---
title: About the aws_iam_policy Resource
platform: aws
---

# aws\_iam\_policy

Use the `aws_iam_policy` InSpec audit resource to test properties of a single managed AWS IAM Policy. Use `aws_iam_policies` to audit IAM policies in bulk.

A policy defines the permissions of an identity or resource within AWS. AWS evaluates these policies when a principal, such as a user, makes a request. Policy permissions, also called "policy statements" in AWS, determine if a request is authorized -- and allow or deny it accordingly.

Each IAM Policy is uniquely identified by either its policy\_name or arn.

<br>

## Syntax

An `aws_iam_policy` resource block identifies a policy by policy name.

    # Find a policy by name
    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      it { should exist }
    end

    # Find a customer-managed by name
    describe aws_iam_policy('customer-managed-policy') do
      it { should exist }
    end

    # Hash syntax for policy name
    describe aws_iam_policy(policy_name: 'AWSSupportAccess') do
      it { should exist }
    end

<br>

## Examples

The following examples show how to use this InSpec audit resource.

### Test that a policy does exist

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      it { should exist }
    end

### Test that a policy is attached to at least one entity

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      it { should be_attached }
    end

### Examine the policy statements

    describe aws_iam_policy('my-policy') do
      # Verify that there is at least one statement allowing access to S3
      it { should have_statement(Action: 's3:PutObject', Effect: 'allow') }

      # have_statement does not expand wildcards. If you want to verify
      # they are absent, an explicit check is required.
      it { should_not have_statement(Action: 's3:*') }
    end

<br>

## Properties

* `arn`, `attachment_count`, `attached_groups`, `attached_roles`,`attached_users`, `default_version_id`, `policy`, `statement_count`

## Property Examples

### arn

"The ARN identifier of the specified policy. An ARN uniquely identifies the policy within AWS."

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      its('arn') { should cmp "arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AWSSupportAccess" }
    end

### attachment\_count

The count of attached entities for the specified policy.

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      its('attachment_count') { should cmp 1 }
    end

### attached\_groups

The list of groupnames of the groups attached to the policy.

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      its('attached_groups') { should include "test-group" }
    end

### attached\_roles

The list of rolenames of the roles attached to the policy.

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      its('attached_roles') { should include "test-role" }
    end

### attached\_users

The list of usernames of the users attached to the policy.

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      its('attached_users') { should include "test-user" }
    end

### default\_version\_id

The 'default_version_id' value of the specified policy.

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      its('default_version_id') { should cmp "v1" }
    end

### policy

This is a low-level, unsupported property.

Returns the default version of the policy document after decoding as a Ruby hash. This hash contains the policy statements and is useful for performing checks that cannot be expressed using higher-level matchers like `have_statement`.

For details regarding the contents of this structure, refer to the [AWS IAM Policy JSON Reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies.html).  A set of examples is [also available](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_examples.html).

Example:

    # Fetch the policy structure as a Ruby object
    policy_struct = aws_iam_policy('my-policy').policy
    # Write a manually-constructed test to check that the policy
    # has an IP constraint on the first statement
    # ( Based on https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_examples_aws_deny-ip.html )
    describe 'Check that we are restricting IP access' do
      subject { policy_struct['Statement'].first['Condition'] }
      it { should include 'NotIpAddress' }
    end

### statement\_count

Returns the number of statements present in the `policy`.

    # Make sure there are exactly two statements.
    describe aws_iam_policy('my-policy') do
      its('statement_count') { should cmp 2 }
    end

## Matchers

This InSpec audit resource has the following special matchers. For a full list of available matchers, please visit our [Universal Matchers page](https://www.inspec.io/docs/reference/matchers/).

### be\_attached

The test will pass if the identified policy is attached to at least one IAM user, group, or role.

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      it { should be_attached }
    end

### be\_attached\_to\_group(GROUPNAME)

The test will pass if the identified policy attached the specified group.

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      it { should be_attached_to_group(GROUPNAME) }
    end

### be\_attached\_to\_user(USERNAME)

The test will pass if the identified policy attached the specified user.

