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IAM Policy Map

AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly

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Summary

ReadOnly access for SSO Directory. The IAM Identity Center User Guide says it grants read-only permissions that allow users to view users and groups in IAM Identity Center.

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

Identity

ARN
arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly
Default version
v7
Created
Last edited
Services
identitystore, identitystore-auth, kms, sso-directory

Control-plane actions (37)

By access level: 7 List, 29 Read, 1 Write.

Control-plane actions by service
ServiceGrantedAccess levels and limitsGranted by
Identity Store11 of 296 List, 5 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditionalidentitystore:Describe*, identitystore:List*
Identity Store Auth2 of 31 List, 1 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditionalidentitystore-auth:BatchGetSession, identitystore-auth:ListSessions
KMS1 of 581 Write; 1 restricted, 1 conditionalkms:Decrypt
IAM Identity Center directory23 of 5723 Read; 0 restricted, 0 conditionalsso-directory:Describe*, sso-directory:Get*, sso-directory:List*, sso-directory:Search*
Identity Store: 11 actions
  • identitystore:DescribeGroup (Read)
  • identitystore:DescribeGroupMembership (Read)
  • identitystore:DescribeIdentityStore (Read)
  • identitystore:DescribeRegion (Read)
  • identitystore:DescribeUser (Read)
  • identitystore:ListGroupMemberships (List)
  • identitystore:ListGroupMembershipsForMember (List)
  • identitystore:ListGroups (List)
  • identitystore:ListIdentityStores (List)
  • identitystore:ListRegions (List)
  • identitystore:ListUsers (List)
Identity Store Auth: 2 actions
  • identitystore-auth:BatchGetSession (Read)
  • identitystore-auth:ListSessions (List)
KMS: 1 actions
  • kms:Decrypt (Write)
IAM Identity Center directory: 23 actions
  • sso-directory:DescribeDirectory (Read)
  • sso-directory:DescribeGroup (Read)
  • sso-directory:DescribeGroups (Read)
  • sso-directory:DescribeProvisioningTenant (Read)
  • sso-directory:DescribeUser (Read)
  • sso-directory:DescribeUserByUniqueAttribute (Read)
  • sso-directory:DescribeUsers (Read)
  • sso-directory:GetAWSSPConfigurationForDirectory (Read)
  • sso-directory:GetGroupId (Read)
  • sso-directory:GetUserId (Read)
  • sso-directory:GetUserPoolInfo (Read)
  • sso-directory:ListBearerTokens (Read)
  • sso-directory:ListExternalIdPCertificates (Read)
  • sso-directory:ListExternalIdPConfigurationsForDirectory (Read)
  • sso-directory:ListGroups (Read)
  • sso-directory:ListGroupsForMember (Read)
  • sso-directory:ListGroupsForUser (Read)
  • sso-directory:ListMembersInGroup (Read)
  • sso-directory:ListMfaDevicesForUser (Read)
  • sso-directory:ListProvisioningTenants (Read)
  • sso-directory:ListUsers (Read)
  • sso-directory:SearchGroups (Read)
  • sso-directory:SearchUsers (Read)

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 1 write, tagging or permissions-management action, short of full control of any service.

Guidance

Practical scope

Two statements. AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly allows sso-directory:Search*, sso-directory:Describe*, sso-directory:List*, sso-directory:Get*, identitystore:Describe*, identitystore:List*, identitystore-auth:ListSessions and identitystore-auth:BatchGetSession on Resource "*". AllowKMSKeyUseViaAWSIdentityStoreService allows kms:Decrypt on all keys only when called via identitystore.*.amazonaws.com and the encryption context names an identity store.

Use cases

  • Let users view the users and groups in IAM Identity Center, including instances that use customer managed keys for encryption.

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 IAM Identity Center User Guide says principals with this policy cannot view IAM Identity Center assignments, permission sets, applications or settings, and cannot make updates.
  • It still lets a principal read every user and group in the directory, and it includes identitystore-auth:ListSessions and identitystore-auth:BatchGetSession. kms:Decrypt is limited by conditions to calls via the identity store.
  • 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 IAM Identity Center User Guide says you can attach it to your IAM identities. It fits where read-only access to Identity Center users and groups is intended.

Related policies

Same service

Same domain

Frequently asked questions

When should I attach AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly?
The IAM Identity Center User Guide says you can attach AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly to your IAM identities, and that it grants read-only permissions to view users and groups in IAM Identity Center. Attach it where viewing the directory is the intended scope.
What does AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly grant?
It allows sso-directory Search*, Describe*, List* and Get* actions, identitystore Describe* and List* actions, identitystore-auth:ListSessions and identitystore-auth:BatchGetSession on all resources, and kms:Decrypt under an identity store via-service condition.
What are the security risks of AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly?
The IAM Identity Center User Guide says principals with this policy cannot make updates in IAM Identity Center. The site classifies the policy as Operator tier because kms:Decrypt is classified as a Write action. The policy also reads every directory user and group, includes the sso-directory List and Get actions and session list actions, and its kms:Decrypt is limited by conditions to calls via the identity store. 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": "AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "sso-directory:Search*",
        "sso-directory:Describe*",
        "sso-directory:List*",
        "sso-directory:Get*",
        "identitystore:Describe*",
        "identitystore:List*",
        "identitystore-auth:ListSessions",
        "identitystore-auth:BatchGetSession"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowKMSKeyUseViaAWSIdentityStoreService",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "kms:Decrypt"
      ],
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringLike": {
          "kms:ViaService": "identitystore.*.amazonaws.com",
          "kms:EncryptionContext:aws:identitystore:identitystore-arn": "*"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Version history

Current version v7, edited by AWS on 2026-02-12. 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/AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name USER_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly
aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name GROUP_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSSSODirectoryReadOnly

CloudFormation

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

Terraform

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

CDK (TypeScript)

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

Sources