Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Service-linked roles for Amazon Security Hub

Amazon Security Hub uses an Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) service-linked role named AWSServiceRoleForSecurityHub. This service-linked role is an IAM role that's linked directly to Security Hub. It's predefined by Security Hub, and it includes all the permissions that Security Hub requires to call other Amazon Web Services services and monitor Amazon resources on your behalf. Security Hub uses this service-linked role in all the Amazon Web Services Regions where Security Hub is available.

A service-linked role makes setting up Security Hub easier because you don't have to manually add the necessary permissions. Security Hub defines the permissions of its service-linked role, and unless defined otherwise, only Security Hub can assume the role. The defined permissions include the trust policy and the permissions policy, and you can't attach that permissions policy to any other IAM entity.

To review the details of the service-linked role, you can use the Security Hub console. In the navigation pane, choose General under Settings. Then, in the Service permissions section, choose View service permissions.

You can delete the Security Hub service-linked role only after you disable Security Hub in all the Regions where it's enabled. This protects your Security Hub resources because you can't inadvertently remove permissions to access them.

For information about other services that support service-linked roles, see Amazon services that work with IAM in the IAM User Guide and locate the services that have Yes in the Service-linked roles column. Choose a Yes with a link to review the service-linked role documentation for that service.

Service-linked role permissions for Security Hub

Security Hub uses the service-linked role named AWSServiceRoleForSecurityHub. It's a service-linked role required for Amazon Security Hub to access your resources. This service-linked role allows Security Hub to perform tasks such as receive findings from other Amazon Web Services services and configure the requisite Amazon Config infrastructure to run security checks for controls. The AWSServiceRoleForSecurityHub service-linked role trusts the securityhub.amazonaws.com service to assume the role.

The AWSServiceRoleForSecurityHub service-linked role uses the managed policy AWSSecurityHubServiceRolePolicy.

You must grant permissions to allow an IAM identity (such as a role, group, or user) to create, edit, or delete a service-linked role. For the AWSServiceRoleForSecurityHub service-linked role to be successfully created, the IAM identity that you use to access Security Hub must have the required permissions. To grant the required permissions, attach the following policy to the IAM identity.

JSON

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "securityhub:*",
            "Resource": "*"    
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "iam:CreateServiceLinkedRole",
            "Resource": "*",
            "Condition": {
                "StringLike": {
                    "iam:AWSServiceName": "securityhub.amazonaws.com"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Creating a service-linked role for Security Hub

The AWSServiceRoleForSecurityHub service-linked role is created automatically when you enable Security Hub for the first time or you enable Security Hub in a Region where you didn't previously enable it. You can also create the AWSServiceRoleForSecurityHub service-linked role manually by using the IAM console, the IAM CLI, or the IAM API. For more information about creating the role manually, see Creating a service-linked role in the IAM User Guide.

Editing a service-linked role for Security Hub

Security Hub doesn't allow you to edit the AWSServiceRoleForSecurityHub service-linked role. After you create a service-linked role, you can't change the name of the role because various entities might reference the role. However, you can edit the description of the role by using IAM. For more information, see Editing a service-linked role in the IAM User Guide.

Deleting a service-linked role for Security Hub

If you no longer need to use a feature or service that requires a service-linked role, we recommend that you delete the role. That way, you don't have an unused entity that isn't actively monitored or maintained.

When you disable Security Hub, Security Hub doesn't automatically delete the AWSServiceRoleForSecurityHub service-linked role for you. If you enable Security Hub again, the service can then start using the existing service-linked role again. If you no longer need to use Security Hub, you can manually delete the service-linked role.

To delete the AWSServiceRoleForSecurityHub service-linked role, you can use the IAM console, the IAM CLI, or the IAM API. For more information, see Deleting a service-linked role in the IAM User Guide.