Temporary IAM credentials are short-lived AWS access keys issued for an IAM role instead of a long-term user account. They usually include an access key ID, secret access key, and session token, and they expire automatically after a limited time. This makes them safer than permanent credentials because stolen tokens have a smaller window of usefulness.
They matter in cloud security because many workloads, including EC2 instances, receive temporary credentials from the Instance Metadata Service. If an attacker can reach that metadata endpoint from code running on the instance, or through a misused management tunnel or port-forwarding path, they may be able to retrieve role credentials and call AWS APIs with the role’s permissions. Defenders reduce this risk by limiting access to metadata, enforcing least privilege on roles, tightly controlling session features, and rotating or shortening credential lifetimes where possible.