Access control with IAM

This document describes how you use Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles and permissions to control access to logs data in the Logging API, the Logs Explorer, and the Google Cloud CLI.

Overview

IAM permissions and roles determine your ability to access logs data in the Logging API, the Logs Explorer, and the Google Cloud CLI.

A role is a collection of permissions. You can't grant a principal permissions directly; instead, you grant them a role. When you grant a role to a principal, you grant them all the permissions that the role contains. You can grant multiple roles to the same principal.

To use Logging within a Google Cloud resource, such as a Google Cloud project, folder, bucket, or organization, a principal must have an IAM role that contains the appropriate permissions.

Predefined roles

IAM provides predefined roles to grant granular access to specific Google Cloud resources and prevent unwanted access to other resources. Google Cloud creates and maintains these roles and automatically updates their permissions as necessary, such as when Logging adds new features.

The following table lists the predefined roles for Logging. For each role, the table displays the role title, description, contained permissions, and the lowest-level resource type where the roles can be granted. You can grant the predefined roles at the Cloud project level or, in most cases, any type higher in the Google Cloud hierarchy. To scope the Logs Buckets Writer or Logs View Accessor roles more tightly to the bucket level, you use resource attributes for IAM Conditions.

To get a list of each individual permission contained in a role, see Getting the role metadata.

Role	Permissions
Logging Admin (roles/logging.admin) Provides all permissions necessary to use all features of Cloud Logging. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role: Project	logging.buckets.copyLogEntries logging.buckets.create logging.buckets.delete logging.buckets.get logging.buckets.list logging.buckets.undelete logging.buckets.update logging.cmekSettings.* logging.exclusions.* logging.fields.access logging.locations.* logging.logEntries.* logging.logMetrics.* logging.logServiceIndexes.list logging.logServices.list logging.logs.* logging.notificationRules.* logging.operations.* logging.privateLogEntries.list logging.queries.* logging.sinks.* logging.usage.get logging.views.* resourcemanager.projects.get resourcemanager.projects.list
Logs Bucket Writer (roles/logging.bucketWriter) Ability to write logs to a log bucket. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role: Project	logging.buckets.write
Logs Configuration Writer (roles/logging.configWriter) Provides permissions to read and write the configurations of logs-based metrics and sinks for exporting logs. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role: Project	logging.buckets.create logging.buckets.delete logging.buckets.get logging.buckets.list logging.buckets.undelete logging.buckets.update logging.cmekSettings.* logging.exclusions.* logging.locations.* logging.logMetrics.* logging.logServiceIndexes.list logging.logServices.list logging.logs.list logging.notificationRules.* logging.operations.* logging.sinks.* logging.views.create logging.views.delete logging.views.get logging.views.list logging.views.update resourcemanager.projects.get resourcemanager.projects.list
Log Field Accessor (roles/logging.fieldAccessor) Ability to read restricted fields in a log bucket. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role: Project	logging.fields.access
Logs Writer (roles/logging.logWriter) Provides the permissions to write log entries. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role: Project	logging.logEntries.create
Private Logs Viewer (roles/logging.privateLogViewer) Provides permissions of the Logs Viewer role and in addition, provides read-only access to log entries in private logs. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role: Project	logging.buckets.get logging.buckets.list logging.exclusions.get logging.exclusions.list logging.locations.* logging.logEntries.list logging.logMetrics.get logging.logMetrics.list logging.logServiceIndexes.list logging.logServices.list logging.logs.list logging.privateLogEntries.list logging.queries.create logging.queries.delete logging.queries.get logging.queries.list logging.queries.listShared logging.queries.update logging.sinks.get logging.sinks.list logging.usage.get logging.views.access logging.views.get logging.views.list resourcemanager.projects.get
Logs View Accessor (roles/logging.viewAccessor) Ability to read logs in a view. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role: Project	logging.logEntries.download logging.views.access logging.views.listLogs logging.views.listResourceKeys logging.views.listResourceValues
Logs Viewer (roles/logging.viewer) Provides access to view logs. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role: Project	logging.buckets.get logging.buckets.list logging.exclusions.get logging.exclusions.list logging.locations.* logging.logEntries.list logging.logMetrics.get logging.logMetrics.list logging.logServiceIndexes.list logging.logServices.list logging.logs.list logging.operations.get logging.operations.list logging.queries.create logging.queries.delete logging.queries.get logging.queries.list logging.queries.listShared logging.queries.update logging.sinks.get logging.sinks.list logging.usage.get logging.views.get logging.views.list resourcemanager.projects.get

