InvalidAccessKeyId
AWS InvalidAccessKeyId (Invalid Access Key Id) means the AWS access key ID in the request does not exist in AWS records. In Amazon S3, this error returns HTTP 403.
Last reviewed: February 6, 2026|Editorial standard: source-backed technical guidance
What Does Invalid Access Key ID Mean?
Authentication is failing at the first hop, so no AWS operation executes for that workload and every signed request keeps returning 403 until the credential source is corrected.
Common Causes
- -The configured access key ID is mistyped, deleted, or from a different AWS account.
- -Credential provider precedence selects an unexpected profile, environment variable, or instance role chain.
- -Key rotation changed active credentials but applications still run with stale values.
- -Build/runtime secret injection strips or truncates credential values.
How to Fix Invalid Access Key ID
- 1Run
aws sts get-caller-identitywith the same runtime credentials to confirm credential validity. - 2Inspect credential source order (env vars, shared config, role credentials, container/task metadata).
- 3Rotate to a known-good active key pair and redeploy the service with updated secrets.
- 4Invalidate stale credentials in CI/CD and local caches to prevent fallback to deleted keys.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis for Invalid Access Key ID
- 1Capture AccessKeyId value used at runtime (redacted) and map it to IAM credential inventory.
- 2Enable SDK credential-chain debug logging to see which provider supplied the key.
- 3Check IAM for key status, last-used data, and whether the owning user/role still exists.
- 4Compare app environment and execution role between working and failing deployments.
Credential Source Audit
- -Trace credential provider resolution order and winning provider (example:
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_IDenv var overrides ECS task role credentials). - -Inspect key lifecycle state and owning principal in IAM (example: key was deactivated/deleted during a rotation window).
Rotation and Runtime Drift Checks
- -Correlate deployment timing with secret version rollout (example: pod starts with previous secret version after old key is disabled).
- -Verify account alignment with STS before service calls (example: key belongs to sandbox account while app targets production resources).
How to Verify the Fix
- -Repeat the original API call and confirm InvalidAccessKeyId no longer appears.
- -Run STS identity checks in health probes to verify expected account and principal.
- -Confirm authentication failures and emergency key rotations trend downward.
How to Prevent Recurrence
- -Prefer temporary role credentials over long-lived IAM user access keys.
- -Automate credential rotation and enforce secret distribution with checksum validation.
- -Add startup checks that fail fast when runtime principal/account is not expected.
Pro Tip
- -enforce a startup gate that compares
sts:GetCallerIdentityaccount ID to deployment metadata before opening traffic.
Decision Support
Compare Guide
403 Forbidden vs 404 Not Found: When to Hide Resources
Use 403 for explicit access denial, or 404 to conceal resource existence when security policy requires reducing endpoint and object enumeration risk.
Compare Guide
404 Not Found vs 410 Gone: Missing vs Permanent Removal
Learn when to return 404 (missing or temporary absence) versus 410 (intentional permanent removal), including redirect and cache implications.
Playbook
Auth Incident Playbook (401 / UNAUTHENTICATED)
Use this playbook to separate missing, expired, or invalid identity proof from authorization and transport failures, and apply credential-source-correct fixes safely.
Playbook
Resource State Playbook (404 / 410 / ResourceNotFound)
Use this playbook to separate temporary missing-resource lookups from permanent removals, then fix scope, lifecycle, and identifier drift safely.
Official References
Provider Context
This guidance is specific to AWS services. Always validate implementation details against official provider documentation before deploying to production.