Just-in-time (JIT) access

Just-in-time access (JIT) limits exposure by granting users elevated access only when needed — and only for as long as is necessary to complete tasks.

Unlike static permissions or legacy access controls, JIT access removes standing privileges. Users don’t carry elevated roles all day. They request access, get approvals and complete the task. Access automatically expires. There’s no need to remember to revoke anything or audit every role manually.

This approach dramatically reduces your identity exposure and supports least privilege access at scale. It also fits neatly into modern security strategies like zero standing access, where you never assume and always earn elevated access.

Whether you’re trying to limit access to sensitive cloud infrastructure, protect business-critical apps and services or decrease over-provisioned environments, just-in-time access gives you the control you need, without slowing your teams down.

When you give users standing access, you create a long-term risk, even if that access seems necessary. 

Privileged accounts tend to accumulate permissions over time. Admins forget to revoke access after projects end. They clone roles and copy them without scrutiny. Eventually, users have more access than they need, and attackers notice.

Standing access gives threat actors an advantage. 

If attackers phish credentials or someone leaks them, there’s already an open path to sensitive systems. 

Lateral movement is easier. Detection is harder. Nothing looks abnormal when someone logs in with legitimate, but excessive, access.

You also lose visibility. When elevated permissions exist by default, it’s hard to know who’s using them, when and why. That weakens audit status, breaks compliance controls and puts more pressure on your response teams.

Just-in-time access flips that model. No one gets elevated access until they request it, and even then, you limit it by time, track and enforce it. You’re not just minimizing access. You’re minimizing the time access exists at all.

Just-in-time access gives users access they need only when they need it and automatically removes it when they don’t. 

This replaces persistent privileges with time-bound access tied to a specific purpose. You’re not handing out-standing permissions. You approve temporary access to get a job done, then close the door.

Ways to implement JIT access

Some organizations use on-demand access that automatically checks for specific criteria, like role or risk score. Others add a human approval step for higher-sensitivity systems or administrative tasks. Either way, the goal is the same: no one gets or keeps elevated access without a reason.

Your users request access through a ticket, an access portal or an integrated workflow. The system evaluates the request, applies policies and either grants or denies access. 

If approved, the system assigns permissions for a fixed period, typically from a few minutes to a few hours. After that, access automatically expires, and the system logs the session for auditing.

JIT access integrates with your identity providers, cloud platforms and infrastructure tools. It works across environments and adapts to your policies — whether using Active Directory (AD), cloud-native roles, federated identity or a combination. It’s also a core part of how modern teams support least privilege access without slowing down developers, engineers or external users.

 Ready to see how just-in-time access works in your cloud environment? Explore Tenable Cloud Security capabilities.

Privileged access management (PAM) helps you protect high-value systems by limiting who can access them and under what conditions. 

However, traditional PAM still leaves gaps, especially when access is persistent or privileges aren’t right-sized. 

Just-in-time access tightens those controls by removing existing permissions and replacing them with temporary, auditable access.

Instead of giving users broad access to sensitive infrastructure, JIT access grants time-limited privileges based on need. This reduces your attack surface and improves audit trails. You know who accessed what, when and for how long. And, because access expires automatically, there’s nothing to clean up after the fact.

This approach supports modern PAM strategies that prioritize agility and risk reduction. 

You can still store credentials in a vault or broker sessions for added security, but now you’re tying access to identity and risk context, not just static role assignments. 

Combined with cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM), you get visibility into which roles carry excessive privileges so you can apply controls to reduce them.

JIT also fits into your broader exposure management journey. When users don’t have access by default, you shrink the window for attackers to exploit a misconfiguration or stolen credentials. You control giving access, and just as importantly, when it ends.

Just-in-time (JIT) access isn’t just a theoretical control. It solves real problems in the environments you manage every day. 

By limiting access to exactly when and why it’s needed, JIT helps reduce identity risk without creating workflow bottlenecks.

Financial services: Secure client data access

In financial services, the pressure to protect sensitive customer data never lets up. Using Tenable Cloud Security, a financial services business could apply a multi-approver workflow and short access windows to control who can reach encrypted AWS resources. 

JIT can help you stay aligned with client security requirements and create opportunities to win new business by proving that you can meet stricter access controls and compliance mandates.

Engineering and manufacturing: Manage multi-cloud environments

Engineering and manufacturing firms often operate across complex, multi-cloud setups. That creates visibility gaps, especially around permissions. A manufacturing company could use Tenable Cloud Security to get a handle on access across Azure and AWS. 

