AWSSSOReadOnly

Summary

Provides read only access to AWS SSO configurations. The IAM Identity Center User Guide says principals with this policy can view information in IAM Identity Center but cannot view IAM Identity Center users or groups directly and cannot make any updates, and that it includes AWS KMS permissions for instances that use customer managed keys.

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

Identity

ARN

arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSSSOReadOnlyCopy ARN

Default version

v12

Created

2018-06-27

Last edited

2026-02-12

Services

access-analyzer, ds, iam, kms, organizations, signin, sso, sso-directory

Control-plane actions (76)

By access level: 34 List, 41 Read, 1 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: 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

Related policies

Same service

• AccessAnalyzerServiceRolePolicy
• AccountAccessManagerServiceRolePolicy
• AIDevOpsOrganizationsAccessPolicy
• AIOpsConsoleAdminPolicy
• AmazonBioDiscoveryFullAccess
• AmazonBioDiscoveryInAppFullAccess
• AmazonDetectiveOrganizationsAccess
• AmazonDetectiveServiceLinkedRolePolicy

Same domain

• AccountManagementFromVercel
• AlexaForBusinessNetworkProfileServicePolicy
• AmazonAppStreamPCAAccess
• AmazonChimeServiceRolePolicy
• AmazonCloudDirectoryFullAccess
• AmazonCloudDirectoryReadOnlyAccess
• AmazonCloudWatchEvidentlyReadOnlyAccess
• AmazonCognitoDeveloperAuthenticatedIdentities

Frequently asked questions

When should I attach AWSSSOReadOnly?

The reference page says you can attach AWSSSOReadOnly to your users, groups and roles, and describes it as: provides read only access to AWS SSO configurations. Attach it where viewing IAM Identity Center configuration is the intended scope.

What does AWSSSOReadOnly grant?

It allows ds, iam, organizations, sso, sso-directory, access-analyzer and signin read entries on all resources (including sso:Describe*, sso:Get*, sso:List* and sso:Search*), kms:Decrypt under IAM Identity Center conditions, and kms:ListAliases and kms:DescribeKey.

What are the security risks of AWSSSOReadOnly?

It makes no IAM Identity Center updates, but it reaches into ds, organizations and iam read entries, and it includes kms:Decrypt under conditions. 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": "AWSSSOReadOnly",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ds:DescribeDirectories",
        "ds:DescribeTrusts",
        "iam:ListPolicies",
        "organizations:DescribeOrganization",
        "organizations:DescribeAccount",
        "organizations:ListParents",
        "organizations:ListChildren",
        "organizations:ListAccounts",
        "organizations:ListRoots",
        "organizations:ListAccountsForParent",
        "organizations:ListOrganizationalUnitsForParent",
        "organizations:ListDelegatedAdministrators",
        "sso:Describe*",
        "sso:Get*",
        "sso:List*",
        "sso:Search*",
        "sso-directory:DescribeDirectory",
        "access-analyzer:ValidatePolicy",
        "signin:ListTrustedIdentityPropagationApplicationsForConsole"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowKMSKeyUseViaAWSIAMIdentityCenterService",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "kms:Decrypt"
      ],
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringLike": {
          "kms:ViaService": "sso.*.amazonaws.com",
          "kms:EncryptionContext:aws:sso:instance-arn": "*"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Sid": "AllowKMSKeyDiscovery",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "kms:ListAliases",
        "kms:DescribeKey"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Version history

Current version v12, 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 iam attach-role-policy --role-name ROLE_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSSSOReadOnly
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name USER_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSSSOReadOnly
aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name GROUP_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSSSOReadOnly

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

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

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

Sources

• AWSSSOReadOnly (AWS Managed Policy Reference Guide) (retrieved 2026-11-13; supports summary, practicalScope, useCases, securityConsiderations, assignmentGuidance, faqs)
• AWS managed policies for AWS IAM Identity Center (IAM Identity Center User Guide) (retrieved 2026-11-13; supports summary, useCases, 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 AWSSSOReadOnly
• AWS service guide
• Report a data issue