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Managing Azure RBAC Roles and Assignments with Terraform
Jack Morris
This a quick guide I couldn’t wait to share. Here is a way of managing a custom roles and role assignments in Azure using Terraform. The versions of Terraform, AzureRM, and the AzureAD provider I’m using are as follows:
In this example, I’m creating a custom role that allows some users to view a shared dashboard in our Azure subscription. The users should be able to view the dashboard that Terraform is already creating, which is referred to by the terraform resource azurerm_dashboard.insights-dashboard :
This role grants read access to:
- The specific Shared Dashboard that is created elsewhere in Terraform by scoping this role just to the dashboard
- The same read permissions as the built-in Monitoring Reader role, minus the ability to raise support tickets. Since Insights queries a ton of data — each of which is exposed in a different permissions entry, e.g. Microsoft.Insights/metricAlerts/read , Microsoft.Insights/alertRules/read , Microsoft.Insights/components/*/read — I found it easier to make the read permissions more permissive and mimic one of the built-in roles here. The scope for this role is still only assignable to the dashboard, so effectively we grant read access to whatever Insights data the dashboard surfaces.
When assigning users to a role, you need their principal ID (also called an object ID) within Azure AD to perform the assignment. Personally, I wouldn’t want to have to find out each user’s object ID through some manual process or by using the CLI before I run terraform. What we can do instead is create a variable that stores all of the email addresses (which is also their UPN, or user princiupal name) associated with the users in Azure:
Then, we pass that variable to the AzureAD provider and use the for_each argument to loop through the users:
And finally, when we want to assign all of those users to the custom role we created above, we do this using for_each again, this time providing the data resource ( azuread_user ) we created above:
And that’s it! You can now assign a batch of users to an RBAC role in Azure using Terraform.
Written by Jack Morris
Solution Architect at Kainos
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Azure Authorization Assignment
This page shows how to write Terraform and Azure Resource Manager for Authorization Assignment and write them securely.
Review your .tf file for Azure best practices
Shisho Cloud, our free checker to make sure your Terraform configuration follows best practices, is available (beta).
azurerm_role_assignment (Terraform)
The Assignment in Authorization can be configured in Terraform with the resource name azurerm_role_assignment . The following sections describe 10 examples of how to use the resource and its parameters.
- Example Usage from GitHub
Review your Terraform file for Azure best practices
- condition optional - string
- condition_version optional - string
- description optional - string
- id optional computed - string
- name optional computed - string
- principal_id required - string
- principal_type optional computed - string
- role_definition_id optional computed - string
- role_definition_name optional computed - string
- scope required - string
- skip_service_principal_aad_check optional computed - bool
- create optional - string
- delete optional - string
- read optional - string
- update optional - string
>> from Terraform Registry
- Explanation in Terraform Registry
Assigns a given Principal (User or Group) to a given Role.
Tips: Best Practices for The Other Azure Authorization Resources
In addition to the azurerm_role_definition, Azure Authorization has the other resources that should be configured for security reasons. Please check some examples of those resources and precautions.
azurerm_role_definition
Ensure to grant targeted permissions for roles
It is better to avoid giving too many permissions to a role. By following the principle of least privilege, you can reduce the risk of credential leakage.
Review your Azure Authorization settings
In addition to the above, there are other security points you should be aware of making sure that your .tf files are protected in Shisho Cloud.
Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments (Azure Resource Manager)
The roleAssignments in Microsoft.Authorization can be configured in Azure Resource Manager with the resource name Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments . The following sections describe how to use the resource and its parameters.
- name required - string
- type required - string
- apiVersion required - string
The role definition ID used in the role assignment.
The principal ID assigned to the role. This maps to the ID inside the Active Directory. It can point to a user, service principal, or security group.
>> from Azure Resource Manager Documentation
The Other Related Azure Authorization Resources
Azure Authorization Azure User Assigned Identity
Azure Authorization Definition
- Frequently asked questions
What is Azure Authorization Assignment?
Azure Authorization Assignment is a resource for Authorization of Microsoft Azure. Settings can be wrote in Terraform.
Where can I find the example code for the Azure Authorization Assignment?
For Terraform, the SamPoddar/caf-terraform-landingzones-starter , Elgeario/Starter and joshfranzen/caf-terraform-landingzones-starter source code examples are useful. See the Terraform Example section for further details.
For Azure Resource Manager, the LRuttenCN/cloud-custodian , LRuttenCN/cloud-custodian and juggernauthk108/pastebin source code examples are useful. See the Azure Resource Manager Example section for further details.
