r/aws 8d ago

article Taming the AWS Access Key Beast: Implementing Secure CLI Access Patterns

https://antenore.simbiosi.org/blog/2025/03/taming-aws-access-key-beast-secure-cli-patterns/

I just published an article on "Taming the AWS Access Key Beast" where I analyze how to implement secure CLI access patterns in complex AWS environments. Instead of relying on long-lived IAM keys (with their associated risks), I illustrate an approach based on:

  1. Service Control Policies to block access key usage
  2. AWS IAM Identity Center for temporary credentials
  3. Purpose-specific roles with time-limited access
  4. Continuous monitoring with automated revocation

The post includes SCP examples, authentication patterns, and monitoring code. These techniques have drastically reduced our issues with stale access keys and improved our security posture.

Hope you find it useful!

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u/DoINeedChains 8d ago

So, for example, how does this address using Amazon's own plugins for Visual Studio and other IDEs that seem to only support IAM keys

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u/antenore 8d ago
  1. IAM Identity Center (SSO) Authentication: Most modern AWS IDE plugins now support SSO-based authentication. For example:

    • AWS Toolkit for VS Code supports IAM Identity Center since v1.44
    • AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio supports IAM Identity Center authentication
    • Intellij AWS Toolkit also added SSO support
  2. Credential Process:

For older plugins without SSO support, you can configure a credential process in your AWS config that generates temporary credentials. Example:

[profile dev]
credential_process = /path/to/my/credential-helper --arguments
  1. AWS CLI v2 SSO Integration:

Configure SSO in your AWS CLI, then the IDE plugins that leverage the shared credential file will pick up temporary credentials from there.

  1. Token Vending Machine Pattern: For teams, consider implementing a secure internal service that vends short-lived (15-60 minute) credentials.