AmazonVPCReadOnlyAccess

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Summary

Provides read only access to Amazon VPC via the AWS Management Console.

Permissions imported from the AWS Managed Policy Reference Guide; other sections pending editorial review.

Identity

ARN: arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonVPCReadOnlyAccess
Default version: v12
Created: 2015-02-06
Last edited: 2026-02-12
Services: ec2

Control-plane actions (40)

By access level: 39 List, 1 Read.

Control-plane actions by service
Service	Granted	Access levels and limits	Granted by
EC2	40 of 834	39 List, 1 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditional	ec2:DescribeAccountAttributes, ec2:DescribeAddresses, ec2:DescribeCarrierGateways, ec2:DescribeClassicLinkInstances, ec2:DescribeCustomerGateways, ec2:DescribeDhcpOptions, ec2:DescribeEgressOnlyInternetGateways, ec2:DescribeFlowLogs, ec2:DescribeInternetGateways, ec2:DescribeLocalGatewayRouteTableVpcAssociations, ec2:DescribeLocalGatewayRouteTables, ec2:DescribeMovingAddresses and 28 more

EC2: 40 actions

ec2:DescribeAccountAttributes (List)
ec2:DescribeAddresses (List)
ec2:DescribeCarrierGateways (List)
ec2:DescribeClassicLinkInstances (List)
ec2:DescribeCustomerGateways (List)
ec2:DescribeDhcpOptions (List)
ec2:DescribeEgressOnlyInternetGateways (List)
ec2:DescribeFlowLogs (List)
ec2:DescribeInternetGateways (List)
ec2:DescribeLocalGatewayRouteTableVpcAssociations (List)
ec2:DescribeLocalGatewayRouteTables (List)
ec2:DescribeMovingAddresses (List)
ec2:DescribeNatGateways (List)
ec2:DescribeNetworkAcls (List)
ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaceAttribute (List)
ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfacePermissions (List)
ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaces (List)
ec2:DescribePrefixLists (List)
ec2:DescribeRouteTables (List)
ec2:DescribeSecurityGroupReferences (List)
ec2:DescribeSecurityGroupRules (List)
ec2:DescribeSecurityGroupVpcAssociations (List)
ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups (List)
ec2:DescribeStaleSecurityGroups (List)
ec2:DescribeSubnets (List)
ec2:DescribeTags (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcAttribute (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcClassicLink (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcClassicLinkDnsSupport (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcEndpointConnectionNotifications (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcEndpointConnections (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcEndpointServiceConfigurations (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcEndpointServicePermissions (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcEndpointServices (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcEndpoints (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcPeeringConnections (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcs (List)
ec2:DescribeVpnConnections (List)
ec2:DescribeVpnGateways (List)
ec2:GetSecurityGroupsForVpc (Read)

Data-plane actions (0)

By access level: none.

This policy grants no actions in this plane.

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

Pending editorial review. The permission data on this page comes straight from AWS; this section will be filled in once a reviewed guide exists.

Same service

Same domain

Frequently asked questions

Pending editorial review. The permission data on this page comes straight from AWS; this section will be filled in once a reviewed guide exists.

Policy JSON

Download policy.json

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "AmazonVPCReadOnlyAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ec2:DescribeAccountAttributes",
        "ec2:DescribeAddresses",
        "ec2:DescribeCarrierGateways",
        "ec2:DescribeClassicLinkInstances",
        "ec2:DescribeCustomerGateways",
        "ec2:DescribeDhcpOptions",
        "ec2:DescribeEgressOnlyInternetGateways",
        "ec2:DescribeFlowLogs",
        "ec2:DescribeInternetGateways",
        "ec2:DescribeLocalGatewayRouteTables",
        "ec2:DescribeLocalGatewayRouteTableVpcAssociations",
        "ec2:DescribeMovingAddresses",
        "ec2:DescribeNatGateways",
        "ec2:DescribeNetworkAcls",
        "ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaceAttribute",
        "ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfacePermissions",
        "ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaces",
        "ec2:DescribePrefixLists",
        "ec2:DescribeRouteTables",
        "ec2:DescribeSecurityGroupReferences",
        "ec2:DescribeSecurityGroupRules",
        "ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups",
        "ec2:DescribeSecurityGroupVpcAssociations",
        "ec2:DescribeStaleSecurityGroups",
        "ec2:DescribeSubnets",
        "ec2:DescribeTags",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcAttribute",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcClassicLink",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcClassicLinkDnsSupport",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcEndpoints",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcEndpointConnectionNotifications",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcEndpointConnections",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcEndpointServiceConfigurations",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcEndpointServicePermissions",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcEndpointServices",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcPeeringConnections",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcs",
        "ec2:DescribeVpnConnections",
        "ec2:DescribeVpnGateways",
        "ec2:GetSecurityGroupsForVpc"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Version history

Current version v12, edited by AWS on 2026-02-12. 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/AmazonVPCReadOnlyAccess
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name USER_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonVPCReadOnlyAccess
aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name GROUP_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonVPCReadOnlyAccess

CloudFormation

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

Terraform

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

CDK (TypeScript)

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

Sources

Pending editorial review. No editorial sources are listed yet.