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Table of Contents
- Best Practces for The Other Resources
azurerm_role_assignment
Assigns a given Principal (User or Application) to a given Role.
Example Usage (using a built-in Role)
Example usage (custom role & service principal), example usage (custom role & user), argument reference.
The following arguments are supported:
name - (Optional) A unique UUID/GUID for this Role Assignment - one will be generated if not specified. Changing this forces a new resource to be created.
scope - (Required) The scope at which the Role Assignment applies too, such as /subscriptions/0b1f6471-1bf0-4dda-aec3-111122223333 , /subscriptions/0b1f6471-1bf0-4dda-aec3-111122223333/resourceGroups/myGroup , or /subscriptions/0b1f6471-1bf0-4dda-aec3-111122223333/resourceGroups/myGroup/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/myVM . Changing this forces a new resource to be created.
role_definition_id - (Optional) The Scoped-ID of the Role Definition. Changing this forces a new resource to be created. Conflicts with role_definition_name .
role_definition_name - (Optional) The name of a built-in Role. Changing this forces a new resource to be created. Conflicts with role_definition_id .
principal_id - (Required) The ID of the Principal (User or Application) to assign the Role Definition to. Changing this forces a new resource to be created.
Attributes Reference
The following attributes are exported:
- id - The Role Assignment ID.
Role Assignments can be imported using the resource id , e.g.
© 2018 HashiCorpLicensed under the MPL 2.0 License. https://www.terraform.io/docs/providers/azurerm/r/role_assignment.html
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Assign Azure roles to a managed identity (Preview)
- 4 contributors
You can assign a role to a managed identity by using the Access control (IAM) page as described in Assign Azure roles using the Azure portal . When you use the Access control (IAM) page, you start with the scope and then select the managed identity and role. This article describes an alternate way to assign roles for a managed identity. Using these steps, you start with the managed identity and then select the scope and role.
Assign a role to a managed identity using these alternate steps is currently in preview. This preview version is provided without a service level agreement, and it's not recommended for production workloads. Certain features might not be supported or might have constrained capabilities. For more information, see Supplemental Terms of Use for Microsoft Azure Previews .
Prerequisites
To assign Azure roles, you must have:
- Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments/write permissions, such as Role Based Access Control Administrator or User Access Administrator
System-assigned managed identity
Follow these steps to assign a role to a system-assigned managed identity by starting with the managed identity.
In the Azure portal, open a system-assigned managed identity.
In the left menu, click Identity .
Under Permissions , click Azure role assignments .
If roles are already assigned to the selected system-assigned managed identity, you see the list of role assignments. This list includes all role assignments you have permission to read.
To change the subscription, click the Subscription list.
Click Add role assignment (Preview) .
Use the drop-down lists to select the set of resources that the role assignment applies to such as Subscription , Resource group , or resource.
If you don't have role assignment write permissions for the selected scope, an inline message will be displayed.
In the Role drop-down list, select a role such as Virtual Machine Contributor .
Click Save to assign the role.
After a few moments, the managed identity is assigned the role at the selected scope.
User-assigned managed identity
Follow these steps to assign a role to a user-assigned managed identity by starting with the managed identity.
In the Azure portal, open a user-assigned managed identity.
In the left menu, click Azure role assignments .
If roles are already assigned to the selected user-assigned managed identity, you see the list of role assignments. This list includes all role assignments you have permission to read.
Related content
- What are managed identities for Azure resources?
- Assign Azure roles using the Azure portal
- List Azure role assignments using the Azure portal
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Additional resources
» azurerm_role_assignment
Assigns a given Principal (User or Application) to a given Role.
» Example Usage (using a built-in Role)
» example usage (custom role & service principal), » example usage (custom role & user), » argument reference.
The following arguments are supported:
name - (Optional) A unique UUID/GUID for this Role Assignment - one will be generated if not specified. Changing this forces a new resource to be created.
scope - (Required) The scope at which the Role Assignment applies too, such as /subscriptions/0b1f6471-1bf0-4dda-aec3-111122223333 , /subscriptions/0b1f6471-1bf0-4dda-aec3-111122223333/resourceGroups/myGroup , or /subscriptions/0b1f6471-1bf0-4dda-aec3-111122223333/resourceGroups/myGroup/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/myVM . Changing this forces a new resource to be created.
role_definition_id - (Optional) The Scoped-ID of the Role Definition. Changing this forces a new resource to be created. Conflicts with role_definition_name .
role_definition_name - (Optional) The name of a built-in Role. Changing this forces a new resource to be created. Conflicts with role_definition_id .
principal_id - (Required) The ID of the Principal (User or Application) to assign the Role Definition to. Changing this forces a new resource to be created.
