Legacy Script to Rotate AWS IAM Access Keys via PowerShell CLI
A PowerShell script was developed to automate the rotation of AWS IAM user access keys, addressing frequent 'Token expired' errors during local development caused by 12-hour key expiration. The script uses the AWS CLI to check existing keys for a given IAM user, delete the oldest if two are present, and generate a new key written to the local .aws/credentials file. AWS has since updated its guidance, now recommending temporary credentials via IAM Identity Center for human users and IAM roles for workloads instead of long-term access keys. The original script carries notable risks, including deleting the old key before validating the replacement and overwriting all credential profiles. A safer rotation approach involves creating the new key first, testing it, deactivating the old key, confirming it is unused, and only then deleting it.
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