Amazon Verified Permissions:Fully managed Cedar service for fine grained authorization

Kajanan Suganthan

1.Introduction

As organizations scale their applications and expand their user base, managing permissions becomes a critical challenge. Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP) is a managed service designed to implement fine-grained authorization in applications, ensuring users and resources interact securely based on policies. This article explores Amazon Verified Permissions, its features, benefits, pricing, use cases, and 2025 updates.

2.What is Amazon Verified Permissions?

Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP) is a fine-grained authorization service that enables developers to enforce access controls for applications using policy-based permissions. It allows organizations to manage user access to resources dynamically based on predefined policies, ensuring security and compliance.

AVP is built on Cedar, an open-source policy language developed by AWS. Cedar allows developers to define access control rules in an intuitive, JSON-like format, providing flexibility and security.

3.Key Features of Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP)

3.1 Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC)

Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP) enables Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC), allowing organizations to define and enforce fine-grained authorization policies. These policies dictate how users interact with resources based on attributes, roles, or other contextual factors.

Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC): Access decisions are based on user attributes (e.g., department, security clearance, or device type).
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Access is granted based on predefined user roles, simplifying permissions management.
Context-Aware Policies: Policies can include conditions based on time, location, or specific request parameters, enhancing security and compliance.

By centralizing and standardizing access policies, AVP helps organizations maintain a scalable and consistent authorization model across applications.

3.2 Cedar Policy Language

AVP utilizes Cedar, an open-source, domain-specific language designed for defining authorization policies in a human-readable yet highly secure format.

Declarative Policy Definition: Cedar allows administrators to define precise access control rules without complex scripting.
Composability & Reusability: Policies can be modular and reused across multiple applications, reducing redundancy.
Security-Focused Design: Cedar is formally verified to prevent unintended access, ensuring high security and reliability.

Example of a simple Cedar policy:

cedar
CopyEdit
permit(
    principal == User::"alice",
    action == Action::"read",
    resource == Document::"report123"
);

This policy grants Alice permission to read report123, demonstrating Cedar’s clarity and ease of use.

3.3 Real-Time Authorization Decisions

Amazon Verified Permissions enables real-time access control by evaluating policies dynamically whenever an authorization request is made.

On-Demand Access Evaluation: Applications can send access requests to AVP before executing user actions.
Minimal Latency: The system is optimized for performance, ensuring minimal delays in user experience.
Explicit Authorization: Users only gain access to resources if explicitly permitted, reducing security risks.

This real-time approach ensures that authorization decisions are dynamic, context-aware, and up-to-date, preventing unauthorized access effectively.

3.4 Integration with AWS IAM and Amazon Cognito

AVP seamlessly integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Amazon Cognito, enabling organizations to extend their authentication mechanisms into fine-grained authorization.

IAM Integration: Allows IAM roles and policies to work alongside AVP for advanced authorization.
Cognito User Pools: AVP can enforce additional permissions based on user attributes from Cognito.
Custom Identity Provider Support: Organizations using third-party authentication systems can also integrate AVP for unified access control.

By combining authentication (who you are) with authorization (what you can do), AVP enhances security across AWS and third-party applications.

3.5 Audit and Compliance Logging

AVP provides comprehensive logging capabilities that help organizations track access requests, policy decisions, and authorization evaluations for security monitoring and compliance.

Event Logging: AVP logs every access request and decision, creating an auditable trail.
Security & Compliance Support: Helps meet regulatory requirements such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR by ensuring transparent access control.
Incident Investigation: Security teams can analyze logs to detect unusual access patterns or potential security breaches.

These logging features enable organizations to proactively manage security risks and simplify compliance reporting.

3.6 Multi-Tenant Application Support

AVP is designed to support multi-tenant applications, allowing different access policies to be dynamically applied to different tenants within the same application.

Tenant-Specific Access Controls: Ensures each tenant has isolated permissions based on their organizational needs.
Scalability: Can handle thousands of tenants with distinct authorization rules efficiently.
Customizable Policy Management: Developers can configure policies based on tenant attributes, improving flexibility and security.

This feature is particularly beneficial for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers, where maintaining secure and isolated access across multiple clients is critical.

4.Benefits of Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP)

4.1 Enhanced Security

Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP) strengthens security by providing a fine-grained, policy-driven access control mechanism.

