When should I attach AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess?

The Directory Service Administration Guide says you can attach it to your IAM identities and that it allows users to view information in Directory Service. Attach it where viewing directories is the intended scope.

What does AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess grant?

It allows ds:Check*, ds:Describe*, ds:Get*, ds:List* and ds:Verify*, three EC2 describe actions, four SNS read actions and three Organizations read actions on all resources. Principals cannot create new directories or modify existing ones.

What are the security risks of AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess?

The policy grants no write actions, but it applies to all resources and covers EC2, SNS and Organizations reads as well as Directory Service. 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.

AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess

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Summary

Provides read only access to AWS Directory Service. The Directory Service Administration Guide says principals cannot make any updates to directories or their configurations.

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

Identity

ARN: arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess
Default version: v4
Created: 2015-02-06
Last edited: 2018-09-25
Services: ds, ec2, organizations, sns

Control-plane actions (39)

By access level: 11 List, 28 Read.

Control-plane actions by service
Service	Granted	Access levels and limits	Granted by
Directory Service	29 of 91	4 List, 25 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditional	ds:Check, ds:Describe, ds:Get, ds:List, ds:Verify*
EC2	3 of 834	3 List; 0 restricted, 0 conditional	ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaces, ec2:DescribeSubnets, ec2:DescribeVpcs
Organizations	3 of 63	1 List, 2 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditional	organizations:DescribeAccount, organizations:DescribeOrganization, organizations:ListAWSServiceAccessForOrganization
SNS	4 of 40	3 List, 1 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditional	sns:GetTopicAttributes, sns:ListSubscriptions, sns:ListSubscriptionsByTopic, sns:ListTopics

Directory Service: 29 actions

ds:CheckAlias (Read)
ds:DescribeADAssessment (Read)
ds:DescribeCAEnrollmentPolicy (Read)
ds:DescribeCertificate (Read)
ds:DescribeClientAuthenticationSettings (Read)
ds:DescribeConditionalForwarders (Read)
ds:DescribeDirectories (List)
ds:DescribeDirectoryDataAccess (Read)
ds:DescribeDomainControllers (Read)
ds:DescribeEventTopics (Read)
ds:DescribeHybridADUpdate (Read)
ds:DescribeLDAPSSettings (Read)
ds:DescribeRegions (Read)
ds:DescribeSettings (Read)
ds:DescribeSharedDirectories (Read)
ds:DescribeSnapshots (Read)
ds:DescribeTrusts (Read)
ds:DescribeUpdateDirectory (Read)
ds:GetAuthorizedApplicationDetails (Read)
ds:GetDirectoryLimits (Read)
ds:GetSnapshotLimits (Read)
ds:ListADAssessments (List)
ds:ListAuthorizedApplications (Read)
ds:ListCertificates (List)
ds:ListIpRoutes (Read)
ds:ListLogSubscriptions (Read)
ds:ListSchemaExtensions (List)
ds:ListTagsForResource (Read)
ds:VerifyTrust (Read)

EC2: 3 actions

ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaces (List)
ec2:DescribeSubnets (List)
ec2:DescribeVpcs (List)

Organizations: 3 actions

organizations:DescribeAccount (Read)
organizations:DescribeOrganization (Read)
organizations:ListAWSServiceAccessForOrganization (List)

SNS: 4 actions

sns:GetTopicAttributes (Read)
sns:ListSubscriptions (List)
sns:ListSubscriptionsByTopic (List)
sns:ListTopics (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

One statement on Resource "*" allows ds:Check*, ds:Describe*, ds:Get*, ds:List* and ds:Verify*, plus ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaces, ec2:DescribeSubnets, ec2:DescribeVpcs, sns:ListTopics, sns:GetTopicAttributes, sns:ListSubscriptions, sns:ListSubscriptionsByTopic, organizations:DescribeAccount, organizations:DescribeOrganization and organizations:ListAWSServiceAccessForOrganization. It has no create, update or delete actions.

Use cases

Let users view directory details, trust relationships and monitoring configurations, and the related EC2 network resources and SNS topics, 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.

Security considerations

The policy grants no write actions, but it applies to all resources and also reads EC2 network resources, SNS topics and subscriptions, and AWS Organizations account and service access information.
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. The Directory Service Administration Guide says you can attach it to your IAM identities. It fits where read-only access to Directory Service is intended.

Same service

Same domain

Frequently asked questions

When should I attach AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess?: The Directory Service Administration Guide says you can attach it to your IAM identities and that it allows users to view information in Directory Service. Attach it where viewing directories is the intended scope.
What does AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess grant?: It allows ds:Check*, ds:Describe*, ds:Get*, ds:List* and ds:Verify*, three EC2 describe actions, four SNS read actions and three Organizations read actions on all resources. Principals cannot create new directories or modify existing ones.
What are the security risks of AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess?: The policy grants no write actions, but it applies to all resources and covers EC2, SNS and Organizations reads as well as Directory Service. 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": [
    {
      "Action": [
        "ds:Check*",
        "ds:Describe*",
        "ds:Get*",
        "ds:List*",
        "ds:Verify*",
        "ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaces",
        "ec2:DescribeSubnets",
        "ec2:DescribeVpcs",
        "sns:ListTopics",
        "sns:GetTopicAttributes",
        "sns:ListSubscriptions",
        "sns:ListSubscriptionsByTopic",
        "organizations:DescribeAccount",
        "organizations:DescribeOrganization",
        "organizations:ListAWSServiceAccessForOrganization"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Version history

Current version v4, edited by AWS on 2018-09-25. 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/AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name USER_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess
aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name GROUP_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess

CloudFormation

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

Terraform

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

CDK (TypeScript)

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

Sources

AWSDirectoryServiceReadOnlyAccess (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)