Eliminate use of the 'root' user for administrative and daily tasks

How it is checked

Audit method: Manual review

This recommendation cannot be checked automatically. A scan lists it with these instructions when you pass --include-manual.

From Console: 1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam 2. In the left pane, click Credential Report 3. Select Download Report 4. Open or Save the file locally 5. Locate the root user under the user column 6. Review: - password_last_used - access_key_1_last_used_date - access_key_2_last_used_date 7. Determine whether recent usage indicates frequent or inappropriate use of the root account 8. Ensure the mfa_active field is set to TRUE or the password_enabled field is set to FALSE From Command Line: 1. Run the following CLI commands to provide a credential report for determining the last time the 'root user' was used: aws iam generate-credential-report aws iam get-credential-report --query 'Content' --output text | base64 -d | cut -d, -f1,5,11,16 | grep -B1 '<root_account>' 2. Review: - password_last_used - access_key_1_last_used_date - access_key_2_last_used_date 3. Determine when the root user was last used Note: There are limited scenarios where use of the 'root' user is required. Refer to AWS documentation for a complete list.

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

If the 'root' user account is being used for daily activities or administrative tasks that do not require root access: 1. Stop using the root account for routine operations 2. Create and use IAM roles or users with least privilege instead 3. Change the root user password 4. Deactivate or delete any access keys associated with the root user From Command Line: 1. Run the following command as the root user in the account to delete the root login profile: aws iam delete-login-profile This removes the password associated with the root account and prevents console authentication using the root user.