Okta authentication in support of AWS CLI operation. The okta-aws-cli
CLI is
native to the Okta Identity Engine and its authentication flows. The CLI is not
compatible with Okta Classic orgs.
The Okta AWS Federation application is SAML based and the Okta AWS CLI interacts with AWS IAM using AssumeRoleWithSAML. Okta does not have an OIDC based AWS Federation application at this time.
okta-aws-cli
handles authentication through Okta and token exchange with AWS
STS to collect a proper IAM role for the AWS CLI operator. The resulting
output is a set made up of Access Key ID
, Secret Access Key
, and Session Token
of AWS
credentials
for the AWS CLI. The Okta AWS CLI expresses the AWS credentials as either
environment
variables
or appended to an AWS CLI credentials
file.
The Session Token
has an expiry of 60 minutes.
# *nix, export statements
$ okta-aws-cli
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=ASIAUJHVCS6UQC52NOL7
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=AQoEXAMPLEH4aoAH0gNCAPyJxz4BlCFFxWNE1OPTgk5T...
# *nix, eval export ENV vars into current shell
$ eval `okta-aws-cli` && aws s3 ls
2018-04-04 11:56:00 test-bucket
2021-06-10 12:47:11 mah-bucket
rem Windows setx statements
C:\> okta-aws-cli
setx AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=ASIAUJHVCS6UQC52NOL7
setx AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
setx AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=AQoEXAMPLEH4aoAH0gNCAPyJxz4BlCFFxWNE1OPTgk5T...
The Okta AWS CLI requires an OIE organization and an OIDC Native Application paired with an Okta AWS Federation integration application. The Okta AWS Fed app is itself paired with an AWS IAM identity provider.
The OIDC Native Application requires Grant Types Authorization Code
, Device Authorization
, and Token Exchange
. These settings are in the Okta Admin UI
at Applications > [the OIDC app] > General Settings > Grant type
.
If Multiple AWS environments (see below) are to
be supported by a single OIDC application, the OIDC app must have the
okta.apps.read
grant. Apps read and other application grants are configured
at Applications > [the OIDC app] > Okta API Scopes
in the Okta Admin UI.
The pairing with the AWS Federation Application is achieved in the Fed app's
Sign On Settings. These settings are in the Okta Admin UI at Applications > [the AWS Fed app] > Sign On
. There are two values that need to be set on the Sign On
form. The first is the Allowed Web SSO Client
value which is the Client ID of
the OIDC Native Application. The second is Identity Provider ARN (Required only for SAML SSO)
value which is the AWS ARN of the associated IAM Identity
Provider.
Okta has a wizard to help establish the settings needed in AWS IAM, automatic generation of a SAML certificate for the IAM Identity Provider, and the settings needed for the Okta AWS Federation app. Replace these required values in the URL below. Then follow the directions in that wizard.
- Org Admin Domain - [ADMIN_DOMAIN] - example:
myorg-admin.okta.com
- Okta AWS Federation app Client ID - [CLIENT_ID] - example:
0oa555555aaaaaaZZZZZ
https://saml-doc.okta.com/SAML_Docs/How-to-Configure-SAML-2.0-for-Amazon-Web-Service.html?baseAdminUrl=https://[ADMIN_DOMAIN]&app=amazon_aws&instanceId=[CLIENT_ID]
To support multiple AWS environments, associate additional AWS Federation
applications with the OIDC app The OIDC app must have the okta.apps.read
grant. The following is an illustration of the association of objects that make
up this kind of configuration.
- All AWS Federation apps have the OIDC native app as their Allowed Web SSO client
- Fed App #1 is linked with an IAM IdP that has two Roles, one for S3 read, and one for S3 read/write
- Fed App #2 is linked to an IdP and Role dedicated to ec2 operations
- Fed App #3 is oriented for an administrator is comprised of an IdP and Role with many different permissions
We recommend that the AWS Federation Application and OIDC native application
have equivalent policies if not share the same policy. If the AWS Federation
app has more stringent assurance requirements than the OIDC app a 400 Bad Request
API error is likely to occur.