Least Privilege Enforcement: Users and services only receive the minimum permissions necessary to perform their tasks.
Dynamic Access Control: Access decisions are evaluated in real-time, ensuring permissions remain up-to-date with changing security policies.
Reduction of Hardcoded Permissions: Instead of embedding access rules within application code, AVP centralizes them in policies, reducing attack surfaces.
Prevention of Unauthorized Access: AVP explicitly denies access unless policies grant permission, minimizing the risk of privilege escalation.

By adopting policy-based access control (PBAC), organizations can mitigate security risks and protect sensitive resources more effectively.

4.2 Simplifies Permission Management

Managing permissions at scale can be challenging, but AVP simplifies it by providing a centralized and flexible access control system.

Centralized Authorization Policies: Developers and administrators can define, modify, and enforce access rules without modifying application logic.
Separation of Authentication and Authorization: Works alongside AWS IAM, Cognito, and custom identity providers, allowing teams to manage authentication and authorization independently.
Role-Based & Attribute-Based Access Controls: Supports both RBAC and ABAC, making it easy to implement access policies tailored to organizational needs.
Consistency Across Applications: Ensures a unified permission model across different applications and environments, reducing inconsistencies.

By decoupling authorization logic from application code, AVP reduces complexity and accelerates application development.

4.3 Scalability

AVP is built to handle large-scale applications, making it a suitable choice for businesses operating at high transaction volumes.

Designed for High Throughput: Can process millions of authorization requests per second, ensuring fast and reliable access control.
Optimized for Performance: AVP efficiently evaluates policies in real-time with minimal latency.
Elastic and Cloud-Native: Scales dynamically with your application workload, eliminating bottlenecks in access control processing.
Multi-Tenant Support: Ideal for SaaS applications that require separate authorization models for multiple customers or organizations.

Whether supporting an enterprise system, a high-traffic web application, or a multi-tenant SaaS platform, AVP ensures scalable and responsive authorization.

4.5 Auditability and Compliance

AVP provides robust logging and auditing features to help organizations maintain compliance and monitor access control decisions.

Detailed Authorization Logs: Captures all access requests and policy evaluations, ensuring visibility into how permissions are granted or denied.
Security & Compliance Readiness: Helps meet regulatory requirements such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.
Incident Response & Forensics: Logs provide crucial data for investigating security incidents, access violations, and policy misconfigurations.
Integration with AWS CloudTrail & Security Hub: Enables centralized monitoring, automated alerts, and compliance tracking.

By maintaining a transparent access control audit trail, AVP supports security teams in risk assessment and compliance reporting.

4.6 Integration with Cloud-Native Applications

Amazon Verified Permissions is designed to integrate seamlessly with AWS services and modern cloud architectures, reducing implementation friction.

Works with AWS IAM & Cognito: Extends authentication mechanisms into fine-grained, policy-driven authorization.
Compatible with AWS Lambda, API Gateway, and ECS/EKS: Easily enforces access control across microservices and event-driven applications.
Supports Custom Identity Providers: Can integrate with third-party SSO solutions, Active Directory, and OpenID Connect providers.
Decoupled Authorization: Allows developers to apply policies dynamically, without modifying application code.

By leveraging AVP within cloud-native applications, organizations can standardize security best practices while keeping their infrastructure agile and efficient.

5.Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP) Pricing – 2025 Details

Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP) follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where costs depend on the number of authorization and policy management requests made per month. There are no upfront fees or long-term commitments, making it a flexible and cost-efficient solution for organizations managing access control at scale.

5.1 Authorization Requests Pricing

Authorization requests occur each time an application queries AVP to determine if a user or service is allowed to perform an action on a resource. These requests are metered per API call to the following endpoints:

IsAuthorized – Evaluates whether a principal (user/service) is allowed to take an action on a resource.
BatchIsAuthorized – Evaluates multiple authorization requests in a single API call. (Each batch call counts as one request.)
IsAuthorizedWithToken – Evaluates authorization using a token-based identity system (such as Amazon Cognito).
BatchIsAuthorizedWithToken – Evaluates multiple token-based authorization requests at once.

Pricing Breakdown for Authorization Requests

Monthly Authorization Requests Price per Request First 40 million requests $0.00015 per request Next 60 million requests $0.000075 per request Over 100 million requests $0.00004 per request

Example Cost Calculation:

If an application makes 50 million authorization requests in a month, the cost would be:

First 40 million requests × $0.00015 = $6,000
Next 10 million requests × $0.000075 = $750

Total cost for 50 million requests = $6,750

5.2 Policy Management Requests Pricing

Policy management requests occur whenever policies are created, updated, deleted, or retrieved from AVP. This includes API calls such as:

CreatePolicy – Adds a new policy to the authorization system.
UpdatePolicy – Modifies an existing policy.
GetPolicy – Retrieves a specific policy by ID.
ListPolicies – Fetches a list of all policies.
BatchGetPolicies – Retrieves multiple policies in a single API call (metered per policy returned).

