This page describes the Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles you can use to configure Secret Manager. Roles limit a principal's ability to access resources. Always grant the minimum set of permissions required to perform a given task.
Secret Manager roles
Following are the IAM roles that are associated with Secret Manager. To learn how to grant, change, or revoke access to resources using IAM roles, see Granting, changing, and revoking access to resources.
| Role | Permissions |
|---|---|
Secret Manager Admin( Full access to administer Secret Manager resources. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role:
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Secret Manager Secret Accessor( Allows accessing the payload of secrets. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role:
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Secret Manager Secret Version Adder( Allows adding versions to existing secrets. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role:
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Secret Manager Secret Version Manager( Allows creating and managing versions of existing secrets. Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role:
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Secret Manager Viewer( Allows viewing metadata of all Secret Manager resources Lowest-level resources where you can grant this role:
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Principle of least privilege
When you follow the principle of least privilege, you grant the minimum level of access to resources required to perform a given task. For example, if a principal needs access to a single secret, don't give that principal access to other secrets or all secrets in the project or organization. If a principal only needs to read a secret, don't grant that principal the ability to modify the secret.
You can use IAM to grant IAM roles and permissions at the level of the Google Cloud secret, project, folder, or organization. Always apply permissions at the lowest level in the resource hierarchy.
The following table shows the effective capabilities of a service account, based on the
level of the resource hierarchy where the Secret Manager Secret Accessor role
(roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor) is granted.
| Resource hierarchy | Capability |
|---|---|
| Secret | Access only that secret |
| Project | Access all secrets in the project |
| Folder | Access all secrets in all projects in the folder |
| Organization | Access all secrets in all projects in the organization |
The role roles/owner includes the
`secretmanager.versions.access` permission, but the roles/editor
and roles/viewer do not.
If a principal only needs to access a single secret's value, don't grant that
principal the ability to access all secrets. For example, you can grant a
service account the Secret Manager Secret Accessor role
(roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor) on a single secret.
If a principal only needs to manage a single secret, don't grant that principal
the ability to manage all secrets. For example, you can grant a service
account the Secret Manager Admin role (roles/secretmanager.admin) on a single secret.
IAM conditions
IAM Conditions allow you to define and enforce conditional, attribute-based access control for some Google Cloud resources, including Secret Manager resources.
In Secret Manager, you can enforce conditional access based on the following attributes:
- Date/time attributes: Use to set expirable, scheduled, or limited-duration access to Secret Manager resources. For example, you could allow a user to access a secret until a specified date.
- Resource attributes: Use to configure conditional access based on a resource name, resource type, or resource service attributes. In Secret Manager, you can use attributes of secrets and secret versions to configure conditional access. For example, you can allow a user to manage secret versions only on secrets that begin with a specific prefix, or allow a user to access only a specific secret version.
For more information about IAM Conditions, see the Conditions overview.
What's next
- Learn how to manage access to secrets.
- Learn how to apply the principle of least privilege when managing Secret Manager resources by creating and managing custom roles.
- Learn about IAM Conditions.