Note: If your AWS IAM IdP is in a non-commercial region, such as GovCloud,
the environmental variable
AWS_REGION
should be set
accordingly.
At a minimum the Okta AWS CLI requires two configuration values. These are the values for the Okta Org domain, and the client ID of the OIDC Native Application.
If the OIDC Native App doesn't also have the okta.apps.read
grant the client
ID of the Okta AWS
Federation
integration application is also required.
An optional output format value can be configured. Default output format is as environment variables that can be used for the AWS CLI configuration. Output can also be expressed as credential file values for AWS CLI configuration.
Configuration can be done with environment variables, an .env
file, command line flags, or a combination of the three.
Also see the CLI's online help $ okta-aws-cli --help
Name | ENV var and .env file value | Command line flag | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Okta Org Domain (required) | OKTA_ORG_DOMAIN |
--org-domain [value] |
Full domain hostname of the Okta org e.g. test.okta.com |
OIDC Client ID (required) | OKTA_OIDC_CLIENT_ID |
--oidc-client-id [value] |
See Allowed Web SSO Client |
Okta AWS Account Federation integration app ID (optional) | OKTA_AWS_ACCOUNT_FEDERATION_APP_ID |
--aws-acct-fed-app-id [value] |
See AWS Account Federation integration app. This value is only required if the OIDC app doesn't have the okta.apps.read grant for whatever reason |
Preselect the AWS IAM Identity Provider ARN (optional) | AWS_IAM_IDP |
--aws-iam-idp [value] |
Preselects the IdP list to this preferred IAM Identity Provider. If there are other IdPs available they will not be listed. |
Preselects the AWS IAM Role ARN to assume (optional) | AWS_IAM_ROLE |
--aws-iam-role [value] |
Preselects the role list to this preferred IAM role for the given IAM Identity Provider. If there are other Roles available they will not be listed. |
AWS Session Duration (optional) | AWS_SESSION_DURATION |
--session-duration [value] |
The lifetime, in seconds, of the AWS credentials. Must be between 60 and 43200. |
Output format (optional) | FORMAT |
--format [value] |
Default is env-var . Options: env-var for output to environment variables, aws-credentials for output to AWS credentials file |
Profile (optional) | PROFILE |
--profile [value] |
Default is default |
Display QR Code (optional) | QR_CODE=true |
--qr-code |
true if flag is present |
Automatically open the activation URL with the system web browser (optional) | OPEN_BROWSER=true |
--open-browser |
true if flag is present |
Alternate AWS credentials file path (optional) | AWS_CREDENTIALS |
--aws-credentials |
Path to alternative credentials file other than AWS CLI default |
Write to the AWS credentials file (optional). Default formatting is to append and not modify the file beyond adding new lines. WARNING: When enabled, writing can inadvertently remove dangling comments and extraneous formatting from the creds file. | WRITE_AWS_CREDENTIALS=true |
--write-aws-credentials |
true if flag is present |
Verbosely print all API calls/responses to the screen | DEBUG_API_CALLS=true |
--debug-api-calls |
true if flag is present |
This is the "Allowed Web SSO Client" value from the "Sign On" settings of an AWS Account Federation" integration app and is an Okta OIDC Native Application ID. The ID is the identifier of the client is Okta app acting as the IdP for AWS.
Example: 0oa5wyqjk6Wm148fE1d7
ID for the AWS Account Federation" integration app.
Example: 0oa9x1rifa2H6Q5d8325
export OKTA_ORG_DOMAIN=test.okta.com
export OKTA_OIDC_CLIENT_ID=0oa5wyqjk6Wm148fE1d7
OKTA_ORG_DOMAIN=test.okta.com
OKTA_OIDC_CLIENT_ID=0oa5wyqjk6Wm148fE1d7
$ okta-aws-cli --org-domain test.okta.com \
--oidc-client-id 0oa5wyqjk6Wm148fE1d7
$ okta-aws-cli --org-domain test.okta.com \
--oidc-client-id 0oa5wyqjk6Wm148fE1d7 \
--aws-acct-fed-app-id 0oa9x1rifa2H6Q5d8325
The behavior of the Okta AWS CLI is to be friendly for shell input and
scripting. Output of the command that is human oriented is done on STDERR
and
output for the AWS CLI that can be consumed in scripting is done on STDOUT
.
