified by this parameter. This constraint is checked during ec2 auth as well as the iam auth method only when inferring an EC2 instance. This is a comma-separated string or JSON array.

  • bound_region (list: []) - If set, defines a constraint on the EC2 instances that the region in its identity document must match one of the regions specified by this parameter. This constraint is only checked by the ec2 auth method as well as the iam auth method only when inferring an ec2 instance. This is a comma-separated string or JSON array.

  • bound_vpc_id (list: []) - If set, defines a constraint on the EC2 instance to be associated with a VPC ID that matches one of the values specified by this parameter. This constraint is only checked by the ec2 auth method as well as the iam auth method only when inferring an ec2 instance. This is a comma-separated string or JSON array.

  • bound_subnet_id (list: []) - If set, defines a constraint on the EC2 instance to be associated with a subnet ID that matches one of the values specified by this parameter. This constraint is only checked by the ec2 auth method as well as the iam auth method only when inferring an ec2 instance. This is a comma-separated string or a JSON array.

  • bound_iam_role_arn (list: []) - If set, defines a constraint on the authenticating EC2 instance that it must match one of the IAM role ARNs specified by this parameter. Wildcards are supported at the end of the ARN to allow for prefix matching. The configured IAM user or EC2 instance role must be allowed to execute the iam:GetInstanceProfile action if this is specified. This constraint is checked by the ec2 auth method as well as the iam auth method only when inferring an EC2 instance. This is a comma-separated string or a JSON array.

  • bound_iam_instance_profile_arn (list: []) - If set, defines a constraint on the EC2 instances to be associated with an IAM instance profile ARN. Wildcards are supported at the end of the ARN to allow for prefix matching. This constraint is checked by the ec2 auth method as well as the iam auth method only when inferring an ec2 instance. This is a comma-separated string or a JSON array.

  • bound_ec2_instance_id (list: []) - If set, defines a constraint on the EC2 instances to have one of these instance IDs. This constraint is checked by the ec2 auth method as well as the iam auth method only when inferring an ec2 instance. This is a comma-separated string or a JSON array.

  • role_tag (string: "") - If set, enables the role tags for this role. The value set for this field should be the 'key' of the tag on the EC2 instance. The 'value' of the tag should be generated using role/<role>/tag endpoint. Defaults to an empty string, meaning that role tags are disabled. This constraint is valid only with the ec2 auth method and is not allowed when auth_type is iam.

  • bound_iam_principal_arn (list: []) - Defines the list of IAM principals that are permitted to login to the role using the iam auth method. Individual values should look like "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/MyUserName" or "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/MyRoleName". Wildcards are supported at the end of the ARN, e.g., "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:*" will match any IAM principal in the AWS account 123456789012. When resolve_aws_unique_ids is false and you are binding to IAM roles (as opposed to users) and you are not using a wildcard at the end, then you must specify the ARN by omitting any path component; see the documentation for resolve_aws_unique_ids below. This constraint is only checked by the iam auth method. Wildcards are supported at the end of the ARN, e.g., "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/*" will match all roles in the AWS account. This is a comma-separated string or JSON array.

  • inferred_entity_type (string: "") - When set, instructs Vault to turn on inferencing. The only current valid value is "ec2_instance" instructing Vault to infer that the role comes from an EC2 instance in an IAM instance profile. This only applies to the iam auth method. If you set this on an existing role where it had not previously been set, tokens that had been created prior will not be renewable; clients will need to get a new token.

  • inferred_aws_region (string: "") - When role inferencing is activated, the region to search for the inferred entities (e.g., EC2 instances). Required if role inferencing is activated. This only applies to the iam auth method.

  • resolve_aws_unique_ids (bool: true) - When set, resolves the bound_iam_principal_arn to the AWS Unique ID for the bound principal ARN. This field is ignored when bound_iam_principal_arn ends with a wildcard character. This requires Vault to be able to call iam:GetUser or iam:GetRole on the bound_iam_principal_arn that is being bound. Resolving to internal AWS IDs more closely mimics the behavior of AWS services in that if an IAM user or role is deleted and a new one is recreated with the same name, those new users or roles won't get access to roles in Vault that were permissioned to the prior principals of the same name. The default value for new roles is true, while the default value for roles that existed prior to this option existing is false (you can check the value for a given role using the GET method on the role). Any authentication tokens created prior to this being supported won't verify the unique ID upon token renewal. When this is changed from false to true on an existing role, Vault will attempt to resolve the role's bound IAM ARN to the unique ID and, if unable to do so, will fail to enable this option. Changing this from true to false is not supported; if absolutely necessary, you would need to delete the role and recreate it explicitly setting it to false. However; the instances in which you would want to do this should be rare. If the role creation (or upgrading to use this) succeed, then Vault has already been able to resolve internal IDs, and it doesn't need any further IAM permissions to authenticate users. If a role has been deleted and recreated, and Vault has cached the old unique ID, you should just call this endpoint specifying the same bound_iam_principal_arn and, as long as Vault still has the necessary IAM permissions to resolve the unique ID, Vault will update the unique ID. (If it does not have the necessary permissions to resolve the unique ID, then it will fail to update.) If this option is set to false, then you MUST leave out the path component in bound_iam_principal_arn for roles that do not specify a wildcard at the end, but not IAM users or role bindings that have a wildcard. That is, if your IAM role ARN is of the form arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/some/path/to/MyRoleName, and resolve_aws_unique_ids is false, you must specify a bound_iam_principal_arn of arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/MyRoleName for authentication to work.