Further considerations

When deciding which permissions and roles apply to your principals' use cases, consider the following:

• roles/logging.admin (Logging Admin) grants you all permissions related to Logging.

• roles/logging.viewer (Logs Viewer) grants principals read-only access to most features of Logging.

  The Logs Viewer role grants principals access to both the _AllLogs log view in the _Required bucket and the _Default log view in the _Default bucket.

  The Logs Viewer role doesn't let principals read the Data Access audit logs that are in the _Default bucket. To read these Data Access audit logs, principals need the Private Logs Viewer role (roles/logging.privateLogViewer) for the appropriate log view.

  The Logs Viewer role doesn't let principals read logs that are stored in user-defined buckets; to read logs in user-defined buckets, principals need the Logs View Accessor role (roles/logging.viewAccessor) for the appropriate log view.

• roles/logging.privateLogViewer (Private Logs Viewer) includes all the permissions contained by roles/logging.viewer, plus the ability to read Data Access audit logs in the _Default bucket.

  The Private Logs Viewer role doesn't let principals read Data Access audit logs if they are stored in user-defined buckets; to read these logs in user-defined buckets, principals need the Logs View Accessor role (roles/logging.viewAccessor) for the appropriate log view.

• roles/logging.viewAccessor (Logs View Accessor) grants principals permissions to read logs, resource keys, and values using a log view and to download logs. To restrict this role to a view in a specific bucket, use an IAM condition; see Reading logs from a bucket for an example.

• roles/logging.fieldAccessor (Logs Field Accessor) grants principals permissions to access restricted LogEntry fields, if any, in a given bucket. See Field-level access control for details.

• roles/logging.logWriter (Logs Writer) grants principals the minimal permissions required to write logs to the Logging API. This role doesn't grant viewing permissions.

• roles/logging.bucketWriter (Logs Buckets Writer) grants a sink's service account the minimal permissions required to route logs to a specific bucket. For instructions about granting permissions to a sink's service account, see Set destination permissions.

• roles/logging.configWriter (Logs Configuration Writer) grants principals the permissions to create or modify logging configurations, such as sinks, buckets, views, log-based metrics, or exclusions. To use the Logs Explorer for these actions, add roles/logging.viewer.

Caution: The following basic roles include thousands of permissions across all Google Cloud services. Use these roles carefully, or consider using their corresponding Logging predefined roles.

• roles/viewer (Project Viewer) is the same as roles/logging.viewer. The role grants principals read-only access to all Logging features except for viewing Data Access audit logs that are in the _Default bucket.

• roles/editor (Project Editor) includes the permissions of roles/logging.viewer, plus permissions to write log entries, delete logs, and create log-based metrics. The role doesn't let principals create sinks or read Data Access audit logs that are in the _Default bucket.

• roles/owner (Project Owner) grants principals full access to Logging, including reading Data Access audit logs.

Granting roles

To learn how to grant a role to a principal, see Granting, changing, and revoking access.

You can grant multiple roles to the same user. To get a list of the permissions contained in a role, see Getting the role metadata.

If you're trying to access a Google Cloud resource and lack the necessary permissions, then contact the principal who is listed as the Owner for the resource.

Custom roles

To create a custom role with Logging permissions, do the following:

• For a role granting permissions for the Logging API, choose permissions from API permissions, then follow the instructions to create a custom role.

• For a role granting permissions to use the Logs Explorer, choose from permission groups in Console permissions, then follow the instructions to create a custom role.

