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IAM Policy Map

AWSXrayFullAccess

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Summary

AWS X-Ray full access managed policy. The X-Ray Developer Guide says it grants permission to use all X-Ray APIs, including read permissions, write permissions, and permission to configure encryption key settings and sampling rules.

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

Identity

ARN
arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSXrayFullAccess
Default version
v2
Created
Last edited
Services
xray

Control-plane actions (32)

By access level: 2 List, 1 Permissions management, 13 Read, 2 Tagging, 14 Write.

Control-plane actions by service
ServiceGrantedAccess levels and limitsGranted by
X-RayAll 32 actions (see the X-Ray page)2 List, 1 Permissions management, 13 Read, 2 Tagging, 14 Write; 0 restricted, 0 conditionalxray:*

Data-plane actions (12)

By access level: 2 List, 8 Read, 2 Write.

Data-plane actions by service
ServiceGrantedAccess levels and limitsGranted by
X-RayAll 12 actions (see the X-Ray page)2 List, 8 Read, 2 Write; 0 restricted, 0 conditionalxray:*

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 at least 80% of the write and permissions-management actions of: xray (17 of 17).

Guidance

Practical scope

One statement (AWSXrayFullAccess) allows xray:* on Resource "*".

Use cases

  • Give users or roles full access to AWS X-Ray, including read and write permissions and configuring encryption key settings and sampling rules.

Best practices

  • AWS managed policies don't grant least privilege permissions. The IAM User Guide says to consider the security risk of granting principals more permissions than they need, and suggests using Access Analyzer to see which permissions principals use, then writing a custom policy or generating one with only the required permissions.

Security considerations

  • xray:* on Resource "*" allows every X-Ray action, including write actions and changes to encryption key settings and sampling rules, not only reads.
  • 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. It fits where use of all X-Ray APIs is intended.

Related policies

Same service

Same domain

Frequently asked questions

When should I attach AWSXrayFullAccess?
The reference page says you can attach AWSXrayFullAccess to your users, groups and roles, and describes it as: AWS X-Ray full access managed policy. Attach it where full use of AWS X-Ray is the intended scope.
What does AWSXrayFullAccess grant?
It allows xray:* on all resources. The X-Ray Developer Guide describes this as permission to use all X-Ray APIs, including read permissions, write permissions, and permission to configure encryption key settings and sampling rules.
What are the security risks of AWSXrayFullAccess?
xray:* allows every X-Ray action, including write actions and encryption and sampling configuration. 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": "AWSXrayFullAccess",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "xray:*"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "*"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Version history

Current version v2, edited by AWS on 2024-04-11. 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/AWSXrayFullAccess
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name USER_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSXrayFullAccess
aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name GROUP_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSXrayFullAccess

CloudFormation

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

Terraform

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

CDK (TypeScript)

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

Sources