Step 5: (Optional) Restrict access to commands in a session - AWS Systems Manager
Restrict access to commands in a session (console)Restrict access to commands in a session (command line)Interactive command parameters and the AWS CLIIAM policy examples for interactive commands

Step 5: (Optional) Restrict access to commands in a session

You can restrict the commands that a user can run in an AWS Systems Manager Session Manager session by using a custom Session type AWS Systems Manager (SSM) document. In the document, you define the command that is run when the user starts a session and the parameters that the user can provide to the command. The Session document schemaVersion must be 1.0, and the sessionType of the document must be InteractiveCommands. You can then create AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies that allow users to access only the Session documents that you define. For more information about using IAM policies to restrict access to commands in a session, see IAM policy examples for interactive commands.

Documents with the sessionType of InteractiveCommands are only supported for sessions started from the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI). The user provides the custom document name as the --document-name parameter value and provides any command parameter values using the --parameters option. For more information about running interactive commands, see Starting a session (interactive and noninteractive commands).

Use following procedure to create a custom Session type SSM document that defines the command a user is allowed to run.

Restrict access to commands in a session (console)

To restrict the commands a user can run in a Session Manager session (console)

  1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Documents.

  3. Choose Create command or session.

  4. For Name, enter a descriptive name for the document.

  5. For Document type, choose Session document.

  6. Enter your document content that defines the command a user can run in a Session Manager session using JSON or YAML, as shown in the following example.

    YAML
    ---
schemaVersion: '1.0'
description: Document to view a log file on a Linux instance
sessionType: InteractiveCommands
parameters:
  logpath:
    type: String
    description: The log file path to read.
    default: "/var/log/amazon/ssm/amazon-ssm-agent.log"
    allowedPattern: "^[a-zA-Z0-9-_/]+(.log)$"
properties:
  linux:
    commands: "tail -f {{ logpath }}"
    runAsElevated: true
    JSON
    {
    "schemaVersion": "1.0",
    "description": "Document to view a log file on a Linux instance",
    "sessionType": "InteractiveCommands",
    "parameters": {
        "logpath": {
            "type": "String",
            "description": "The log file path to read.",
            "default": "/var/log/amazon/ssm/amazon-ssm-agent.log",
            "allowedPattern": "^[a-zA-Z0-9-_/]+(.log)$"
        }
    },
    "properties": {
        "linux": {
            "commands": "tail -f {{ logpath }}",
            "runAsElevated": true
        }
    }
}

  7. Choose Create document.

Restrict access to commands in a session (command line)

Before you begin

If you haven't already, install and configure the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) or the AWS Tools for PowerShell. For information, see Installing or updating the latest version of the AWS CLI and Installing the AWS Tools for PowerShell.

To restrict the commands a user can run in a Session Manager session (command line)

  1. Create a JSON or YAML file for your document content that defines the command a user can run in a Session Manager session, as shown in the following example.

    YAML
    ---
schemaVersion: '1.0'
description: Document to view a log file on a Linux instance
sessionType: InteractiveCommands
parameters:
  logpath:
    type: String
    description: The log file path to read.
    default: "/var/log/amazon/ssm/amazon-ssm-agent.log"
    allowedPattern: "^[a-zA-Z0-9-_/]+(.log)$"
properties:
  linux:
    commands: "tail -f {{ logpath }}"
    runAsElevated: true
    JSON
    {
    "schemaVersion": "1.0",
    "description": "Document to view a log file on a Linux instance",
    "sessionType": "InteractiveCommands",
    "parameters": {
        "logpath": {
            "type": "String",
            "description": "The log file path to read.",
            "default": "/var/log/amazon/ssm/amazon-ssm-agent.log",
            "allowedPattern": "^[a-zA-Z0-9-_/]+(.log)$"
        }
    },
    "properties": {
        "linux": {
            "commands": "tail -f {{ logpath }}",
            "runAsElevated": true
        }
    }
}

  2. Run the following commands to create an SSM document using your content that defines the command a user can run in a Session Manager session.

    Linux & macOS
    aws ssm create-document \
    --content file://path/to/file/documentContent.json \
    --name "exampleAllowedSessionDocument" \
    --document-type "Session"
    Windows 
    aws ssm create-document ^
    --content file://C:\path\to\file\documentContent.json ^
    --name "exampleAllowedSessionDocument" ^
    --document-type "Session"
    PowerShell 
    $json = Get-Content -Path "C:\path\to\file\documentContent.json" | Out-String
New-SSMDocument `
    -Content $json `
    -Name "exampleAllowedSessionDocument" `
    -DocumentType "Session"

Interactive command parameters and the AWS CLI

There are a variety of ways you can provide interactive command parameters when using the AWS CLI. Depending on the operating system (OS) of your client machine that you use to connect to managed nodes with the AWS CLI, the syntax you provide for commands that contain special or escape characters might differ. The following examples show some of the different ways you can provide command parameters when using the AWS CLI, and how to handle special or escape characters.

