When should I attach AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess?

The Amazon S3 User Guide says you can attach it to your IAM identities and that it grants read-only access to Amazon S3. Attach it where reading S3 buckets and objects is the intended scope. For narrower access, AWS recommends a customer managed policy specific to the use case.

What does AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess grant?

It allows s3:Get*, s3:List* and s3:Describe*, plus s3-object-lambda:Get* and s3-object-lambda:List*, on all resources. It grants no write, delete, tagging or permissions-management actions.

What are the security risks of AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess?

The policy allows reading the contents of objects (for example s3:GetObject) in every bucket the identity can reach, not only listing them. AWS managed policies might not grant least-privilege permissions for your use case, and AWS updates to the policy affect every identity it is attached to.

AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess

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Summary

Grants read-only access to Amazon S3. AWS describes it as providing read only access to all buckets via the AWS Management Console. The policy allows s3:Get*, s3:List* and s3:Describe*, plus s3-object-lambda:Get* and s3-object-lambda:List*, on all resources.

Permissions imported from the AWS Managed Policy Reference Guide; other sections reviewed against the listed AWS sources.

Identity

ARN: arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess
Default version: v3
Created: 2015-02-06
Last edited: 2023-08-10
Services: s3, s3-object-lambda

Control-plane actions (84)

By access level: 19 List, 65 Read.

Control-plane actions by service
Service	Granted	Access levels and limits	Granted by
S3	72 of 155	15 List, 57 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditional	s3:Describe, s3:Get, s3:List*
S3 Object Lambda	12 of 26	4 List, 8 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditional	s3-object-lambda:Get, s3-object-lambda:List

S3: 72 actions

s3:DescribeJob (Read)
s3:DescribeMultiRegionAccessPointOperation (Read)
s3:GetAccelerateConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetAccessGrant (Read)
s3:GetAccessGrantsInstance (Read)
s3:GetAccessGrantsInstanceForPrefix (Read)
s3:GetAccessGrantsInstanceResourcePolicy (Read)
s3:GetAccessGrantsLocation (Read)
s3:GetAccessPoint (Read)
s3:GetAccessPointConfigurationForObjectLambda (Read)
s3:GetAccessPointForObjectLambda (Read)
s3:GetAccessPointPolicy (Read)
s3:GetAccessPointPolicyForObjectLambda (Read)
s3:GetAccessPointPolicyStatus (Read)
s3:GetAccessPointPolicyStatusForObjectLambda (Read)
s3:GetAccountPublicAccessBlock (Read)
s3:GetAnalyticsConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetBucketAbac (Read)
s3:GetBucketAcl (Read)
s3:GetBucketCORS (Read)
s3:GetBucketLocation (Read)
s3:GetBucketLogging (Read)
s3:GetBucketMetadataTableConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetBucketNotification (Read)
s3:GetBucketObjectLockConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetBucketOwnershipControls (Read)
s3:GetBucketPolicy (Read)
s3:GetBucketPolicyStatus (Read)
s3:GetBucketPublicAccessBlock (Read)
s3:GetBucketRequestPayment (Read)
s3:GetBucketTagging (Read)
s3:GetBucketVersioning (Read)
s3:GetBucketWebsite (Read)
s3:GetDataAccess (Read)
s3:GetEncryptionConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetIntelligentTieringConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetInventoryConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetJobTagging (Read)
s3:GetLifecycleConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetMetricsConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetMultiRegionAccessPoint (Read)
s3:GetMultiRegionAccessPointPolicy (Read)
s3:GetMultiRegionAccessPointPolicyStatus (Read)
s3:GetMultiRegionAccessPointRoutes (Read)
s3:GetObjectAnnotation (Read)
s3:GetObjectAttributes (Read)
s3:GetObjectTorrent (Read)
s3:GetObjectVersionAnnotation (Read)
s3:GetObjectVersionAnnotationForReplication (Read)
s3:GetObjectVersionAttributes (Read)
s3:GetObjectVersionForReplication (Read)
s3:GetObjectVersionTorrent (Read)
s3:GetReplicationConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetStorageLensConfiguration (Read)
s3:GetStorageLensConfigurationTagging (Read)
s3:GetStorageLensDashboard (Read)
s3:GetStorageLensGroup (Read)
s3:ListAccessGrants (List)
s3:ListAccessGrantsInstances (List)
s3:ListAccessGrantsLocations (List)
s3:ListAccessPoints (List)
s3:ListAccessPointsForObjectLambda (List)
s3:ListAllMyBuckets (List)
s3:ListBucketMultipartUploads (List)
s3:ListCallerAccessGrants (List)
s3:ListJobs (List)
s3:ListMultiRegionAccessPoints (List)
s3:ListObjectAnnotations (List)
s3:ListObjectVersionAnnotations (List)
s3:ListStorageLensConfigurations (List)
s3:ListStorageLensGroups (List)
s3:ListTagsForResource (List)

