AWSControlTowerAccountServiceRolePolicy

OperatorService-linked roleActivePermissions reviewedShow on map Compare

Summary

Allows AWS Control Tower to call AWS services that provide automated account configuration and centralized governance on your behalf.

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

Identity

ARN: arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/aws-service-role/AWSControlTowerAccountServiceRolePolicy
Default version: v11
Created: 2023-06-05
Last edited: 2026-05-20
Services: cloudformation, config, events, iam, organizations, securityhub, sns

Control-plane actions (26)

By access level: 5 List, 6 Read, 1 Tagging, 14 Write.

Control-plane actions by service
Service	Granted	Access levels and limits	Granted by
CloudFormation	4 of 104	1 Read, 3 Write; 3 restricted, 0 conditional	cloudformation:ActivateType, cloudformation:BatchDescribeTypeConfigurations, cloudformation:DeactivateType, cloudformation:SetTypeConfiguration
Config	9 of 102	2 List, 2 Read, 1 Tagging, 4 Write; 7 restricted, 5 conditional	config:DeleteConfigRule, config:DeleteConfigurationAggregator, config:DescribeAggregateComplianceByConfigRules, config:DescribeConfigRules, config:DescribeConfigurationAggregators, config:PutConfigRule, config:PutConfigurationAggregator, config:SelectAggregateResourceConfig, config:TagResource
EventBridge	8 of 71	1 List, 1 Read, 6 Write; 8 restricted, 6 conditional	events:DeleteRule, events:DescribeRule, events:DisableRule, events:EnableRule, events:ListTargetsByRule, events:PutRule, events:PutTargets, events:RemoveTargets
IAM	1 of 190	1 Write; 1 restricted, 1 conditional	iam:PassRole
Organizations	2 of 63	1 List, 1 Read; 1 restricted, 1 conditional	organizations:DescribeOrganization, organizations:ListDelegatedAdministrators
SecurityHub	2 of 141	1 List, 1 Read; 2 restricted, 0 conditional	securityhub:DescribeStandardsControls, securityhub:GetEnabledStandards

CloudFormation: 4 actions

cloudformation:ActivateType (Write)
cloudformation:BatchDescribeTypeConfigurations (Read)
cloudformation:DeactivateType (Write)
cloudformation:SetTypeConfiguration (Write)

Config: 9 actions

config:DeleteConfigRule (Write)
config:DeleteConfigurationAggregator (Write)
config:DescribeAggregateComplianceByConfigRules (Read)
config:DescribeConfigRules (List)
config:DescribeConfigurationAggregators (List)
config:PutConfigRule (Write)
config:PutConfigurationAggregator (Write)
config:SelectAggregateResourceConfig (Read)
config:TagResource (Tagging)

EventBridge: 8 actions

events:DeleteRule (Write)
events:DescribeRule (Read)
events:DisableRule (Write)
events:EnableRule (Write)
events:ListTargetsByRule (List)
events:PutRule (Write)
events:PutTargets (Write)
events:RemoveTargets (Write)

IAM: 1 actions

iam:PassRole (Write)

Organizations: 2 actions

organizations:DescribeOrganization (Read)
organizations:ListDelegatedAdministrators (List)

SecurityHub: 2 actions

securityhub:DescribeStandardsControls (Read)
securityhub:GetEnabledStandards (List)

Data-plane actions (1)

By access level: 1 Write.

Data-plane actions by service
Service	Granted	Access levels and limits	Granted by
SNS	All 1 actions (see the SNS page)	1 Write; 1 restricted, 1 conditional	sns:publish

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: No (service-linked role policy).

Why this tier

Grants 16 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).