  • allow_instance_migration (bool: false) - If set, allows migration of the underlying instance where the client resides. This keys off of pendingTime in the metadata document, so essentially, this disables the client nonce check whenever the instance is migrated to a new host and pendingTime is newer than the previously-remembered time. Use with caution. This only applies to authentications via the ec2 auth method. This is mutually exclusive with disallow_reauthentication.

  • disallow_reauthentication (bool: false) - If set, only allows a single token to be granted per instance ID. In order to perform a fresh login, the entry in the access list for the instance ID needs to be cleared using auth/aws/identity-accesslist/<instance_id> endpoint. Defaults to 'false'. This only applies to authentications via the ec2 auth method. This is mutually exclusive with allow_instance_migration.

@include 'tokenfields.mdx'

Sample payload

{
  "bound_ami_id": ["ami-fce36987"],
  "bound_ec2_instance_id": ["i-12345678901234567"],
  "role_tag": "",
  "policies": ["default", "dev", "prod"],
  "max_ttl": 1800000,
  "disallow_reauthentication": false,
  "allow_instance_migration": false
}

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    --data @payload.json \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/role/dev-role

Read role

Returns the previously registered role configuration.

MethodPath

GET

/auth/aws/role/:role

Parameters

  • role (string: <required>) - Name of the role.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/role/dev-role

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "bound_ami_id": ["ami-fce36987"],
    "role_tag": "",
    "policies": ["default", "dev", "prod"],
    "max_ttl": 1800000,
    "disallow_reauthentication": false,
    "allow_instance_migration": false
  }
}

List roles

Lists all the roles that are registered with the method.

MethodPath

LIST

/auth/aws/roles

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request LIST \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/roles

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "keys": ["dev-role", "prod-role"]
  }
}

Delete role

Deletes the previously registered role.

MethodPath

DELETE

/auth/aws/role/:role

Parameters

  • role (string: <required>) - Name of the role.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request DELETE \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/role/dev-role

Create role tags

Creates a role tag on the role, which help in restricting the capabilities that are set on the role. Role tags are not tied to any specific ec2 instance unless specified explicitly using the instance_id parameter. By default, role tags are designed to be used across all instances that satisfies the constraints on the role. Regardless of which instances have role tags on them, capabilities defined in a role tag must be a strict subset of the given role's capabilities. Note that, since adding and removing a tag is often a widely distributed privilege, care needs to be taken to ensure that the instances are attached with correct tags to not let them gain more privileges than what were intended. If a role tag is changed, the capabilities inherited by the instance will be those defined on the new role tag. Since those must be a subset of the role capabilities, the role should never provide more capabilities than any given instance can be allowed to gain in a worst-case scenario.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/role/:role/tag

Parameters

  • role (string: <required>) - Name of the role.

  • policies (array: []) - Policies to be associated with the tag. If set, must be a subset of the role's policies. If set, but set to an empty value, only the 'default' policy will be given to issued tokens.

  • max_ttl (string: "") - The maximum allowed lifetime of tokens issued using this role.

  • instance_id (string: "") - Instance ID for which this tag is intended for. If set, the created tag can only be used by the instance with the given ID.

  • allow_instance_migration (bool: false) - If set, allows migration of the underlying instance where the client resides. This keys off of pendingTime in the metadata document, so essentially, this disables the client nonce check whenever the instance is migrated to a new host and pendingTime is newer than the previously-remembered time. Use with caution. Defaults to 'false'. Mutually exclusive with disallow_reauthentication.

  • disallow_reauthentication (bool: false) - If set, only allows a single token to be granted per instance ID. This can be cleared with the auth/aws/identity-accesslist endpoint. Defaults to 'false'. Mutually exclusive with allow_instance_migration.