• For a role granting permissions to use gcloud logging, see the Command-line permissions section on this page, then follow the instructions to create a custom role.

For more information on custom roles, see Understanding IAM custom roles.

API permissions

Logging API methods require specific IAM permissions. The following table lists the permissions needed by the API methods.

If you're interested in logs held in Google Cloud organizations, billing accounts, and folders, then note that those resources have their own API methods for logs and sinks. Rather than repeating all the methods in the table, only the projects methods are shown individually.

Logging method	Required permission	Resource type
billingAccounts.logs.*	logging.logs.* (See projects.logs.*)	billing accounts
billingAccounts.sinks.*	logging.sinks.* (See projects.sinks.*.)	billing accounts
billingAccounts.locations.buckets.*	logging.buckets.* (See projects.locations.buckets.*.)	billing accounts
entries.list	logging.logEntries.list or logging.privateLogEntries.list	projects, organizations, folders, billing accounts
entries.tail	logging.logEntries.list or logging.privateLogEntries.list	projects, organizations, folders, billing accounts
entries.write	logging.logEntries.create	projects, organizations, folders, billing accounts
folders.logs.*	logging.logs.* (See projects.logs.*)	folders
folders.sinks.*	logging.sinks.* (See projects.sinks.*)	folders
folders.locations.buckets.*	logging.buckets.* (See projects.locations.buckets.*)	folders
monitoredResourceDescriptors.list	(none)	(none)
organizations.logs.*	logging.logs.* (See projects.logs.*)	organizations
organizations.sinks.*	logging.sinks.* (See projects.sinks.*)	organizations
organizations.locations.buckets.*	logging.buckets.* (See projects.locations.buckets.*)	organizations
projects.exclusions.create	logging.exclusions.create	projects
projects.exclusions.delete	logging.exclusions.delete	projects
projects.exclusions.get	logging.exclusions.get	projects
projects.exclusions.list	logging.exclusions.list	projects
projects.exclusions.patch	logging.exclusions.update	projects
projects.logs.list	logging.logs.list	projects
projects.logs.delete	logging.logs.delete	projects
projects.sinks.list	logging.sinks.list	projects
projects.sinks.get	logging.sinks.get	projects
projects.sinks.create	logging.sinks.create	projects
projects.sinks.update	logging.sinks.update	projects
projects.sinks.delete	logging.sinks.delete	projects
projects.locations.buckets.list	logging.buckets.list	projects
projects.locations.buckets.get	logging.buckets.get	projects
projects.locations.buckets.patch	logging.buckets.update	projects
projects.locations.buckets.create	logging.buckets.create	projects
projects.locations.buckets.delete	logging.buckets.delete	projects
projects.locations.buckets.undelete	logging.buckets.undelete	projects
projects.metrics.list	logging.logMetrics.list	projects
projects.metrics.get	logging.logMetrics.get	projects
projects.metrics.create	logging.logMetrics.create	projects
projects.metrics.update	logging.logMetrics.update	projects
projects.metrics.delete	logging.logMetrics.delete	projects

Google Cloud console permissions

The following table lists the permissions needed to use the Logs Explorer.

In the table, a.b.{x,y} means a.b.x and a.b.y.

Console activity	Required permissions
Minimal read-only access	logging.logEntries.list logging.logs.list logging.logServiceIndexes.list logging.logServices.list resourcemanager.projects.get
Add ability to view Data Access audit logs	Add logging.privateLogEntries.list
Add ability to view log-based metrics	Add logging.logMetrics.{list, get}
Add ability to view sinks	Add logging.sinks.{list, get}
Add ability to view logs usage	Add logging.usage.get
Add ability to exclude logs	Add logging.exclusions.{list, create, get, update, delete}
Add ability to use sinks	Add logging.sinks.{list, create, get, update, delete}
Add ability to create log-based metrics	Add logging.logMetrics.{list, create, get, update, delete}
Add ability to save queries	Add logging.queries.{list, create, get, update, delete}
Add ability to share queries	Add logging.queries.share
Add ability to use recent queries	Add logging.queries.{create, list}

Command-line permissions

gcloud logging commands are controlled by IAM permissions.