» Attributes Reference
The following attributes are exported:
- id - The Role Assignment ID.
Role Assignments can be imported using the resource id , e.g.
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azurerm_role_assignment "The role assignment already exists." #17421
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COMMENTS
Possible values are User, Group and ServicePrincipal. Changing this forces a new resource to be created. It is necessary to explicitly set this attribute when creating role assignments if the principal creating the assignment is constrained by ABAC rules that filters on the PrincipalType attribute.
For assigning roles to the some user assigned identity using your Service Principal from terraform you need to give the service principal "Owner" permission to to subscription. It is not possible to do from "Contributor" permission. ... # and the role assignment to this identity resource "azurerm_role_assignment" "example" { scope ...
The other benefit of using a user managed identity is the decouple the role assignment from the policy. You can also review a working existing example located in examples/400-multi-with-orchestration. In this page, we will create a policy assignment template to override an existing policy assignment currently using a SystemIdentity. We will ...
System Assigned Managed Identity; User Assigned Managed Identity; The module provides multiple helper variables to make it easier to find the principal id (object id) for different types of principals. NOTE: The module does not create the principals or role definitions for you, you must create them yourself. The module only creates the role ...
Here is a way of managing a custom roles and role assignments in Azure using Terraform. The versions of Terraform, AzureRM, and the AzureAD provider I'm using are as follows: In this example, I'm creating a custom role that allows some users to view a shared dashboard in our Azure subscription. The users should be able to view the dashboard ...
Assign the managed identity a Reader role on the key vault resource, e.g: # Assign the reader role on the Key vault to the Managed Identity. resource "azurerm_role_assignment" "example" {scope = azurerm_key_vault.example.id role_definition_name = "Reader" principal_id = azurerm_user_assigned_identity.uai.id}
To create a user-assigned managed identity, your account needs the Managed Identity Contributor role assignment.. Sign in to the Azure portal.. In the search box, enter Managed Identities.Under Services, select Managed Identities.. Select Add, and enter values in the following boxes in the Create User Assigned Managed Identity pane:. Subscription: Choose the subscription to create the user ...
The Assignment in Authorization can be configured in Terraform with the resource name azurerm_role_assignment. The following sections describe 10 examples of how to use the resource and its parameters. ... {scope = azurerm_resource_group.resourceGroup.id role_definition_name = "Reader" principal_id = azurerm_user_assigned_identity.pod-identity ...
principal_id - (Required) The ID of the Principal (User or Application) to assign the Role Definition to. Changing this forces a new resource to be created. Attributes Reference . The following attributes are exported: id - The Role Assignment ID. Import . Role Assignments can be imported using the resource id, e.g.
In the left menu, click Azure role assignments. If roles are already assigned to the selected user-assigned managed identity, you see the list of role assignments. This list includes all role assignments you have permission to read. To change the subscription, click the Subscription list. Click Add role assignment (Preview).
A map of tags to add to user assigned identity resource. (Required) The location/region where the user assigned identity is created. (Required) The name of the resource group in which to create the user assigned identity. (Optional) The Scoped-ID of the Role Definition. Changing this forces a new resource to be created.
update - (Defaults to 30 minutes) Used when updating the Role Assignment. read - (Defaults to 5 minutes) Used when retrieving the Role Assignment. delete - (Defaults to 30 minutes) Used when deleting the Role Assignment. Import. Role Assignments can be imported using the resource id, e.g.
Community Note. Please vote on this issue by adding a đź‘Ť reaction to the original issue to help the community and maintainers prioritize this request; Please do not leave "+1" or "me too" comments, they generate extra noise for issue followers and do not help prioritize the request
Conflicts with role_definition_id. principal_id - (Required) The ID of the Principal (User or Application) to assign the Role Definition to. Changing this forces a new resource to be created. » Attributes Reference The following attributes are exported: id - The Role Assignment ID. » Import Role Assignments can be imported using the resource ...
I have a managed service identity workflow-identity living on subscription A. I set up another subscription B and set up a storage account storageb. I want to setup azurerm_role_assignment to let A
Is there an existing issue for this? I have searched the existing issues; Community Note. Please vote on this issue by adding a đź‘Ť reaction to the original issue to help the community and maintainers prioritize this request; Please do not leave "+1" or "me too" comments, they generate extra noise for issue followers and do not help prioritize the request
To resolve the error, I assigned Owner role to the service principal under subscription like below: After assigning that role, role assignments created successfully on resource group when I ran below query again: In your case, try assigning your service principal Owner role under subscription to resolve the issue.