This allows for the command's results to be eval
'd into the current shell as
eval
will only make use of STDOUT
values.
Note: example assumes other Okta AWS CLI configuration values have already been
set by ENV variables or .env
file.
Note: output will be in setx
statements if the runtime is Windows.
$ okta-aws-cli
Open the following URL to begin Okta device authorization for the AWS CLI.
https://test-org.okta.com/activate?user_code=ZNQZQXQQ
? Choose an IdP: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:saml-provider/My_IdP
? Choose a Role: arn:aws:iam::456789012345:role/My_Role
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=ASIAUJHVCS6UQC52NOL7
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=AQoEXAMPLEH4aoAH0gNCAPyJxz4BlCFFxWNE1OPTgk5T...
$ export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=ASIAUJHVCS6UQC52NOL7
$ export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
$ export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=AQoEXAMPLEH4aoAH0gNCAPyJxz4BlCFFxWNE1OPTgk5T...
$ aws s3 ls
2018-04-04 11:56:00 test-bucket
2021-06-10 12:47:11 mah-bucket
Note: example assumes other Okta AWS CLI configuration values have already been
set by ENV variables or .env
file.
$ eval `okta-aws-cli` && aws s3 ls
2018-04-04 11:56:00 test-bucket
2021-06-10 12:47:11 mah-bucket
$ eval `okta-aws-cli`
$ aws s3 ls
2018-04-04 11:56:00 test-bucket
2021-06-10 12:47:11 mah-bucket
Note: example assumes other Okta AWS CLI configuration values have already been
set by ENV variables or .env
file.
$ okta-aws-cli --profile test --format aws-credentials && \
aws --profile test s3 ls
Open the following URL to begin Okta device authorization for the AWS CLI.
https://test-org.okta.com/activate?user_code=ZNQZQXQQ
? Choose an IdP: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:saml-provider/My_IdP
? Choose a Role: arn:aws:iam::456789012345:role/My_Role
Wrote profile "test" to /Users/mikemondragon/.aws/credentials
2018-04-04 11:56:00 test-bucket
2021-06-10 12:47:11 mah-bucket
Note: the Okta AWS CLI will only append to the AWS credentials file. Be sure to
comment out or remove previous named profiles from the credentials file.
Otherwise an Unable to parse config file
error like the following may occur.
aws --profile example s3 ls
Unable to parse config file: /home/user/.aws/credentials
$ okta-aws-cli --help
$ okta-aws-cli --version
There are a number of differences in terms of operation and functionality between Okta AWS CLI and Nike's gimme-aws-creds.
The Okta AWS CLI is native to the Okta Identity Engine. No matter what kinds of authentication flows (multi-factors, assigned users, etc.) have been applied to the Native OIDC application, the CLI works within those constraints naturally. The Okta CLI is OIE only and will not work with Classic orgs.
A simple URL is given to the operator to open in a browser and from there the CLI's authentication and authorization is initiated. The Okta AWS CLI doesn't prompt for passwords or any other user credentials itself, or offers to store user credentials on a desktop keychain.
The configuration of the Okta AWS CLI is minimal with only two required values:
Okta org domain name, and OIDC app id. There isn't a need for a configuration
prompt to run for initialization and there isn't a need for a multi-lined
configuration file that is dropped somewhere in the user's $HOME
directory to
operate the CLI.
The Okta CLI is CLI flag and environment variable oriented and its default output is as environment variables. It can write to an AWS credentials file but only in append mode. It never risks interpreting and re-writing the AWS credentials file potentially corrupting other valuable credentials saved there.
The comparison between Okta AWS CLI and Versent saml2aws are identical to the comparison between Okta AWS CLI and Nike gimme-aws-creds.
Run source code locally
go run cmd/okta-aws-cli/main.go
Install tools that the Makefile uses like gofumpt
and golint
make tools
Building
make build
Testing
make test
Run golang code quality control tools on the codebase (go vet
, golint
, etc.)
make qc
We're happy to accept contributions and PRs! Please see the contribution guide to understand how to structure a contribution.