Description:
The root user account is the most privileged user in an AWS account. AWS Access Keys provide programmatic access to a given AWS account. It is recommended that all access keys associated with the root user account be removed.
Rationale:
Removing access keys associated with the root user account limits vectors by which the account can be compromised. Additionally, removing the root access keys encourages the creation and use of role based accounts that are least privileged.
Perform the following to delete or disable active root user access keys
From Console:
Perform the following to determine if the root user account has access keys:
From Console:
From Command Line:
Run the following command:
aws iam get-account-summary | grep "AccountAccessKeysPresent"
If no root access keys exist the output will show "AccountAccessKeysPresent": 0,.
If the output shows a "1" than root keys exist, refer to the remediation below.