2.1.4.5. Configuring Security Permissions for Artifact Access (IAM, CodeArtifact)

First Principle: Granular IAM permissioning ensures that build processes only access the specific artifacts they are authorized to use, protecting sensitive intellectual property and ensuring the integrity of deployable artifacts.

Securely accessing artifacts during the build and deployment process is paramount to prevent unauthorized access and maintain the integrity of your software supply chain. AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is the First Principle for controlling these permissions.

Key Services & Practices for Artifact Access Permissions:

• IAM Roles: Assign specific IAM roles to your AWS CodeBuild projects, AWS CodePipeline pipelines, and EC2 instances (via instance profiles). These roles should have only the minimum necessary permissions to access artifact repositories.
• Repository Policies:
  • Amazon ECR: ECR repository policies (resource-based policies) can grant specific IAM roles or users permissions to ecr:GetDownloadUrlForLayer, ecr:BatchGetImage, ecr:BatchCheckLayerAvailability, and ecr:PutImage (for pushing).
  • AWS CodeArtifact: CodeArtifact domain and repository policies control access to packages. You grant codeartifact:ReadFromRepository for consuming and codeartifact:PublishPackageVersion for publishing.
  • Amazon S3: S3 bucket policies (resource-based policies) and IAM user/role policies control s3:GetObject and s3:PutObject actions.

Scenario: A CI/CD pipeline needs to pull Docker images from Amazon ECR and deploy application artifacts from Amazon S3. The security team insists on strict least privilege access for these operations.

Reflection Question: How would you configure IAM roles for the pipeline and repository policies on ECR and S3 buckets to enforce granular security permissions for artifact access, ensuring only authorized actions are allowed?

By combining IAM roles with resource-based policies, you enforce a robust least-privilege model for artifact access.

💡 Tip: Regularly review and audit your IAM policies and repository policies to ensure they adhere to the principle of least privilege and remove any unnecessary permissions.