Pricing Breakdown for Policy Management Requests

Request Type Price per Request Policy Management Requests $0.00004 per request

Example Cost Calculation

If an organization makes 500,000 policy management requests in a month, the total cost would be:

500,000 × $0.00004 = $20

This pricing model ensures that policy updates and retrievals remain cost-effective, even at high volumes.

5.3 Free Tier

AVP offers a free tier for new AWS customers, allowing them to experiment with the service at no cost.

Free Tier Allowance – AWS may provide a limited number of free authorization and policy management requests per month.
Duration – The free tier is typically available for 12 months after signing up for AWS.
Limitations – Any usage beyond the free tier will be charged at the standard rates.

For the latest free tier details, check the AWS Free Tier Page.

5.4 Additional Costs and Considerations

While AVP itself does not have additional charges beyond authorization and policy management requests, other AWS services used alongside AVP may incur extra costs:

Logging & Auditing Costs

AVP integrates with AWS CloudTrail to log authorization requests and policy evaluations. CloudTrail charges based on:

Management Event Logging – Captures API calls for policy changes. (Free for the last 90 days.)
Data Event Logging – Logs every access decision. (Charged per million events.)

Integration with AWS Services

If you integrate AVP with other AWS services, the following may impact costs:

Amazon Cognito – If AVP is used with Cognito for authentication, Cognito pricing applies.
AWS Lambda – If access requests are evaluated using Lambda functions, Lambda invocation costs apply.
Amazon CloudWatch – If monitoring AVP logs, CloudWatch may charge for log storage and retrieval.

Multi-Region Usage

If AVP is deployed across multiple AWS regions, each region is billed separately based on usage in that specific region.

5.5 Cost Optimization Strategies

To optimize costs when using Amazon Verified Permissions, consider the following:

Batch Authorization Requests – Use BatchIsAuthorized instead of multiple IsAuthorized calls to reduce request volume.

Minimize Redundant Requests – Cache authorization decisions at the application level to reduce repetitive queries.

Efficient Policy Management – Structure policies efficiently to minimize policy updates and retrieval requests.

Use AWS Cost Monitoring Tools – Leverage AWS Cost Explorer to track AVP costs and optimize usage.

5.6 Summary of Amazon Verified Permissions Pricing

Feature Pricing Authorization Requests $0.00015 per request (first 40M), $0.000075 per request (next 60M), $0.00004 per request (100M+) Policy Management Requests $0.00004 per request Free Tier Limited free requests per month Additional Costs Logging, CloudTrail, Cognito, and CloudWatch may incur extra charges

For real-time pricing updates and cost calculators, refer to the AWS Pricing Page.

6.Use Cases for Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP)

Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP) enables fine-grained access control across various industries and application types. Below are detailed use cases demonstrating how AVP enhances security, compliance, and efficiency.

6.1 Enterprise Applications

Large enterprises often have complex access control requirements, with employees needing different permission levels based on their roles, departments, and project assignments.

How AVP Helps

Granular Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Assigns permissions based on job roles (e.g., HR, Finance, IT).

Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC): Uses attributes like department, location, and clearance level for dynamic access control.

Real-Time Authorization: Ensures employees access only approved data and resources.

Audit Logging: Tracks all access requests for compliance and security monitoring.

Example Use Case:

An HR manager can access employee records, but cannot modify salary details.
A finance analyst can generate financial reports but cannot access raw payroll data.

6.2 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Applications

Multi-tenant SaaS applications must isolate customer data to prevent unauthorized access between tenants while allowing flexible permission management.

How AVP Helps:

Multi-Tenant Security: Ensures customers access only their own data.

Customizable Access Policies: Allows each tenant to define their own rules for users.

API-Based Enforcement: Ensures policies are enforced dynamically via APIs.

Scalability: Handles millions of authorization requests per second, supporting SaaS growth.

Example Use Case:

A project management SaaS platform allows each company to define access rules, ensuring employees see only their own projects.
A B2B SaaS billing platform prevents one customer from accessing another’s financial data.

6.4 Financial Services

Challenge:

Banks and financial institutions handle sensitive transactions and must enforce strict security policies to prevent fraud and data breaches.

