Secure CI/CD Authentication Challenge
GitHub Actions workflows require AWS credentials to deploy infrastructure, but managing these credentials creates security risks and operational overhead. Traditional approaches use long-lived access keys stored as secrets, creating credential sprawl and rotation complexity.
This project eliminates credential management through OIDC trust relationships that allow GitHub repositories to assume AWS roles directly.
OIDC-Based Security Architecture
Repository-Scoped Authentication
- IAM roles with repository-scoped OIDC trust policies for secure authentication
- Dynamic policy generation from JSON configuration files
- Least privilege access patterns through configurable deployment policies
- Role ARN publishing to SSM Parameter Store for service discovery
Operational Automation
- Automated prerequisite validation reduces the risk of deployment failures
- Project creation scripts streamline new repository onboarding
- Comprehensive deployment automation handles backend configuration and role assumption
- Resource listing capabilities enable infrastructure visibility
Enterprise Integration
- Consistent naming conventions with
gharole-{project}-{environment}pattern - Comprehensive resource tagging for cost allocation and ownership tracking
- Git repository validation ensures deployment metadata accuracy
- Self-deployment prevention mechanisms avoid circular dependencies
Strategic Security Value
This isn’t just credential management - it’s enterprise-grade security automation. By eliminating long-lived credentials, organizations reduce their attack surface while enabling scalable CI/CD practices.
Security Benefits
- Zero credential storage in GitHub secrets or local environments
- Repository-scoped access prevents unauthorized cross-project deployments
- Automatic credential rotation through AWS STS temporary credentials
- Audit trail integration with CloudTrail for complete access logging
Operational Excellence
- Service discovery enables consuming projects to find deployment roles automatically
- Standardized deployment patterns across all infrastructure projects
- Reduced operational overhead through automated role and policy management
This foundation enables secure, scalable CI/CD workflows that align with enterprise security requirements while maintaining developer productivity.
Repository: foundation-iam-deploy-roles