# Track privileged tasks in AWS CloudTrail
<a name="cloudtrail-track-privileged-tasks"></a>

The AWS Organizations management account or a delegated administrator account for IAM can perform some root user tasks on member accounts using short-term root access. Short-term privileged sessions give you temporary credentials that you can scope to [take privileged actions](id_root-user-privileged-task.md) on a member account in your organization. You can use the following steps to identify the actions taken by the management account or a delegated administrator during the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/STS/latest/APIReference/API_AssumeRoot.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/STS/latest/APIReference/API_AssumeRoot.html) session.

**Note**  
The global endpoint is not supported for `sts:AssumeRoot`. CloudTrail records `ConsoleLogin` events in the Region specified for the endpoint. 

**To track actions performed by a privileged session in CloudTrail logs**

1. Find the `AssumeRoot` event in your CloudTrail logs. This event is generated when your management account or the delegated administrator for IAM gets a set of short term credentials from `sts:AssumeRoot`.

   In the following example, the CloudTrail event for AssumeRoot is logged in the `eventName` field.

   ```
   {
       "eventVersion": "1.08",
       "userIdentity": {
           "type": "AssumedRole",
           "principalId": "AIDACKCEVSQ6C2EXAMPLE:JohnRole1",
           "arn": "arn:aws:sts::111111111111:assumed-role/John/JohnRole1",
           "accountId": "111111111111",
           "accessKeyId": "ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
           "sessionContext": {
               "sessionIssuer": {
                   "type": "Role",
                   "principalId": "AIDACKCEVSQ6C2EXAMPLE",
                   "arn": "arn:aws:iam::111111111111:role/John",
                   "accountId": "111111111111",
                   "userName": "Admin2"
               },
               "webIdFederationData": {},
               "attributes": {
                   "creationDate": "2024-10-25T20:45:28Z",
                   "mfaAuthenticated": "false"
               },
               "assumedRoot": "true"
           }
       },
       "eventTime": "2024-10-25T20:52:11Z",
       "eventSource": "sts.amazonaws.com",
       "eventName": "AssumeRoot",
       "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
       "sourceIPAddress": "192.0.2.1",    
       "requestParameters": {
           "targetPrincipal": "222222222222",
           "taskPolicyArn": {
               "arn": "arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/root-task/S3UnlockBucketPolicy"
           }
       },
       "responseElements": {
           "credentials": {
               "accessKeyId": "ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
               "sessionToken": "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY",
               "expiration": "Oct 25, 2024, 9:07:11 PM"
           }
       }
   }
   ```

   For steps to access your CloudTrail logs, see [Getting and viewing your CloudTrail log files](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awscloudtrail/latest/userguide/view-cloudtrail-events.html) in the *AWS CloudTrail User Guide*.

1. In the CloudTrail event log, locate the `targetPrincipal` that specifies the member account actions were taken on, and the `accessKeyId` that is unique to the `AssumeRoot` session. 

   In the following example, the `targetPrincipal` is 222222222222 and the `accessKeyId` is ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE.

   ```
   "eventTime": "2024-10-25T20:52:11Z",
       "eventSource": "sts.amazonaws.com",
       "eventName": "AssumeRoot",
       "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
       "sourceIPAddress": "192.0.2.1",    
       "requestParameters": {
           "targetPrincipal": "222222222222",
           "taskPolicyArn": {
               "arn": "arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/root-task/S3UnlockBucketPolicy"
           }
       },
       "responseElements": {
           "credentials": {
               "accessKeyId": "ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
               "sessionToken": "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY",
               "expiration": "Oct 25, 2024, 9:07:11 PM"
       }
   }
   ```

1. In the CloudTrail logs for the target principal, search for the access key ID that corresponds to the `accessKeyId` value from the `AssumeRoot` event. Use the `eventName` field values to determine the privileged tasks performed during the `AssumeRoot` session. There may be multiple privileged tasks performed in a single session. The maximum session duration for `AssumeRoot` is 900 seconds (15 minutes).

   In the following example, the management account or delegated administrator deleted the resource-based policy for an Amazon S3 bucket.

   ```
   {
       "eventVersion": "1.10",
       "userIdentity": {
           "type": "Root",
           "principalId": "222222222222",
           "arn": "arn:aws:iam::222222222222:root",
           "accountId": "222222222222",
           "accessKeyId": "ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
           "sessionContext": {
               "attributes": {
                   "creationDate": "2024-10-25T20:52:11Z",
                   "mfaAuthenticated": "false"
               }
           }
       },
       "eventTime": "2024-10-25T20:53:47Z",
       "eventSource": "s3.amazonaws.com",
       "eventName": "DeleteBucketPolicy",
       "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
       "sourceIPAddress": "192.0.2.1",
       "requestParameters": {
           "bucketName": "resource-policy-John",
           "Host": "resource-policy-John.s3.amazonaws.com",
           "policy": ""
       },
       "responseElements": null,
       "requestID": "1234567890abcdef0",
       "eventID": "a1b2c3d4-5678-90ab-cdef-EXAMPLE11111",
       "readOnly": false,
       "resources": [
           {
               "accountId": "222222222222",
               "type": "AWS::S3::Bucket",
               "ARN": "arn:aws:s3:::resource-policy-John"
           }
       ],
       "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
       "managementEvent": true,
       "recipientAccountId": "222222222222",
       "eventCategory": "Management",
       "tlsDetails": {
           "tlsVersion": "TLSv1.3",
           "cipherSuite": "TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256",
           "clientProvidedHostHeader": "resource-policy-John.s3.amazonaws.com"
       }
   }
   ```