CloudFrontReadOnlyAccess

Summary

Provides access to CloudFront distribution configuration information and lists distributions via the AWS Management Console. The Amazon CloudFront Developer Guide says it allows read-only permissions to CloudFront resources and to related services visible in the CloudFront console.

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

Identity

ARN

arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/CloudFrontReadOnlyAccessCopy ARN

Default version

v12

Created

2015-02-06

Last edited

2026-02-12

Services

acm, cloudfront, cloudfront-keyvaluestore, ec2, iam, pricingplanmanager, route53, waf, wafv2

Control-plane actions (115)

By access level: 59 List, 56 Read.

Data-plane actions (3)

By access level: 1 List, 2 Read.

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

Related policies

Same service

• AmazonECSServiceRolePolicy
• AmazonRoute53AutoNamingFullAccess
• AmazonRoute53AutoNamingRegistrantAccess
• AmazonRoute53FullAccess
• AmazonRoute53ReadOnlyAccess
• AWSCloudMapFullAccess
• AWSCloudMapRegisterInstanceAccess
• AWSForWordPressPluginPolicy

Same domain

• AmazonAPIGatewayAdministrator
• AmazonAPIGatewayInvokeFullAccess
• AmazonApplicationRecoveryControllerRegionSwitchPlanExecutionPolicy
• AmazonECSInfrastructureRoleforExpressGatewayServices
• AmazonECSInfrastructureRoleForGatewayHostSharedALB
• AmazonECSInfrastructureRolePolicyForLoadBalancers
• AmazonECSInfrastructureRolePolicyForVpcLattice
• AmazonEKSClusterPolicy

Frequently asked questions

When should I attach CloudFrontReadOnlyAccess?

The Amazon CloudFront Developer Guide says you can attach it to your IAM identities to allow read-only permissions to CloudFront resources and to related resources visible in the console. Use it for people who only need to view CloudFront.

What does CloudFrontReadOnlyAccess grant?

It allows read-style actions for CloudFront and the CloudFront key value store, plus ACM certificate reads, IAM server certificate listing, Route 53 lists, AWS WAF web ACL reads, EC2 IPAM pool reads and pricing plan subscription reads, all on all resources.

What are the security risks of CloudFrontReadOnlyAccess?

The permissions are reads, but the wildcards cover every action matching Describe*, Get* and List* in the CloudFront services on all resources. AWS managed policies do not grant least privilege permissions, and an AWS update to the policy affects every identity it is attached to.

Policy JSON

Download policy.json

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "cfReadOnly",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "acm:DescribeCertificate",
        "acm:ListCertificates",
        "cloudfront:Describe*",
        "cloudfront:Get*",
        "cloudfront:List*",
        "cloudfront-keyvaluestore:Describe*",
        "cloudfront-keyvaluestore:Get*",
        "cloudfront-keyvaluestore:List*",
        "iam:ListServerCertificates",
        "route53:List*",
        "waf:ListWebACLs",
        "waf:GetWebACL",
        "wafv2:ListWebACLs",
        "wafv2:GetWebACL",
        "ec2:DescribeIpamPools",
        "ec2:GetIpamPoolCidrs",
        "pricingplanmanager:ListSubscriptions",
        "pricingplanmanager:GetSubscription"
      ],
      "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/CloudFrontReadOnlyAccess
aws iam attach-user-policy --user-name USER_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/CloudFrontReadOnlyAccess
aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name GROUP_NAME --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/CloudFrontReadOnlyAccess

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

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

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

Sources

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

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