How AVP Helps:

Transaction-Based Authorization: Policies restrict access based on account status, location, and transaction type.

Adaptive Security: Prevents unauthorized transfers using dynamic conditions (e.g., user behavior, IP address).

Compliance Enforcement: Helps meet PCI-DSS, GDPR, and SOX compliance requirements.

Real-Time Fraud Detection: Prevents unauthorized actions by verifying policies before processing transactions.

Example Use Case:

A customer can view their account balance but needs additional verification to initiate a wire transfer above $10,000.
A financial advisor can manage client investment portfolios but cannot withdraw funds.

6.5 Healthcare and Compliance

Healthcare organizations must protect patient data while complying with industry regulations like HIPAA (USA), GDPR (EU), and HITRUST.

How AVP Helps:

Patient Data Protection: Ensures only authorized doctors and nurses can access medical records.

Time-Sensitive Access: Allows temporary access for specialists while ensuring automatic revocation after a period.

Fine-Grained Authorization: Enables granular permissions, such as read-only vs. edit access to patient data.

Audit Trails for Compliance: Maintains logs of who accessed what and when for regulatory audits.

Example Use Case:

A nurse can update a patient’s vitals, but only a doctor can prescribe medications.
A medical researcher can access anonymized patient data, but not personally identifiable information (PII).

5. E-Commerce and Digital Platforms

Challenge:

E-commerce businesses and digital service providers need secure, role-based access for customers, merchants, and administrators.

How AVP Helps:

Customer Account Security: Ensures only account owners can access their purchase history and payment details.

Merchant Access Control: Limits store managers to only their own product listings and orders.

Order Management Authorization: Prevents unauthorized order modifications or cancellations.

Scalable for High Traffic: Supports peak shopping seasons without performance bottlenecks.

Example Use Case:

A customer can track their orders but cannot modify them after shipping.
A seller on a marketplace can edit their product listings, but cannot access competitor data.

6.6 Government & Public Sector

Challenge:

Government agencies require secure access control for classified documents, citizen data, and public services.

How AVP Helps:

Zero Trust Security: Grants least privilege access, preventing unauthorized access to sensitive government records.

Secure Citizen Portals: Ensures individuals can only view their own data (e.g., tax records, social security).

Inter-Agency Collaboration: Enables controlled data sharing between agencies.

Regulatory Compliance: Supports FISMA, FedRAMP, and CJIS security requirements.

Example Use Case:

A police officer can access criminal records for assigned cases only.
A tax officer can view citizen tax records, but only for approved investigations.

6.7 Internet of Things (IoT) & Smart Devices

Challenge:

IoT ecosystems need fine-grained access control to ensure secure device interactions and prevent unauthorized commands.

How AVP Helps:

Device-Level Authorization: Controls which devices/users can access smart home or industrial IoT systems.

Time-Based Access: Grants temporary access to guests or maintenance teams.

Dynamic Policy Adjustments: Adapts based on location, time, or sensor data.

Secure API Calls: Ensures only authorized applications can send commands to IoT devices.

Example Use Case:

A smart home system allows homeowners to control security cameras, but guests can only adjust room temperature.
A factory automation system ensures only authorized engineers can modify robotic arm settings.

6.8 AI & Machine Learning Platforms

Challenge:

AI-driven applications require controlled access to training datasets, models, and prediction APIs.

How AVP Helps:

Dataset Access Control: Restricts access to AI training datasets based on role and project permissions.

Model Deployment Security: Ensures only authorized users can modify or deploy ML models.

Fine-Grained API Access: Limits AI model predictions based on user roles and usage quotas.

Audit Logging for AI Ethics: Tracks model access for bias detection and compliance.

Example Use Case:

A data scientist can train AI models, but only a lead engineer can deploy them to production.
A customer support chatbot restricts sensitive financial predictions to authenticated users only.

7. 2025 Updates and Enhancements for Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP)

As Amazon Verified Permissions (AVP) evolves, AWS continues to release features and improvements to ensure better security, scalability, and user experience. Here are the 2025 updates and enhancements for AVP, building on the 2024 changes.

7.1 Enhanced Real-Time Policy Decision Making

What’s New

AVP now supports real-time decision-making with adaptive policies. This feature dynamically adjusts policy evaluations based on user behavior or external data sources like IoT devices, social media activity, or real-time transaction data.
These adaptive policies enable personalized access control that can change depending on time of day, user location, and previous activity, further improving security and user experience.