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": "AllowPutRuleOnSpecificSourcesAndDetailTypes",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "events:PutRule",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:events:*:*:rule/*ControlTower*",
      "Condition": {
        "ForAnyValue:StringEquals": {
          "events:source": "aws.securityhub"
        },
        "ForAllValues:StringEquals": {
          "events:detail-type": "Security Hub Findings - Imported"
        },
        "Null": {
          "events:detail-type": "false"
        },
        "StringEquals": {
          "events:ManagedBy": "controltower.amazonaws.com"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowOtherOperationsOnRulesManagedByControlTower",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "events:DeleteRule",
        "events:EnableRule",
        "events:DisableRule",
        "events:PutTargets",
        "events:RemoveTargets"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:events:*:*:rule/*ControlTower*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "events:ManagedBy": "controltower.amazonaws.com"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowDescribeOperationsOnRulesManagedByControlTower",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "events:DescribeRule",
        "events:ListTargetsByRule"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:events:*:*:rule/*ControlTower*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowControlTowerToPublishSecurityNotifications",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "sns:publish",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:sns:*:*:aws-controltower-AggregateSecurityNotifications",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:PrincipalAccount": "${aws:ResourceAccount}"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowActionsForSecurityHubIntegration",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "securityhub:DescribeStandardsControls",
        "securityhub:GetEnabledStandards"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:securityhub:*:*:hub/default"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowDeleteConfigRule",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:DeleteConfigRule"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:config:*:*:config-rule/aws-service-rule/controltower.*/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowPutConfigRule",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:PutConfigRule"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:config:*:*:config-rule/aws-service-rule/controltower.*/*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowConfigTagResource",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:TagResource"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:config:*:*:config-rule/aws-service-rule/controltower.*/*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:RequestTag/aws-control-tower": "managed-by-control-tower"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowConfigRulesDescribe",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:DescribeConfigRules"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowControlTowerToCreateConfigAggregator",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:PutConfigurationAggregator"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:config:*:*:config-aggregator/aws-service-config-aggregator/controltower.amazonaws.com/*"
      ],
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:ResourceAccount": "${aws:PrincipalAccount}"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowControlTowerToManageConfigAggregator",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:DeleteConfigurationAggregator",
        "config:DescribeAggregateComplianceByConfigRules",
        "config:SelectAggregateResourceConfig"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:config:*:*:config-aggregator/aws-service-config-aggregator/controltower.amazonaws.com/config-aggregator-*"
      ],
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:ResourceAccount": "${aws:PrincipalAccount}"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowControlTowerToTagConfigAggregator",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:TagResource"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:config:*:*:config-aggregator/aws-service-config-aggregator/controltower.amazonaws.com/*"
      ],
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:RequestTag/aws-control-tower": "managed-by-control-tower",
          "aws:ResourceAccount": "${aws:PrincipalAccount}"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowControlTowerToPassAggregatorRoleToConfig",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "iam:PassRole"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:iam::*:role/aws-service-role/config.amazonaws.com/AWSServiceRoleForConfig"
      ],
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "iam:PassedToService": "config.amazonaws.com",
          "aws:ResourceAccount": "${aws:PrincipalAccount}"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowDescribeConfigurationAggregators",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:DescribeConfigurationAggregators"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowListDelegatedAdministratorsForConfig",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "organizations:ListDelegatedAdministrators"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "*"
      ],
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "organizations:ServicePrincipal": "config.amazonaws.com"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowListDescribeOrganization",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "organizations:DescribeOrganization"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowActionsForCloudFormationHooksIntegration",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "cloudformation:SetTypeConfiguration",
        "cloudformation:DeactivateType",
        "cloudformation:ActivateType"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:cloudformation:*:*:type/hook/AWS-ControlTower*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowBatchDescribeTypeConfigurationsForHookConfigFetch",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "cloudformation:BatchDescribeTypeConfigurations",
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Version history

Current version v11, edited by AWS on 2026-05-20. Version history is recorded from 2026-11-11. Earlier versions are in the IAM console under Policy versions.

Attach snippets

This policy cannot be attached to users, groups or roles, so there are no attach snippets.

Sources

Pending editorial review. No editorial sources are listed yet.