By tracking usage and identifying roles with excessive privileges, you could more consistently enforce least privilege and reduce ateral movement risk inside your cloud environments.

SaaS applications: Control business user access

SaaS tools power nearly every business process, but that convenience comes with risk. JIT access helps you keep things secure by assigning access only when users need it. 

For example, if someone in healthcare needs temporary access to a human resources platform for end-of-quarter reporting, you can approve it, with a time limit. You reduce over-permissioning, limit data exposure and stay compliant with internal access policies and external regulations. 

DevOps and engineering teams: Temporary elevated access

DevOps teams move fast. Whether troubleshooting an outage or deploying new code, these teams often need elevated permissions only temporarily. 

JIT access allows users to request permissions as needed, use them to complete tasks and then automatically revert to baseline access. This helps DevOps move quickly without leaving high-risk access open across critical systems.

Third-party vendors: Time-bound access control

When vendors or contractors need access, you can’t afford to leave your supply chain door wide open. JIT access gives you a way to grant access for a fixed window — tied to a ticket, a task or a schedule — and revoke it automatically once the user completes the task. 

This prevents unnecessary exposure and supports your zero-trust goals without slowing external collaborators.

By putting just-in-time access in place across these scenarios, you reduce the risk of identity misuse, tighten control over who has access to what and support least privilege access without creating drag on productivity.

Zero standing access means no one carries permanent elevated permissions. If users need more access, they request it — and only get it for as long as the task requires. 

When time is up, access automatically disappears. You don’t depend on someone to remember to clean up access. You remove the need for cleanup in the first place.

Just-in-time access enforces that by requiring users to go through an access workflow. Depending on your policy, that might include approvals, risk checks or automation. 

When someone qualifies for access, they get what they need and nothing more. The system logs every elevation. Every session has a hard stop. Once the window closes, there’s no standing privilege left for misuse.

This means you’re not relying on people to remember to revoke access or check role assignments. You’re enforcing least privilege by design, with access that turns off by default.

Zero standing access is also foundational to zero trust architecture, where verification is continuous and trust is never assumed. 

When access is temporary, event-driven and risk-aware, you limit the blast radius of any compromised credential or misused account. You reduce the paths an attacker can take and eliminate persistent backdoors they might otherwise find.

Choosing a just-in-time access solution isn’t just about meeting a checklist. You’re looking for a tool that fits your environment, integrates with your identity systems and supports your access policies without creating new complexity.

Start with visibility. The right platform should display who is requesting access, the roles or permissions they’re requesting, how often you grant them and which actions they take during the session. 

If you can’t audit access, you can’t control it.

You also need strong policy controls. Look for tools that support both on-demand and approval-based workflows. You should be able to apply different conditions based on role sensitivity, asset risk or user group. 

Ensure access durations are flexible and configurable, and automatically enforce expiration.

Integration matters. You want a platform that connects to your cloud infrastructure, directory services and apps and gives you built-in session monitoring so you can track what users do once they get access. That includes Active Directory, cloud-native identity providers or federation services. It also supports multi-cloud environments like AWS and Azure, where native just-in-time features are limited or fragmented.

Tools built with a cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) in mind are handy. They help you pair JIT access with visibility into workload behavior, misconfigurations and risky identities. 

If your access tool integrates with CNAPP, CIEM and cloud security posture management (CSPM), you can layer JIT access on top of real-time risk and posture data, not just static roles.

And finally, a good just-in-time access solution won’t rely on manual effort to maintain policy or respond to requests. It should automatically adapt to your workflows, enforce guardrails and reduce the burden on your security and IT teams.

Looking to close cloud exposures and streamline privileged access? See how Tenable’s CNAPP supports just-in-time access and reduces identity risk.

Just-in-time access in Azure is available through Azure AD privileged identity management (PIM). You can assign eligible roles that require activation before use, define time limits and approval steps, and audit every session. It’s a strong foundation for zero standing access, especially when paired with hybrid identity governance.

Just-in-time access AWS typically uses temporary credentials issued through IAM roles and AWS Security Token Service (STS). You can trigger these short-lived sessions through automation or link them to federated identities. Native AWS services don’t enforce approvals or handle auditing, so many organizations layer external policy engines or integrate with exposure management tools.

GCP doesn’t offer a packaged just-in-time access feature, but you can still build similar workflows using identity and access management (IAM) conditions and short-lived tokens. 

By automating role bindings and expiration, you create a JIT model that works across service accounts, developers or operations roles. This is helpful in CI/CD pipelines and if you access shared infrastructure.

Across all three platforms, JIT access helps you control privileged permissions without managing separate workflows in every cloud console. 

