Is AWS IAM down?

What AWS IAM does - and how it fails

AWS IAM is the authentication and authorization layer for every AWS API call. IAM incidents are rare but uniquely painful: when authentication latency spikes or STS token issuance fails, every service and every deploy pipeline feels it simultaneously - even though “nothing is down.”

• Elevated latency for IAM/STS authentication requests
• Token issuance failures breaking cross-account and federated access
• Policy propagation delays after changes
• Regional STS endpoint issues for teams pinned to one endpoint

Recent AWS IAM incidents

• [RESOLVED] Increased API Error Rates

  September 3, 2026 · 2h 18m

  Between 2:12 PM and 3:18 PM PDT, we experienced increased API error rates affecting the STS AssumeRoleWithSAML and AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity APIs in the US-WEST-2 Region. The root cause was determined to be due to an issue with an STS subsystem responsible for communicating with external identity providers. Other AWS Services that rely on these identity federation protocols were also affected. At 3:18 PM, we observed signs of recovery and continued to monitor to ensure stability and full recovery. The issue is resolved and the service is operating normally at this time.

Full analyses live in the post-mortem archive.

AWS IAM questions