AWSBackupOperatorAccess

Summary

This policy grants users permissions to assign AWS resources to backup plans, create on-demand backups, and restore backups. This policy does not allow the user to create or edit backup plans or to delete scheduled backups after they are created.

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

Identity

ARN

arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSBackupOperatorAccessCopy ARN

Default version

v29

Created

2019-11-18

Last edited

2026-11-05

Services

backup, backup-gateway, cloudformation, cloudwatch, ds, dsql, dynamodb, ec2, eks, elasticfilesystem, fsx, iam, organizations, ram, rds, redshift, redshift-serverless, s3, ssm, ssm-sap, storagegateway, tag, timestream

Control-plane actions (157)

By access level: 77 List, 1 Permissions management, 70 Read, 9 Write.

Data-plane actions (3)

By access level: 1 List, 2 Read.

Excluded and conditional actions

No patterns are excluded by NotAction or Deny statements.

Resource scope and attachment

Resource scope across granted actions: mixed.

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

Why this tier

• Grants 10 write, tagging or permissions-management actions, short of full control of any service.
• Grants iam:PassRole, but only for scoped roles or under conditions (for example iam:PassedToService).
• 1 granted write or permissions-management action has no data-plane classification from AWS, so the data-plane rule cannot assess it.

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.

Related policies

Same service

• AmazonElasticFileSystemServiceRolePolicy
• AWSBackupAccessPointOperatorAccess
• AWSBackupAuditAccess
• AWSBackupFullAccess
• AWSBackupGuardDutyRolePolicyForScans
• AWSBackupRestoreAccessForSAPHANA
• AWSBackupSearchOperatorAccess
• AWSServiceRolePolicyForBackupReports

Same domain

• AmazonDMSRedshiftS3Role
• AmazonEC2RoleforAWSCodeDeploy
• AmazonEC2RoleforAWSCodeDeployLimited
• AmazonEFSCSIDriverPolicy
• AmazonElasticFileSystemClientFullAccess
• AmazonElasticFileSystemClientReadOnlyAccess
• AmazonElasticFileSystemClientReadWriteAccess
• AmazonElasticFileSystemFullAccess

