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AWS awscloudtrail medium security documentation change

Service: awscloudtrail · 2025-05-31 · Security-related medium

File: awscloudtrail/latest/userguide/security_iam_troubleshoot.md

Summary

Clarified service-linked role creation conditions and added details about AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrailEventContext

Security assessment

Explains security-critical IAM role creation behavior differences between CLI/API operations and console usage, specifically detailing when AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrail and AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrailEventContext are created. This impacts understanding of least privilege implementation for organization trails.

Diff

diff --git a/awscloudtrail/latest/userguide/security_iam_troubleshoot.md b/awscloudtrail/latest/userguide/security_iam_troubleshoot.md
index dcd870ea1..f91f6a138 100644
--- a//awscloudtrail/latest/userguide/security_iam_troubleshoot.md
+++ b//awscloudtrail/latest/userguide/security_iam_troubleshoot.md
@@ -103 +103 @@ If you need help, contact your AWS administrator. Your administrator is the pers
-The `NoManagementAccountSLRExistsException` exception is thrown when the management account does not have a service-linked role. When you add a delegated administrator using the AWS Organizations AWS CLI or API operation, the service-linked role doesn't get created if it does not exist.
+The `NoManagementAccountSLRExistsException` exception is thrown when the management account does not have a service-linked role. 
@@ -105 +105,5 @@ The `NoManagementAccountSLRExistsException` exception is thrown when the managem
-When you use your organization's management account to add a delegated administrator or create an organization trail or event data store in the CloudTrail console, or by using the AWS CLI or CloudTrail API, CloudTrail automatically creates a service-linked role for your management account if one does not already exist.
+When you add a delegated administrator using the AWS Organizations CLI or API operation, CloudTrail service-linked roles won't be created automatically if they don't exist. The service-linked roles are only created when you make a call from the management account directly to the CloudTrail service. For example, when you add a delegated administrator or create an organization trail or event data store using the CloudTrail console, AWS CLI or CloudTrail API, the AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrail service-linked role is created.
+
+When you add a delegated administrator using the AWS CloudTrail; CLI or API operation, CloudTrail will create both the AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrail and the AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrailEventContext service-linked roles.
+
+When you use your organization's management account to add a delegated administrator or create an organization trail or event data store in the CloudTrail console, or by using the AWS CLI or CloudTrail API, CloudTrail automatically creates the AWSServiceRoleForCloudTrail service-linked role for your management account if it does not already exist. For more information, see [Using service-linked roles for CloudTrail](./using-service-linked-roles.html).