Sample payload

{
  "policies": ["default", "dev-api"]
}

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    --data @payload.json \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/role/dev-api-and-web-role/tag

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "tag_value": "v1:09Vp0qGuyB8=:r=dev-role:p=default,dev-api:d=false:t=300h0m0s:uPLKCQxqsefRhrp1qmVa1wsQVUXXJG8UZP/pJIdVyOI=",
    "tag_key": "VaultRole"
  }
}

Login

Fetch a token. This endpoint verifies the PKCS#7 signature of the instance identity document or the signature of the signed GetCallerIdentity request. With the ec2 auth method, or when inferring an EC2 instance, verifies that the instance is actually in a running state. Cross checks the constraints defined on the role with which the login is being performed. With the ec2 auth method, as an alternative to PKCS#7 signature, the identity document along with its RSA signature can be supplied to this endpoint.

See the AWS docs for more information on the signature types.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/login

Parameters

  • role (string: "") - Name of the role against which the login is being attempted. If role is not specified, then the login endpoint looks for a role bearing the name of the AMI ID of the EC2 instance that is trying to login if using the ec2 auth method, or the "friendly name" (i.e., role name or username) of the IAM principal authenticated. If a matching role is not found, login fails.

  • identity (string: <required-ec2>) - Base64 encoded EC2 instance identity document, which can usually be obtained from the http://169.254.169.254/latest/dynamic/instance-identity/document endpoint. When using curl for fetching the identity document, consider using the option -w 0 while piping the output to base64 binary. Either both of this and signature must be set OR pkcs7 must be set when using the ec2 auth method.

  • signature (string: <required-ec2>) - Base64-encoded SHA256 RSA signature of the instance identity document, which can usually be obtained from the http://169.254.169.254/latest/dynamic/instance-identity/document endpoint. Either both this AND identity must be set OR pkcs7 must be set when using the ec2 auth method.

  • pkcs7 (string: <required-ec2>) - PKCS#7 signature of the identity document with all characters removed. This supports signatures from the AWS http://169.254.169.254/latest/dynamic/instance-identity/rsa2048 or http://169.254.169.254/latest/dynamic/instance-identity/pkcs7 endpoints. Either this needs to be set OR both identity and signature need to be set when using the ec2 auth method.

  • nonce (string: "") - The nonce to be used for subsequent login requests. If this parameter is not specified at all and if reauthentication is allowed, then the method will generate a random nonce, attaches it to the instance's identity-accesslist entry and returns the nonce back as part of auth metadata. This value should be used with further login requests, to establish client authenticity. Clients can choose to set a custom nonce if preferred, in which case, it is recommended that clients provide a strong nonce. If a nonce is provided but with an empty value, it indicates intent to disable reauthentication. Note that, when disallow_reauthentication option is enabled on either the role or the role tag, the nonce holds no significance. This is ignored unless using the ec2 auth method.

  • iam_http_request_method (string: <required-iam>) - HTTP method used in the signed request. This is required when using the iam auth method.

  • iam_request_url (string: <required-iam>) - Base64-encoded HTTP URL used in the signed request. Most likely just aHR0cHM6Ly9zdHMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS8= (base64-encoding of https://sts.amazonaws.com/) as most requests will probably use POST with an empty URI. If using GET method this will contain the authentication headers that have been hoisted out of the message body. This is required when using the iam auth method.

  • iam_request_body (string: <required-iam>) - Base64-encoded body of the signed request. Most likely QWN0aW9uPUdldENhbGxlcklkZW50aXR5JlZlcnNpb249MjAxMS0wNi0xNQ==, which is the base64 encoding of Action=GetCallerIdentity&Version=2011-06-15. This is required when using the iam auth method with POST signed requests.

  • iam_request_headers (string: <required-iam>) - Key/value pairs of headers for use in the sts:GetCallerIdentity HTTP requests headers. Can be either a Base64-encoded, JSON-serialized string, or a JSON object of key/value pairs. The JSON serialization assumes that each header key maps to either a string value or an array of string values (though the length of that array will probably only be one). If the iam_server_id_header_value is configured in Vault for the aws auth mount, then the headers must include the X-Vault-AWS-IAM-Server-ID header, its value must match the value configured, and the header must be included in the signed headers. This is required when using the iam auth method.

Sample payload

{}

Sample request

$ curl \
    --request POST \
    --data @payload.json \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/login

Sample response

{
  "auth": {
    "renewable": true,
    "lease_duration": 1800000,
    "metadata": {
      "role_tag_max_ttl": "0",
      "instance_id": "i-de0f1344",
      "ami_id": "ami-fce36983",
      "role": "dev-role",
      "auth_type": "ec2"
    },
    "policies": ["default", "dev"],
    "accessor": "20b89871-e6f2-1160-fb29-31c2f6d4645e",
    "client_token": "c9368254-3f21-aded-8a6f-7c818e81b17a"
  }
}

Place role tags in deny list

Places a valid role tag in a deny list. This ensures that the role tag cannot be used by any instance to perform a login operation again. Note that if the role tag was previously used to perform a successful login, placing the tag in the deny list does not invalidate the already issued token.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/roletag-denylist/:role_tag

