AWS Cross-Account Role & Trust Audit Evidence
Clear, defensible evidence for cross-account access and trust relationships in AWS. Trust policies, not network boundaries, determine which external accounts can access AWS resources.
Why Cross-Account Access Is Commonly Missed in Audits
Many audits incorrectly assume:
- Access is limited to a single AWS account
- Network boundaries define trust
- IAM users represent all access paths
In reality:
- AWS accounts frequently trust other AWS accounts
- Roles can be assumed without local IAM users
- Trust relationships often extend across environments, subsidiaries, or third parties
Without specialized tooling, auditors often fail to identify who outside the account can gain access.
What Auditors Must Be Able to Defend
A defensible cross-account review must clearly answer:
- Which external AWS accounts are trusted?
- Which roles can those accounts assume?
- What permissions do those roles grant in practice?
- Are there administrative or high-risk cross-account access paths?
- Does cross-account access impact audit scope or boundary definitions?
Blackbox Auditor is built to answer these questions explicitly.
Cross-Account Trust Audit Evidence Domains
Cross-Account Role Identification
Blackbox Auditor identifies all roles that can be assumed by external AWS accounts.
- Roles trusted by one or more external AWS accounts
- Trust policy conditions and restrictions
- Identification of overly broad trust relationships
Immediate visibility into external access paths.
Effective Permissions of Cross-Account Roles
Trust alone does not define risk. Permissions do.
- Policies attached to cross-account roles
- Aggregated effective permissions
- Identification of administrative or sensitive access
- Privilege scope across services and resources
See what an external account can actually do.
Bidirectional Trust and Lateral Access
Cross-account access is often bidirectional.
- Roles this account can assume in other AWS accounts
- Lateral movement paths across environments
- Trust relationships that may impact segregation of duties
Evaluate risk across multi-account architectures.
Third-Party and Vendor Access
Cross-account trust is frequently used to grant vendor or partner access.
- Third-party AWS accounts with access
- Roles intended for vendor use
- Permissions granted to external service providers
- Access paths requiring contractual or compensating controls
Verify third-party access aligns with policy and agreements.
What the Evidence Looks Like
Normalized, human-readable trust summaries with timestamped and reproducible evidence.
Evidence Table Coming Soon
We're preparing sanitized evidence output for this product. Request access to be notified when it's available, or schedule a demo to see live evidence today.
Evidence is designed to support defensible audit conclusions.
Who This Page Is For
- External auditors reviewing AWS multi-account environments
- Internal GRC teams validating trust boundaries
- Security teams supporting audit scope and access reviews
Not Intended For
- Continuous cloud threat monitoring
- Identity governance lifecycle management
- Network segmentation design
Evaluate Cross-Account Trust the Way Auditors Do
See what defensible cross-account trust evidence actually looks like.