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": "AwsBackupAllAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "backup:Get*",
        "backup:List*",
        "backup:Describe*",
        "backup:CreateBackupSelection",
        "backup:DeleteBackupSelection",
        "backup:StartBackupJob",
        "backup:StartRestoreJob",
        "backup:StartCopyJob",
        "backup:StartScanJob"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "RDSDescribeAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "rds:DescribeDBSnapshots",
        "rds:ListTagsForResource",
        "rds:DescribeDBInstances",
        "rds:describeDBEngineVersions",
        "rds:describeOptionGroups",
        "rds:describeOrderableDBInstanceOptions",
        "rds:describeDBSubnetGroups",
        "rds:DescribeDBClusterSnapshots",
        "rds:DescribeDBClusters",
        "rds:DescribeDBParameterGroups",
        "rds:DescribeDBClusterParameterGroups",
        "rds:DescribeDBInstanceAutomatedBackups",
        "rds:DescribeDBClusterAutomatedBackups"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "DynamoDBAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "dynamodb:ListBackups",
        "dynamodb:ListTables"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "EFSAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticfilesystem:DescribeFilesystems"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:elasticfilesystem:*:*:file-system/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "EC2Access",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ec2:DescribeSnapshots",
        "ec2:DescribeVolumes",
        "ec2:describeAvailabilityZones",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcs",
        "ec2:DescribeAccountAttributes",
        "ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups",
        "ec2:DescribeImages",
        "ec2:DescribeSubnets",
        "ec2:DescribePlacementGroups",
        "ec2:DescribeInstances",
        "ec2:DescribeInstanceTypes",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcEndpoints",
        "ec2:DescribeAddresses"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "TagReadAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "tag:GetTagKeys",
        "tag:GetTagValues",
        "tag:GetResources"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "StorageGatewaySCSIAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "storagegateway:DescribeCachediSCSIVolumes",
        "storagegateway:DescribeStorediSCSIVolumes"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:storagegateway:*:*:gateway/*/volume/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "StorageGatewayReadAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "storagegateway:ListGateways"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:storagegateway:*:*:*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "StorageGatewayDiskReadAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "storagegateway:DescribeGatewayInformation",
        "storagegateway:ListLocalDisks"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:storagegateway:*:*:gateway/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "StorageGatewayVolumeReadAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "storagegateway:ListVolumes"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "IAMRoleAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "iam:ListRoles",
        "iam:GetRole"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "PassRoleAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "iam:PassRole",
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:iam::*:role/*AwsBackup*",
        "arn:aws:iam::*:role/*AWSBackup*"
      ],
      "Condition": {
        "StringLike": {
          "iam:PassedToService": "backup.amazonaws.com"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "OrganizationsAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "organizations:DescribeOrganization",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "SSMReadAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ssm:CancelCommand",
        "ssm:GetCommandInvocation"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "SSMComandAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "ssm:SendCommand",
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:ssm:*:*:document/AWSEC2-CreateVssSnapshot",
        "arn:aws:ec2:*:*:instance/*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "FSXDescribeAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "fsx:DescribeBackups",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:fsx:*:*:backup/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "FSxFileAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "fsx:DescribeFileSystems",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:fsx:*:*:file-system/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "FSxVolumeAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "fsx:DescribeVolumes",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:fsx:*:*:volume/*/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "FSxMachineAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "fsx:DescribeStorageVirtualMachines",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:fsx:*:*:storage-virtual-machine/*/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "DirectoryServiceAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "ds:DescribeDirectories",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "BackupGatewayListAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "backup-gateway:ListGateways",
        "backup-gateway:ListHypervisors",
        "backup-gateway:ListTagsForResource",
        "backup-gateway:ListVirtualMachines"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "BackupGatewayHypervisorAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "backup-gateway:GetHypervisor",
        "backup-gateway:GetHypervisorPropertyMappings"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:backup-gateway:*:*:hypervisor/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "BackupGatewayMachineAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "backup-gateway:GetVirtualMachine"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:backup-gateway:*:*:vm/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "BackupGatewayAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "backup-gateway:GetBandwidthRateLimitSchedule",
        "backup-gateway:GetGateway"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:backup-gateway:*:*:gateway/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "CloudWatchAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "cloudwatch:GetMetricData",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "TimestreamListAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "timestream:ListDatabases",
        "timestream:ListTables"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:timestream:*:*:database/*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "TimestreamDescribeAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "timestream:DescribeEndpoints"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "S3ListAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:ListAllMyBuckets"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "RedshiftAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "redshift:DescribeClusters",
        "redshift:DescribeClusterSubnetGroups",
        "redshift:DescribeClusterSnapshots",
        "redshift:DescribeSnapshotSchedules"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:redshift:*:*:cluster:*",
        "arn:aws:redshift:*:*:subnetgroup:*",
        "arn:aws:redshift:*:*:snapshot:*/*",
        "arn:aws:redshift:*:*:snapshotschedule:*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "RedshiftOptionsAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "redshift:DescribeNodeConfigurationOptions",
        "redshift:DescribeOrderableClusterOptions",
        "redshift:DescribeClusterParameterGroups",
        "redshift:DescribeClusterTracks"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "RedshiftServerlessListPermissions",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "redshift-serverless:ListNamespaces",
        "redshift-serverless:ListSnapshots",
        "redshift-serverless:ListWorkgroups"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "RedshiftServerlessGetPermissions",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "redshift-serverless:GetNamespace",
        "redshift-serverless:GetSnapshot",
        "redshift-serverless:GetWorkgroup"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:redshift-serverless:*:*:namespace/*",
        "arn:aws:redshift-serverless:*:*:workgroup/*",
        "arn:aws:redshift-serverless:*:*:snapshot/*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "CloudFormationAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "cloudformation:ListStacks"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:cloudformation:*:*:stack/*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "SAPAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ssm-sap:GetOperation",
        "ssm-sap:ListDatabases"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "SAPDatabaseAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ssm-sap:GetDatabase",
        "ssm-sap:ListTagsForResource"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:ssm-sap:*:*:*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "RAMAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ram:GetResourceShareAssociations"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "DSQLDescribePermissions",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "dsql:GetCluster",
        "dsql:ListClusters",
        "dsql:ListTagsForResource"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "EKSClusterPermissions",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "eks:ListClusters",
        "eks:ListTagsForResource",
        "eks:DescribeCluster"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:eks:*:*:cluster/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "S3GetObjectPermissions",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "s3:GetObject",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::*/*",
      "Condition": {
        "ForAnyValue:StringEquals": {
          "aws:CalledVia": "backup.amazonaws.com"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "IamPassRolePermissionsForGuardDuty",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "iam:PassRole",
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:iam::*:role/*AwsBackupGuardDuty*",
        "arn:aws:iam::*:role/*AWSBackupGuardDuty*"
      ],
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "iam:PassedToService": "malware-protection.guardduty.amazonaws.com"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Version history

Current version v29, edited by AWS on 2026-11-05. Version history is recorded from 2026-11-11. Earlier versions are in the IAM console under Policy versions.

Attach snippets

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

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

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

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

Sources

Pending editorial review. No editorial sources are listed yet.

• Official AWS reference for AWSBackupOperatorAccess
• Report a data issue