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IAM Policy Map

AWSCertificateManagerReadOnly

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Summary

Provides read only access to AWS Certificate Manager (ACM). The AWS Certificate Manager User Guide says it allows users to describe, list, search and retrieve ACM certificates, and includes describe and list permissions for ACME certificate automation 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/AWSCertificateManagerReadOnly
Default version
v7
Created
Last edited
Services
acm

Control-plane actions (16)

By access level: 7 List, 9 Read.

Control-plane actions by service
ServiceGrantedAccess levels and limitsGranted by
Certificate Manager16 of 427 List, 9 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditionalacm:DescribeAcmeAccount, acm:DescribeAcmeDomainValidation, acm:DescribeAcmeEndpoint, acm:DescribeAcmeExternalAccountBinding, acm:DescribeCertificate, acm:GetAccountConfiguration, acm:GetCertificate, acm:ListAcmeAccounts, acm:ListAcmeDomainValidations, acm:ListAcmeEndpoints, acm:ListAcmeExternalAccountBindings, acm:ListCertificateDomainValidations and 4 more
Certificate Manager: 16 actions
  • acm:DescribeAcmeAccount (Read)
  • acm:DescribeAcmeDomainValidation (Read)
  • acm:DescribeAcmeEndpoint (Read)
  • acm:DescribeAcmeExternalAccountBinding (Read)
  • acm:DescribeCertificate (Read)
  • acm:GetAccountConfiguration (Read)
  • acm:GetCertificate (Read)
  • acm:ListAcmeAccounts (List)
  • acm:ListAcmeDomainValidations (List)
  • acm:ListAcmeEndpoints (List)
  • acm:ListAcmeExternalAccountBindings (List)
  • acm:ListCertificateDomainValidations (List)
  • acm:ListCertificates (List)
  • acm:ListTagsForCertificate (Read)
  • acm:ListTagsForResource (Read)
  • acm:SearchCertificates (List)

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

Practical scope

A single Allow statement on Resource "*" with these actions: acm:DescribeCertificate, ListCertificates, SearchCertificates, GetCertificate, ListTagsForCertificate, GetAccountConfiguration, ListTagsForResource, ListCertificateDomainValidations, and the ACME actions DescribeAcmeAccount, DescribeAcmeDomainValidation, DescribeAcmeEndpoint, DescribeAcmeExternalAccountBinding, ListAcmeAccounts, ListAcmeDomainValidations, ListAcmeEndpoints and ListAcmeExternalAccountBindings.

Use cases

  • Let users inspect ACM certificates and ACME certificate automation resources without changing them.

Best practices

  • AWS managed policies don't grant least privilege permissions. The IAM User Guide suggests using IAM Access Analyzer to see which permissions principals actually use, then writing a custom policy or generating one with only the required permissions.
  • AWS managed policies might not grant least-privilege permissions for your specific use cases because they are available to all AWS customers. The AWS Certificate Manager User Guide recommends reducing permissions further with customer managed policies specific to your use cases.

Security considerations

  • The policy allows acm:GetCertificate and acm:SearchCertificates on all resources. The AWS Certificate Manager User Guide describes the policy as letting users retrieve ACM certificates.
  • You cannot change the permissions in an AWS managed policy. If AWS updates the policy, the update affects every user, group and role it is attached to.

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 ACM is intended.

Related policies

Same service

Same domain

Frequently asked questions

When should I attach AWSCertificateManagerReadOnly?
The AWS Certificate Manager User Guide describes it as read-only access to ACM certificates. Attach it to users, groups or roles that need to describe, list, search and retrieve certificates and view ACME certificate automation resources, but not change them.
What does AWSCertificateManagerReadOnly grant?
It allows describe, list, search and get actions for ACM certificates (DescribeCertificate, ListCertificates, SearchCertificates, GetCertificate, ListTagsForCertificate, ListCertificateDomainValidations), GetAccountConfiguration, ListTagsForResource, and describe and list actions for ACME accounts, domain validations, endpoints and external account bindings, all on all resources.
What are the security risks of AWSCertificateManagerReadOnly?
The actions are read only, but they apply to all resources and include retrieving ACM certificates. 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. The policy was last edited on August 13, 2026.

Policy JSON

Download policy.json

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": {
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Action": [
      "acm:DescribeCertificate",
      "acm:ListCertificates",
      "acm:SearchCertificates",
      "acm:GetCertificate",
      "acm:ListTagsForCertificate",
      "acm:GetAccountConfiguration",
      "acm:DescribeAcmeAccount",
      "acm:DescribeAcmeDomainValidation",
      "acm:DescribeAcmeEndpoint",
      "acm:DescribeAcmeExternalAccountBinding",
      "acm:ListAcmeAccounts",
      "acm:ListAcmeDomainValidations",
      "acm:ListAcmeEndpoints",
      "acm:ListAcmeExternalAccountBindings",
      "acm:ListTagsForResource",
      "acm:ListCertificateDomainValidations"
    ],
    "Resource": "*"
  }
}

Version history

Current version v7, edited by AWS on 2026-08-13. 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/AWSCertificateManagerReadOnly
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name USER_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSCertificateManagerReadOnly
aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name GROUP_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSCertificateManagerReadOnly

CloudFormation

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

Terraform

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

CDK (TypeScript)

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

Sources