Parameters

  • role_tag (string: <required>) - Role tag to be deny listed. This is the tag_value returned when the role tag is created. The tag can be supplied as-is. In order to avoid any encoding problems, it can be base64 encoded.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/roletag-denylist/djE6MDlWcDBxR3V5Qjg9OmE9YW1pLWZjZTNjNjk2OnA9ZGVmYXVsdCxwcm9kOmQ9ZmFsc2U6dD0zMDBoMG0wczp1UExLQ1F4cXNlZlJocnAxcW1WYTF3c1FWVVhYSkc4VVpQLwo=

Read role tag deny list information

Returns the deny list entry of a previously deny listed role tag.

MethodPath

GET

/auth/aws/roletag-denylist/:role_tag

Parameters

  • role_tag (string: <required>) - Role tag to be deny listed. The tag can be supplied as-is. In order to avoid any encoding problems, it can be base64 encoded.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/roletag-denylist/djE6MDlWcDBxR3V5Qjg9OmE9YW1pLWZjZTNjNjk2OnA9ZGVmYXVsdCxwcm9kOmQ9ZmFsc2U6dD0zMDBoMG0wczp1UExLQ1F4cXNlZlJocnAxcW1WYTF3c1FWVVhYSkc4VVpQLwo=

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "expiration_time": "2016-04-25T10:35:20.127058773-04:00",
    "creation_time": "2016-04-12T22:35:01.178348124-04:00"
  }
}

List deny list tags

Lists all the role tags that are deny listed.

MethodPath

LIST

/auth/aws/roletag-denylist

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request LIST \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/roletag-denylist

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "keys": [
      "v1:09Vp0qGuyB8=:a=ami-fce3c696:p=default,prod:d=false:t=300h0m0s:uPLKCQxqsefRhrp1qmVa1wsQVUXXJG8UZP/"
    ]
  }
}

Delete deny list tags

Deletes a deny listed role tag.

MethodPath

DELETE

/auth/aws/roletag-denylist/:role_tag

Parameters

  • role_tag (string: <required>) - Role tag to be deny listed. The tag can be supplied as-is. In order to avoid any encoding problems, it can be base64 encoded.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request DELETE \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/roletag-denylist/djE6MDlWcDBxR3V5Qjg9OmE9YW1pLWZjZTNjNjk2OnA9ZGVmYXVsdCxwcm9kOmQ9ZmFsc2U6dD0zMDBoMG0wczp1UExLQ1F4cXNlZlJocnAxcW1WYTF3c1FWVVhYSkc4VVpQLwo=

Tidy deny list tags

Cleans up the entries in the deny listed based on expiration time on the entry and safety_buffer.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/tidy/roletag-denylist

Parameters

  • safety_buffer (string: "72h") - The amount of extra time that must have passed beyond the roletag expiration, before it is removed from the method storage. Defaults to 72h.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/tidy/roletag-denylist

Read identity access list information

Returns an entry in the identity access list. An entry will be created/updated by every successful login.

MethodPath

GET

/auth/aws/identity-accesslist/:instance_id

Parameters

  • instance_id (string: <required>) - EC2 instance ID. A successful login operation from an EC2 instance gets cached in th access list, keyed off of instance ID.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/identity-accesslist/i-aab47d37

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "pending_time": "2016-04-14T01:01:41Z",
    "expiration_time": "2016-05-05 10:09:16.67077232 +0000 UTC",
    "creation_time": "2016-04-14 14:09:16.67077232 +0000 UTC",
    "client_nonce": "5defbf9e-a8f9-3063-bdfc-54b7a42a1f95",
    "role": "dev-role"
  }
}

List identity access list entries

Lists all the instance IDs that are in the access list of successful logins.

MethodPath

LIST

/auth/aws/identity-accesslist

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request LIST \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/identity-accesslist

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "keys": ["i-aab47d37"]
  }
}

Delete identity access list entries

Deletes a cache of the successful login from an instance.

MethodPath

DELETE

/auth/aws/identity-accesslist/:instance_id

Parameters

  • instance_id (string: <required>) - EC2 instance ID. A successful login operation from an EC2 instance gets cached in this access list, keyed off of instance ID.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request DELETE \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/identity-accesslist/i-aab47d37

Tidy identity access list entries

Cleans up the entries in the access list based on expiration time and safety_buffer.

MethodPath

POST

/auth/aws/tidy/identity-accesslist

Parameters

  • safety_buffer (string: "72h") - The amount of extra time that must have passed beyond the roletag expiration, before it is removed from the method storage. Defaults to 72h.

Sample request

$ curl \
    --header "X-Vault-Token: ..." \
    --request POST \
    http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/auth/aws/tidy/identity-accesslist
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