S3 Object Lambda: 12 actions

s3-object-lambda:GetObject (Read)
s3-object-lambda:GetObjectAcl (Read)
s3-object-lambda:GetObjectLegalHold (Read)
s3-object-lambda:GetObjectRetention (Read)
s3-object-lambda:GetObjectTagging (Read)
s3-object-lambda:GetObjectVersion (Read)
s3-object-lambda:GetObjectVersionAcl (Read)
s3-object-lambda:GetObjectVersionTagging (Read)
s3-object-lambda:ListBucket (List)
s3-object-lambda:ListBucketMultipartUploads (List)
s3-object-lambda:ListBucketVersions (List)
s3-object-lambda:ListMultipartUploadParts (List)

Data-plane actions (11)

By access level: 3 List, 8 Read.

Data-plane actions by service
Service	Granted	Access levels and limits	Granted by
S3	11 of 25	3 List, 8 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditional	s3:Get, s3:List

S3: 11 actions

s3:GetObject (Read)
s3:GetObjectAcl (Read)
s3:GetObjectLegalHold (Read)
s3:GetObjectRetention (Read)
s3:GetObjectTagging (Read)
s3:GetObjectVersion (Read)
s3:GetObjectVersionAcl (Read)
s3:GetObjectVersionTagging (Read)
s3:ListBucket (List)
s3:ListBucketVersions (List)
s3:ListMultipartUploadParts (List)

Excluded and conditional actions

No patterns are excluded by NotAction or Deny statements.

Resource scope and attachment

Resource scope across granted actions: all-resources.

Can be attached: Yes, to users, groups and roles.

Why this tier

Grants only List and Read actions.

Guidance

Practical scope

The policy's Resource is "*", so it applies to every bucket and S3 Object Lambda resource the identity can reach. It includes object reads such as s3:GetObject, not only bucket and object listings. It grants no write, delete, tagging or permissions-management actions.

Use cases

Give users, groups or roles read-only access to Amazon S3, including S3 Object Lambda.

Best practices

AWS managed policies might not grant least-privilege permissions for your use case. AWS recommends reducing permissions further with customer managed policies specific to your use cases.

Security considerations

The policy allows reading the contents of objects (for example s3:GetObject) on all resources, not only listing buckets.
You cannot change the permissions in an AWS managed policy. When AWS updates it, the change affects every user, group and role it is attached to. AWS added s3:Describe* on August 11, 2023, and S3 Object Lambda permissions on September 27, 2021.

Assignment guidance

You can attach this policy to your users, groups and roles. The reference page also links to guidance on creating a permission set using AWS managed policies in IAM Identity Center. It fits where read-only access to Amazon S3 as a whole is intended. Where a narrower scope is needed, AWS recommends a customer managed policy specific to the use case.

Same service

Same domain

Frequently asked questions

When should I attach AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess?: The Amazon S3 User Guide says you can attach it to your IAM identities and that it grants read-only access to Amazon S3. Attach it where reading S3 buckets and objects is the intended scope. For narrower access, AWS recommends a customer managed policy specific to the use case.
What does AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess grant?: It allows s3:Get*, s3:List* and s3:Describe*, plus s3-object-lambda:Get* and s3-object-lambda:List*, on all resources. It grants no write, delete, tagging or permissions-management actions.
What are the security risks of AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess?: The policy allows reading the contents of objects (for example s3:GetObject) in every bucket the identity can reach, not only listing them. AWS managed policies might not grant least-privilege permissions for your use case, and AWS updates to the policy affect every identity it is attached to.

Policy JSON

Download policy.json

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:Get*",
        "s3:List*",
        "s3:Describe*",
        "s3-object-lambda:Get*",
        "s3-object-lambda:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Version history

Current version v3, edited by AWS on 2023-08-10. Version history is recorded from 2026-11-11. Earlier versions are in the IAM console under Policy versions.

Attach snippets

AWS CLI

aws iam attach-role-policy --role-name ROLE_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name USER_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess
aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name GROUP_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess

CloudFormation

Resources:
  ExampleRole:
    Type: AWS::IAM::Role
    Properties:
      AssumeRolePolicyDocument: {}  # replace with your trust policy
      ManagedPolicyArns:
        - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess

Terraform

resource "aws_iam_role_policy_attachment" "amazons3readonlyaccess" {
  role       = aws_iam_role.example.name
  policy_arn = "arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess"
}

CDK (TypeScript)

role.addManagedPolicy(
  iam.ManagedPolicy.fromAwsManagedPolicyName("AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess"),
);

Sources

AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess (AWS Managed Policy Reference Guide) (retrieved 2026-11-11; supports summary, practicalScope, securityConsiderations, assignmentGuidance, faqs)
AWS managed policies for Amazon S3 (Amazon S3 User Guide) (retrieved 2026-11-11; supports summary, useCases, bestPractices, securityConsiderations, assignmentGuidance, faqs)