Parameters stored in Parameter Store can be referenced in the AWS CLI for your command parameters as shown in the following example.

Linux & macOS
aws ssm start-session \
    --target instance-id \
    --document-name MyInteractiveCommandDocument \ 
    --parameters '{"command":["{{ssm:mycommand}}"]}'
Windows 
aws ssm start-session ^
    --target instance-id ^
    --document-name MyInteractiveCommandDocument ^
    --parameters '{"command":["{{ssm:mycommand}}"]}'

The following example shows how you can use a shorthand syntax with the AWS CLI to pass parameters.

Linux & macOS
aws ssm start-session \
    --target instance-id \
    --document-name MyInteractiveCommandDocument \ 
    --parameters command="ifconfig"
Windows 
aws ssm start-session ^
    --target instance-id ^
    --document-name MyInteractiveCommandDocument ^
    --parameters command="ipconfig"

You can also provide parameters in JSON as shown in the following example.

Linux & macOS
aws ssm start-session \
    --target instance-id \
    --document-name MyInteractiveCommandDocument \ 
    --parameters '{"command":["ifconfig"]}'
Windows 
aws ssm start-session ^
    --target instance-id ^
    --document-name MyInteractiveCommandDocument ^
    --parameters '{"command":["ipconfig"]}'

Parameters can also be stored in a JSON file and provided to the AWS CLI as shown in the following example. For more information about using AWS CLI parameters from a file, see Loading AWS CLI parameters from a file in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

{
    "command": [
        "my command"
    ]
}
Linux & macOS
aws ssm start-session \
    --target instance-id \
    --document-name MyInteractiveCommandDocument \ 
    --parameters file://complete/path/to/file/parameters.json
Windows 
aws ssm start-session ^
    --target instance-id ^
    --document-name MyInteractiveCommandDocument ^
    --parameters file://complete/path/to/file/parameters.json

You can also generate an AWS CLI skeleton from a JSON input file as shown in the following example. For more information about generating AWS CLI skeletons from JSON input files, see Generating AWS CLI skeleton and input parameters from a JSON or YAML input file in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

{
    "Target": "instance-id",
    "DocumentName": "MyInteractiveCommandDocument",
    "Parameters": {
        "command": [
            "my command"
        ]
    }
}
Linux & macOS
aws ssm start-session \
    --cli-input-json file://complete/path/to/file/parameters.json
Windows 
aws ssm start-session ^
    --cli-input-json file://complete/path/to/file/parameters.json

To escape characters inside quotation marks, you must add additional backslashes to the escape characters as shown in the following example.

Linux & macOS
aws ssm start-session \
    --target instance-id \
    --document-name MyInteractiveCommandDocument \ 
    --parameters '{"command":["printf \"abc\\\\tdef\""]}'
Windows 
aws ssm start-session ^
    --target instance-id ^
    --document-name MyInteractiveCommandDocument ^
    --parameters '{"command":["printf \"abc\\\\tdef\""]}'

For information about using quotation marks with command parameters in the AWS CLI, see Using quotation marks with strings in the AWS CLI in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

IAM policy examples for interactive commands

You can create IAM policies that allow users to access only the Session documents you define. This restricts the commands a user can run in a Session Manager session to only the commands defined in your custom Session type SSM documents.

Allow a user to run an interactive command on a single managed node 
{
   "Version":"2012-10-17",
   "Statement":[
      {
         "Effect":"Allow",
         "Action":"ssm:StartSession",
         "Resource":[
            "arn:aws:ec2:region:987654321098:instance/i-02573cafcfEXAMPLE",
            "arn:aws:ssm:region:987654321098:document/exampleAllowedSessionDocument"
         ]
      }
   ]
}
Allow a user to run an interactive command on all managed nodes 
{
   "Version":"2012-10-17",
   "Statement":[
      {
         "Effect":"Allow",
         "Action":"ssm:StartSession",
         "Resource":[
            "arn:aws:ec2:us-west-2:987654321098:instance/*",
            "arn:aws:ssm:us-west-2:987654321098:document/exampleAllowedSessionDocument"
         ]
      }
   ]
}
Allow a user to run multiple interactive commands on all managed nodes 
{
   "Version":"2012-10-17",
   "Statement":[
      {
         "Effect":"Allow",
         "Action":"ssm:StartSession",
         "Resource":[
            "arn:aws:ec2:us-west-2:987654321098:instance/*",
            "arn:aws:ssm:us-west-2:987654321098:document/exampleAllowedSessionDocument",
            "arn:aws:ssm:us-west-2:987654321098:document/exampleAllowedSessionDocument2"
         ]
      }
   ]
}