Impact

Provides greater flexibility in managing access for dynamic, high-velocity applications.
Improves security by reducing the chance of unauthorized access based on unusual or risky user behavior.

7.2 Cross-Account and Cross-Region Authorization

What’s New

AVP now includes cross-account authorization support, allowing organizations to implement policy enforcement across multiple AWS accounts and regions.
This feature is particularly beneficial for multi-cloud and hybrid environments, enabling a consistent authorization model across different parts of the organization, regardless of the AWS region or account the resources reside in.

Impact

Streamlines management for organizations operating in multiple AWS accounts or geographically distributed regions.
Centralizes policy management while maintaining region-specific or account-specific security rules.

7.3 Enhanced Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

What’s New

AVP’s data loss prevention (DLP) functionality now includes integration with AWS Macie to ensure data access policies are aligned with data classification and handling requirements.
New data scanning and classification tools automatically detect and classify sensitive data (e.g., PII, PCI-DSS) before applying policies to ensure no unauthorized access occurs.

Impact

Helps organizations adhere to regulatory requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA by preventing unauthorized access to sensitive data.
Reduces risks related to data breaches by ensuring that sensitive data is handled according to predefined access control policies.

7.4 Simplified Multi-Tenant Management

What’s New

The latest version of AVP enhances multi-tenant access control, enabling dynamic policy assignment for individual tenants based on attributes such as tenant ID, account type, and contract level.
New tools allow for bulk management of multi-tenant policies, drastically simplifying the process of onboarding new tenants or updating policies at scale.

Impact

Simplifies tenant-specific policy enforcement and access control in multi-tenant SaaS applications.
Reduces administrative overhead and accelerates the deployment of new features or updates to individual tenants.

7.5 Improved Analytics and Reporting

What’s New

Advanced reporting tools are now available, offering insights into policy effectiveness and user behavior over time.
The dashboard now features customizable visualizations and alerts to help security teams quickly identify anomalies in access patterns, aiding in proactive policy adjustments.
Automated reporting capabilities allow compliance teams to generate detailed audit logs for real-time monitoring and regulatory reporting.

Impact

Provides deeper insights into how access control policies are performing and whether they are meeting security objectives.
Enables more proactive, data-driven policy management, ensuring the ongoing compliance of organizations in regulated industries.

7.6 Fine-Tuned API Rate Limiting

What’s New

AVP now supports fine-tuned API rate limiting, allowing organizations to specify the maximum number of authorization requests an application or user can make within a certain period (e.g., per second, minute, or hour).
Dynamic rate limiting helps prevent service abuse or denial-of-service attacks by regulating the frequency of requests based on application traffic patterns.

Impact

Improves system stability by controlling API traffic during high-demand periods.
Prevents misuse of the service by limiting the number of requests that can be made in quick succession.

7.7 AI-Driven Policy Recommendations

What’s New

AVP leverages machine learning algorithms to suggest optimal policy settings based on the organization’s historical access data and evolving security needs.
These AI-driven policy recommendations help security teams automate policy tuning to adapt to changing threat landscapes or evolving organizational structures.

Impact

Reduces the manual effort required to design effective policies.
Helps organizations automatically adapt to emerging security trends and adjust access control settings without extensive human intervention.

7.8 Enhanced User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX)

What’s New:

The AVP UI has been redesigned to provide a more intuitive user experience for both developers and security teams.
New wizards and guided workflows allow users to quickly set up and manage policies, and new collaborative features enable teams to work together on policy creation and updates.

Impact:

Reduces onboarding time for new users and organizations by providing a more intuitive interface.
Streamlines the process of creating, reviewing, and managing policies, reducing the time spent on administrative tasks.

7.9 Enhanced Integration with AWS Services

What’s New

AVP has introduced deeper integration with AWS services, including AWS Secrets Manager for dynamic management of secret-based policies, and Amazon GuardDuty for automatically adjusting access based on security threat intelligence.
AVP now integrates with Amazon Detective to trace access issues and identify anomalies in access patterns across the organization.

Impact

Provides seamless integration with the broader AWS ecosystem, enhancing overall security and simplifying policy management across multiple services.
Improves response times to potential threats by automatically adjusting access permissions based on real-time security data.

Conclusion

Amazon Verified Permissions is a powerful service for managing fine-grained authorization in cloud applications. With policy-based access control, real-time authorization, and seamless AWS integration, AVP helps organizations enforce robust security measures at scale. As AWS continues to enhance AVP with new features and integrations, it remains a critical tool for securing modern applications.