To use any of the gcloud logging commands, principals must have the serviceusage.services.use permission.

A principal must also have the IAM role that corresponds to the log's resource, and to the use case. For details, see command-line interface permissions.

Log-routing permissions

For information about setting access controls when creating and managing sinks to route logs, see Configure sinks: Set destination permissions.

Note that managing exclusion filters is integrated with configuring sinks. All permissions related to managing sinks, including setting exclusion filters, are included in the logging.sinks.* permissions. When creating a custom role that includes permissions to manage exclusion filters, add the logging.sinks.* permissions to the role instead of adding the logging.exclusions.* permissions.

After your log entries have been routed to a supported destination, access to the log copies is controlled entirely by IAM permissions and roles on the destinations: Cloud Storage, BigQuery, or Pub/Sub.

Log-based metrics permissions

Following is a summary of the common roles and permissions that a principal needs to access log-based metrics:

• Logs Configuration Writer (roles/logging.configWriter) lets principals list, create, get, update, and delete log-based metrics.

• Logs Viewer (roles/logging.viewer) lets principals view existing metrics. You can also add the logging.logMetrics.get and logging.logMetrics.list permissions to a custom role.

• Monitoring Viewer (roles/monitoring.viewer) lets principals read TimeSeries data. You can also add the monitoring.timeSeries.list permission to a custom role.

• Logging Admin (roles/logging.admin), Project Editor (roles/editor), and Project Owner (roles/owner) let principals create log-based metrics (logging.logMetrics.create).

Note: To secure private logs data, such as Data Access audit logs and Access Transparency audit logs, from unauthorized access, ensure that principals are granted the minimal permissions they need to do their jobs. For example, principals that have the Project Editor role can create log-based metrics with labels that can extract sensitive information.

Log-based alerts permissions

Following is a summary of the common roles and permissions that a principal needs to create and manage log-based alerts:

• Logging Admin (roles/logging.admin). Specifically, a principal needs the following permissions to read logs and to manage Logging notification rules:

  • logging.logs.list
  • logging.logEntries.list
  • logging.notificationRules.create
  • logging.notificationRules.update

  These permissions are included in the Logging Admin role. If you don't want to grant this role, then do the following:

  • Grant the Logs Configuration Writer (roles/logging.configWriter) and Logs Viewer (roles/logging.viewer) roles.
  • Create a custom role and include these permissions. For more information, see Creating and managing custom roles.

• Monitoring AlertPolicy Editor (roles/monitoring.alertPolicyEditor) and Monitoring NotificationChannel Editor (roles/monitoring.notificationChannelEditor) include the permissions necessary to manage the alerting policies and notification channels used by log-based alerts:

  • monitoring.alertPolicies.{create, delete, get, list, update}
  • monitoring.notificationChannelDescriptors.{get, list}
  • monitoring.notificationChannels.{create, delete, get, list, sendVerificationCode, update, verify}

  The necessary permissions are also included in the Monitoring Editor (roles/monitoring.editor) and Monitoring Admin (roles/monitoring.admin) roles.

  If you don't want to grant any of these roles, then create a custom role and include the permissions in the Monitoring AlertPolicy Editor and Monitoring NotificationChannel Editor roles.

  • For more information about custom roles, see Creating and managing custom roles.
  • For more information on Monitoring roles and permissions, see Access control.

Logging access scopes

Access scopes are the legacy method of specifying permissions for the service accounts on your Compute Engine VM instances.

The following access scopes apply to the Logging API:

Access scope	Permissions granted
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.read	roles/logging.viewer
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.write	roles/logging.logWriter
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.admin	Full access to the Logging API.
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform	Full access to the Logging API and to all other enabled Google Cloud APIs.

For information on using this legacy method to set your service accounts' levels of access, see Service account permissions.