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      it { should be_attached_to_user(USERNAME) }
    end

### be\_attached\_to\_role(ROLENAME)

The test will pass if the identified policy attached the specified role.

    describe aws_iam_policy('AWSSupportAccess') do
      it { should be_attached_to_role(ROLENAME) }
    end

### have\_statement

Examines the list of statements contained in the policy and passes if at least one of the statements matches. This matcher does _not_ interpret the policy in a request authorization context, as AWS does when a request processed. Rather, `have_statement` examines the literal contents of the IAM policy, and reports on what is present (or absent, when used with `should_not`).

`have_statement` accepts the following criteria to search for matching statements. If any statement matches all the criteria, the test is successful.

* `Action` - Expresses the requested operation. Acceptable literal values are any AWS operation name, including the '*' wildcard character. `Action` may also use a list of AWS operation names.
* `Effect` - Expresses if the operation is permitted. Acceptable values are 'Deny' and 'Allow'.
* `Sid` - A user-provided string identifier for the statement.
* `Resource` - Expresses the operation's target. Acceptable values are ARNs, including the '*' wildcard. `Resource` may also use a list of ARN values.

Please note the following about the behavior of `have_statement`:
* `Action`, `Sid`, and `Resource` allow using a regular expression as the search critera instead of a string literal.
* it does not support wildcard expansion; to check for a wildcard value, check for it explicitly. For example, if the policy includes a statement with `"Action": "s3:*"` and the test checks for `Action: "s3:PutObject"`, the test _will not match_. You must write an additional test checking for the wildcard case.
* it supports searching list values. For example, if a statement contains a list of 3 resources, and a `have_statement` test specifes _one_ of those resources, it will match.
* `Action` and `Resource` allow using a list of string literals or regular expressions in a test, in which case _all_ must match on the _same_ statement for the test to match. Order is ignored.
* it does not support the `[Principal](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/intro-structure.html#intro-structure-principal)` or `Conditional` key, or any of `NotAction`, `Not[Principal](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/intro-structure.html#intro-structure-principal)`, or `NotResource`.

Examples:

    # Verify there is no full-admin statement
    describe aws_iam_policy('kryptonite') do
      it { should_not have_statement(Effect: 'Allow', Resource: '*', Action: '*')}
    end

    # Verify bob is allowed to manage things on S3 buckets that start with bobs-stuff
    describe aws_iam_policy('bob-is-a-packrat') do
      it { should have_statement(Effect: 'Allow',
                                 # Using the AWS wildcard - this must match exactly
                                 Resource: 'arn:aws:s3:::bobs-stuff*',
                                 # Specify a list of actions - all must match, no others, order isn't important
                                 Action: ['s3:PutObject', 's3:GetObject', 's3:DeleteObject'])}

      # Bob would make new buckets constantly if we let him.
      it { should_not have_statement(Effect: 'Allow', Action: 's3:CreateBucket')}
      it { should_not have_statement(Effect: 'Allow', Action: 's3:*')}
      it { should_not have_statement(Effect: 'Allow', Action: '*')}

      # An alternative to checking for wildcards is to specify the
      # statements you expect, then restrict statement count
      its('statement_count') { should cmp 1 }
    end

    # Use regular expressions to examine the policy
    describe aws_iam_policy('regex-demo') do
      # Check to see if anything mentions RDS at all.
      # This catches `rds:CreateDBinstance` and `rds:*`, but would not catch '*'.
      it { should_not have_statement(Action: /^rds:.+$/)}

      # This policy should refer to both sally and kim's s3 buckets.
      # This will only match if there is a statement that refers to both resources.
      it { should have_statement(Resource: [/arn:aws:s3.+:sally/, /arn:aws:s3.+:kim/]) }
      # The following also matches on a statement mentioning only one of them
      it { should have_statement(Resource: /arn:aws:s3.+:(sally|kim)/) }
    end

## AWS Permissions

Your [Principal](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/intro-structure.html#intro-structure-principal) will need the `iam:GetPolicy`, `iam:ListPolicy`, and `iam:ListEntitiesForPolicy` actions set to allow.

You can find detailed documentation at [Actions, Resources, and Condition Keys for Identity And Access Management](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/list_identityandaccessmanagement.html).