Limit the type of EC2 instance in IAM policy

Question

I want to create and IAM policy in which the IAM user will not be able to launch any instance other than t2.micro Ubuntu in us-east-1 region. I have added the ami in IAM policybut instead of allowing just the Ubuntu ami, AWS is allowing the IAM user to launch all instances. What might be the problem

{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
    {
        "Sid": "TheseActionsDontSupportResourceLevelPermissions",
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Action": [
            "ec2:Describe*"
        ],
        "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
        "Sid": "TheseActionsSupportResourceLevelPermissions",
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Action": [
            "ec2:RunInstances",
            "ec2:TerminateInstances",
            "ec2:StopInstances",
            "ec2:StartInstances"
        ],
        "Resource": "arn:aws:ec2:us-east-1:196687784845:instance/ami-0885b1f6bd170450c"
    }
]

}

Answer 1

I would recommend using Deny rules to disallow launching instances if the wrong instance type or the wrong ami is used. Note that I removed the Sid parameter as it is optional.

An explicit Deny rule will override any Allow rules. That makes it easier to disallow unwanted actions, instead of trying to carve out the allowed action. See https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_evaluation-logic.html#policy-eval-denyallow

Try the following:

{
   "Version": "2012-10-17",
   "Statement": [
      {
         "Effect": "Allow",
         "Action": [
            "ec2:Describe*"
         ],
         "Resource": "*"
      },
      {
         "Effect": "Allow",
         "Action": [
            "ec2:RunInstances",
            "ec2:TerminateInstances",
            "ec2:StopInstances",
            "ec2:StartInstances"
         ],
         "Resource": "*"
      },
      {
         "Effect": "Deny",
         "Action": [
           "ec2:RunInstances"
         ],
         "Resource": "*",
         "Condition": {
            "StringNotLike": {
               "ec2:ImageType": "t2.micro"
            }
         }
      },
      {
         "Effect": "Deny",
         "Action": [
           "ec2:RunInstances"
         ],
         "NotResource": "arn:aws:ec2:us-east-1:196687784845:instance/ami-0885b1f6bd170450c"
      }
   ]
}

Answer 2

this should point you in the right direction

{
   "Version":"2012-10-17",
   "Statement":[
      {
         "Sid":"TheseActionsDontSupportResourceLevelPermissions",
         "Effect":"Allow",
         "Action":[
            "ec2:Describe*"
         ],
         "Resource":"*"
      },
      {
         "Sid":"TheseActionsSupportResourceLevelPermissions",
         "Effect":"Allow",
         "Action":[
            "ec2:RunInstances",
            "ec2:TerminateInstances",
            "ec2:StopInstances",
            "ec2:StartInstances"
         ],
         "Resource":"arn:aws:ec2:us-east-1:196687784845:instance/ami-0885b1f6bd170450c",
         "Condition":{
            "ForAnyValue:StringLike":{
               "ec2:ImageType":"t2.micro"
            }
         }
      }
   ]
}