Understanding IAM Identity Center sign-in events
AWS CloudTrail records successful and unsuccessful sign-in events for all IAM Identity Center identity
sources. IAM Identity Center and Active Directory (AD Connector and AWS Managed Microsoft AD) sourced identities
include additional sign-in events that are captured each time a user is prompted to solve
a specific credential challenge or factor, in addition to the status of that particular
credential verification request. Only after a user has completed all required credential
challenges will the user be signed in, which will result in a
UserAuthentication event being logged.
The following table captures each of the IAM Identity Center sign-in CloudTrail event names, their purpose, and applicability to different identity sources.
| Event name | Event purpose | Identity source applicability |
|---|---|---|
CredentialChallenge |
Used to notify that IAM Identity Center has requested the user to solve a specific credential
challenge and specifies the CredentialType that was required (For
example, PASSWORD or TOTP). |
Native IAM Identity Center users, AD Connector, and AWS Managed Microsoft AD |
CredentialVerification |
Used to notify that the user has attempted to solve a specific
CredentialChallenge request and specifies whether that credential
succeeded or failed. |
Native IAM Identity Center users, AD Connector, and AWS Managed Microsoft AD |
UserAuthentication |
Used to notify that all authentication requirements the user was challenged
with have been successfully completed and that the user was successfully signed in.
Users failing to successfully complete the required credential
challenges will result in no UserAuthentication event being
logged. |
All identity sources |
The following table captures additional useful event data fields contained within specific sign-in CloudTrail events.
| Field | Event purpose | Sign-in event applicability | Example values |
|---|---|---|---|
AuthWorkflowID |
Used to correlate all events emitted across an entire sign-in sequence. For each user sign-in, multiple events may be emitted by IAM Identity Center. | CredentialChallenge, CredentialVerification,
UserAuthentication |
"AuthWorkflowID": "9de74b32-8362-4a01-a524-de21df59fd83" |
CredentialType |
Used to specify the credential or factor that was challenged.
UserAuthentication events will include all of the
CredentialType values that were successfully verified across the
user's sign-in sequence. |
CredentialChallenge, CredentialVerification,
UserAuthentication |
CredentialType": "PASSWORD" or "CredentialType": "PASSWORD,TOTP" (possible values include: PASSWORD, TOTP, WEBAUTHN, EXTERNAL_IDP, RESYNC_TOTP, EMAIL_OTP) |
DeviceEnrollmentRequired |
Used to specify that the user was required to register an MFA device during sign-in, and that the user successfully completed that request. | UserAuthentication |
"DeviceEnrollmentRequired": "true" |
LoginTo |
Used to specify the redirect location following a successful sign-in sequence. | UserAuthentication |
"LoginTo": "https://mydirectory.awsapps.com/start/....." |
CloudTrail events in the IAM Identity Center sign-in flows
The following diagram describes the sign-in flow and the CloudTrail events that Sign-in emits
The diagram shows a password sign-in flow and a federated sign-in flow.
The password sign-in flow, which consists of steps 1–8, demonstrates the steps during the username and password sign-in process. IAM Identity Center sets
userIdentity.additionalEventData.CredentialType to "PASSWORD",
and IAM Identity Center goes through the credentials challenge-response cycle, retrying as needed.
The number of steps depends on the type of login and the
presence of the multi-factor authentication (MFA). The initial process results in
three or five CloudTrail events with UserAuthentication ending the sequence for a
successful authentication. Unsuccessful password authentication attempts result in
additional CloudTrail events as the IAM Identity Center re-issues CredentialChallenge for regular
or, if enabled, MFA authentication.
The password sign-in flow also covers the scenario where an IAM Identity Center user newly-created with a CreateUser API call signs in with a one-time password (OTP).
The credential type in this scenario is “EMAIL_OTP”.
The federated sign-in flow, consisting of steps 1a,
2a, and 8, demonstrates the main steps during the federated authentication process where a
SAML assertion is provided by an identity
provider, validated by IAM Identity Center, and if successful, results in
UserAuthentication. IAM Identity Center doesn't invoke the internal MFA authentication
sequence in steps 3 – 7 because an external, federated identity provider is responsible
for all user credential authentication.
