AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccess

Summary

Provides full access to AWS Directory Service. The Directory Service Administration Guide says principals can create, configure and manage directories, including Simple AD, AD Connector and Managed Microsoft AD.

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

Identity

ARN

arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccessCopy ARN

Default version

v6

Created

2015-02-06

Last edited

2024-04-02

Services

ds, ec2, iam, organizations, sns

Control-plane actions (124)

By access level: 17 List, 2 Permissions management, 28 Read, 4 Tagging, 73 Write.

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: mixed.

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

Why this tier

• Grants at least 80% of the write and permissions-management actions of: ds (60 of 60).

Guidance

Related policies

Same service

• AdministratorAccess-AWSElasticBeanstalk
• AIDevOpsReleaseManagementVPCPolicy
• AmazonAppStreamServiceAccess
• AmazonBioDiscoveryServiceLinkedRolePolicy
• AmazonDataZoneEnvironmentRolePermissionsBoundary
• AmazonDataZoneProjectDeploymentPermissionsBoundary
• AmazonDataZoneProjectRolePermissionsBoundary
• AmazonDataZoneSageMakerProvisioningRolePolicy

Same domain

• AccessAnalyzerServiceRolePolicy
• AccountManagementFromVercel
• AlexaForBusinessNetworkProfileServicePolicy
• AmazonAppStreamPCAAccess
• AmazonBioDiscoveryFullAccess
• AmazonBioDiscoveryInAppFullAccess
• AmazonChimeServiceRolePolicy
• AmazonCloudDirectoryFullAccess

Frequently asked questions

When should I attach AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccess?

The Directory Service Administration Guide says you can attach it to your IAM identities, and that it grants administrative permissions with full access to all Directory Service actions. Attach it where that administrative scope is intended.

What does AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccess grant?

It allows ds:*, EC2 network and security group actions, SNS topic reads, iam:ListRoles and Organizations list and describe actions on all resources, SNS topic management for topics named DirectoryMonitoring*, enabling and disabling Directory Service access in Organizations, and tagging of network interfaces and security groups.

What are the security risks of AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccess?

ds:* covers every Directory Service action on all resources, the EC2 actions let a principal change security group rules, and the Organizations statement can enable or disable service access. AWS managed policies don't grant least privilege permissions, and you must consider the security risk of granting principals more permissions than they need. AWS updates to the policy affect every identity it is attached to.

Policy JSON

Download policy.json

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "DirectoryServiceFullAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ds:*",
        "ec2:AuthorizeSecurityGroupEgress",
        "ec2:AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress",
        "ec2:CreateNetworkInterface",
        "ec2:CreateSecurityGroup",
        "ec2:DeleteNetworkInterface",
        "ec2:DeleteSecurityGroup",
        "ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaces",
        "ec2:DescribeSubnets",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcs",
        "ec2:RevokeSecurityGroupEgress",
        "ec2:RevokeSecurityGroupIngress",
        "ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups",
        "sns:GetTopicAttributes",
        "sns:ListSubscriptions",
        "sns:ListSubscriptionsByTopic",
        "sns:ListTopics",
        "iam:ListRoles",
        "organizations:ListAccountsForParent",
        "organizations:ListRoots",
        "organizations:ListAccounts",
        "organizations:DescribeOrganization",
        "organizations:DescribeAccount",
        "organizations:ListOrganizationalUnitsForParent",
        "organizations:ListAWSServiceAccessForOrganization"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "DirectoryServiceEventTopic",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "sns:CreateTopic",
        "sns:DeleteTopic",
        "sns:SetTopicAttributes",
        "sns:Subscribe",
        "sns:Unsubscribe"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:sns:*:*:DirectoryMonitoring*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "DirectoryServiceOrganizations",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "organizations:EnableAWSServiceAccess",
        "organizations:DisableAWSServiceAccess"
      ],
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "organizations:ServicePrincipal": "ds.amazonaws.com"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "DirectoryServiceTags",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ec2:CreateTags",
        "ec2:DeleteTags"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:ec2:*:*:network-interface/*",
        "arn:aws:ec2:*:*:security-group/*"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Version history

Current version v6, edited by AWS on 2024-04-02. 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/AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccess
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name USER_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccess
aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name GROUP_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccess

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

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

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

Sources

• AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccess (AWS Managed Policy Reference Guide) (retrieved 2026-11-13; supports summary, practicalScope, securityConsiderations, assignmentGuidance, faqs)
• AWS managed policies for AWS Directory Service (retrieved 2026-11-13; supports summary, useCases, securityConsiderations, assignmentGuidance, faqs)
• Managed policies and inline policies (IAM User Guide) (retrieved 2026-11-12; supports securityConsiderations, faqs)
• AWS managed policies for job functions (IAM User Guide) (retrieved 2026-11-12; supports bestPractices, faqs)

• Official AWS reference for AWSDirectoryServiceFullAccess
• AWS service guide
• Report a data issue