Service principal access Key vault and app user

Question

I am using a service principal to allow an app to access a key vault. I have grant the app access to the key vault. Question is: Does it also automatically give User in the app access to the key vault? Or only through the service principal?

Thanks

Answer 1

@AdamCheng-8231
Thank you for your post!

As mentioned by AlanKinane, specific user accounts will not have permission to access the Key Vault if they aren't added to the Access Policies. In your specific scenario, your app's Service Principal will only be able to access the Key Vault.

Example: The Key Vault request operation flow with authentication

Additional Links:
Key Vault authentication options
Access model overview

If you have any other questions, please let me know.
Thank you for your time and patience throughout this issue.

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Answer 2

Hi, only accounts with assigned RBAC access or access policies will have access to the Key Vault. So you would need to make sure that your application is configured to use the service principal for accessing the Key Vault other identities such as user accounts will not have permission to access the Key Vault.

Here are a few docs that may help you further:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/key-vault/general/rbac-guide?tabs=azure-cli

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/key-vault/general/assign-access-policy?tabs=azure-portal