AWS Vault

AWS Vault is designed for securely managing and accessing AWS credentials in development environments. This tool stores IAM credentials in the operating system's secure keystore, such as macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, or Secret Service, and generates temporary credentials using Amazon's STS service through GetSessionToken or AssumeRole API calls. These temporary credentials expire after a short period, typically 60 minutes, significantly reducing the risk of credential leakage.

The technical architecture of AWS Vault is built around integrating with the operating system's native secure storage mechanisms. It supports various backends, including Keychain, Credential Manager, and Secret Service, allowing for integration across different platforms. The tool is written in Go and distributed as a standalone binary, making it easy to install and manage on Linux, macOS, and Windows environments.

Operationally, AWS Vault is designed to be complementary to AWS CLI tools and is aware of the profiles and configurations in ~/.aws/config. It exposes temporary credentials to subprocesses via environment variables, ensuring that only short-lived credentials are used by applications. This approach minimizes the exposure of long-lived IAM credentials, enhancing security in development environments.

Key operational considerations include the need to specify the vaulting backend using the --backend flag or the AWS_VAULT_BACKEND environment variable. Additionally, administrators must ensure that the binary is properly signed, especially on macOS, to avoid extra prompts in Keychain. The tool also supports multifactor authentication requirements for added security.

In terms of technical details, AWS Vault generates temporary credentials with sub-minute granularity, and these credentials are injected into the environment for use by applications. The retention of these temporary credentials is managed by AWS STS, ensuring they expire after a specified period, thus limiting their potential misuse.