Execute Terraform Plan with AWS assume_role and non-default AWS credentials

Question

I'm trying to run terraform plan locally with a non-default aws credentials profile, where my default profile will not work. I also need to use assume_role in terraform provider "aws" . My code looks something like this:

provider "aws" {
  version             = "~> 2.45"
  region              = "us-east-1"
  profile             = <profile name>
  allowed_account_ids = [<account_id>]
  assume_role {
    role_arn = "arn:aws:iam::<account id>:role/<role name>"
  }
}

The error I'm getting is:

Error: The role "arn:aws:iam::<account_id>:role/<role_name>" cannot be assumed.

  There are a number of possible causes of this - the most common are:
    * The credentials used in order to assume the role are invalid
    * The credentials do not have appropriate permission to assume the role
    * The role ARN is not valid

Interestingly, when I put access_key and secret_key in the provider like this:

provider "aws" {
  version             = "~> 2.45"
  region              = "us-east-1"
  access_key = <aws access key>
  secret_key = <aws secret key>
  assume_role {
    role_arn = "arn:aws:iam::<account_id>:role/<role_name>"
  }
}

terraform plan works fine. I've double checked my aws credentials file several time and it's setup correctly, but I'm not sure why terraform plan doesn't work. I've also tried deleting the assume_role parameter in provider "aws" when i have access_key and secret_key in the file, and terraform plan works fine, which means i don't need the assume_role . however, if i use the profile from aws credentials without assume_role in terraform file, i'm getting:

Error: error using credentials to get account ID: error calling sts:GetCallerIdentity: SignatureDoesNotMatch: The request signature we calculated does not match the signature you provided. Check your AWS Secret Access Key and signing method. Consult the service documentation for details.
        status code: 403, request id: 

Answer 1

You need amend the Trust Policy on the IAM Role like below

How to use trust policies with IAM roles

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": {
        "AWS": "arn:aws:iam::111122223333:user/<Your username>"
      },
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
      "Condition": {}
    }
  ]
}

Once you update the Trust Policy on the IAM Role you can verify this via assume-role command

aws sts assume-role --role-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/xaccounts3access --role-session-name s3-access-example

You would receive something like:

{
    "AssumedRoleUser": {
        "AssumedRoleId": "AROA3XFRBF535PLBIFPI4:s3-access-example",
        "Arn": "arn:aws:sts::123456789012:assumed-role/xaccounts3access/s3-access-example"
    },
    "Credentials": {
        "SecretAccessKey": "9drTJvcXLB89EXAMPLELB8923FB892xMFI",
        "SessionToken": "AQoXdzELDDY//////////wEaoAK1wvxJY12r2IrDFT2IvAzTCn3zHoZ7YNtpiQLF0MqZye/qwjzP2iEXAMPLEbw/m3hsj8VBTkPORGvr9jM5sgP+w9IZWZnU+LWhmg+a5fDi2oTGUYcdg9uexQ4mtCHIHfi4citgqZTgco40Yqr4lIlo4V2b2Dyauk0eYFNebHtYlFVgAUj+7Indz3LU0aTWk1WKIjHmmMCIoTkyYp/k7kUG7moeEYKSitwQIi6Gjn+nyzM+PtoA3685ixzv0R7i5rjQi0YE0lf1oeie3bDiNHncmzosRM6SFiPzSvp6h/32xQuZsjcypmwsPSDtTPYcs0+YN/8BRi2/IcrxSpnWEXAMPLEXSDFTAQAM6Dl9zR0tXoybnlrZIwMLlMi1Kcgo5OytwU=",
        "Expiration": "2016-03-15T00:05:07Z",
        "AccessKeyId": "ASIAJEXAMPLEXEG2JICEA"
    }
}