When you pair JIT with tools like CSPM and identity analytics, you get centralized insight into who’s requesting access, what they’re touching and whether it introduces risk.

You don’t want just-in-time access to become just another policy that lives on paper. To make it effective, you need clear rules, real enforcement and strong alignment between your identity systems and security workflows.

• Start by defining who can request access, what they can access and under which conditions. Some roles may require multi-level approval, while others allow automatic elevation based on business context. 
• Build policies around risk, not convenience.
• Keep access tight. By default, set short expiration windows and require users to re-request access if they need more time. 
• Don’t grant access “just in case.” Instead, require purpose justification and log every session to reinforce least privilege and improve accountability.
• Use automation to enforce policy. Your JIT access system should apply expiration, run approvals, trigger revocation and update logs without manual effort. 
• When possible, integrate with ticketing systems or CI/CD pipelines to make access requests part of the workflow.
• For greater visibility, connect JIT access events to your exposure management platform. This helps your team track which identities have access, frequently elevated resources and whether you’re introducing risk through policy exceptions.
• Also connect JIT to your vulnerability management platform. If a user gains temporary access to a system with known exploits or missing patches, that access should carry additional guardrails or get flagged for review. You don’t want elevated access combined with a vulnerable asset, especially in production.

Finally, remember to test. Review elevation patterns regularly. Confirm that expiration policies work as intended. Train your team to treat JIT access like any other sensitive control—because it is.

Just-in-time access works best when it’s part of a larger cloud security strategy that includes real-time visibility, identity intelligence and posture management. That’s where platforms like CNAPP, CIEM and CSPM come into play. 

JIT access doesn’t replace them. It adds enforcement, precision and accountability to the insights they already provide.

In a CNAPP, JIT access helps you respond to what the platform sees. 

If CNAPP detects a misconfiguration, an over-permissioned identity or a workload exposed to the internet, JIT access ensures that access to that resource only happens when it’s intentional and never by default. 

You reduce standing risk by limiting who can interact with those assets and when they can interact.

CIEM shows you which identities and roles have excessive permissions across your cloud accounts. 

But visibility isn’t enough. JIT access helps you act on those insights by removing always-on permissions and forcing users to request access based on actual need. That’s how you turn policy into practice without breaking productivity.

CSPM highlights risks in your environment, from misconfigured IAM policies to publicly exposed storage. When you pair it with JIT access, you don’t just fix configuration issues. You prevent unnecessary access to those resources in the first place, reducing the chance that a small oversight becomes a major breach.

Together, these tools give you holistic control:

• CSPM shows you misconfigurations.
• CIEM tells you who’s over-permissioned.
• CNAPP ties it all together.
• JIT access puts enforcement at the center, with access that’s temporary, traceable and tied to risk.

What is just-in-time privileged access management?

Just-in-time privileged access management refers to a security approach where users receive elevated permissions only when needed and only for a limited time. It removes standing privileges, reduces identity exposure and strengthens your least privilege model.

Can I use just-in-time access with Active Directory (AD)?

Yes. You can integrate JIT access with Active Directory by using group-based elevation, session-based rules or federated identity workflows. Users activate access when needed instead of assigning permanent group membership, which they automatically lose when the session ends.

What’s the difference between JIT and standing access?

Standing access means a user always has permission to perform high-risk actions, whether necessary or not. JIT access grants permissions only when they’re requested, approved and time bound. Once the access window closes, so do the permissions.

How does JIT access fit into a zero-trust strategy?

JIT access enforces zero-trust security to “never trust, always verify.” By requiring justification, approval and time limits for privileged access, you remove assumptions of trust and tighten control over who can access critical systems.

What tools support just-in-time access?

Many access control platforms offer JIT capabilities, including identity providers, privilege management solutions and policy engines built into cloud platforms like AWS, Azure and GCP. The most effective tools tie JIT access to behavioral signals, risk scores and session logging to improve enforcement and auditability.

Just-in-time access gives you a smarter, faster way to control privilege, without relying on standing access, manual revocation or constant role audits. 

When you grant access only when needed and only for as long as needed, you reduce risk at the identity layer and cut down the time attackers can exploit exposed permissions.

Tenable helps you take that one step further. With Tenable Cloud Security, you can implement JIT access that’s risk-aware, fully auditable and built to scale across multi-cloud environments. You define access policies based on roles, environments and business context, then automate elevation, expiration and approval workflows without writing custom code.

Tenable’s JIT capabilities help you solve real problems, like:

• Excessive access in cloud roles and IAM groups
• Audit gaps caused by static permissions or manual elevation
• Inconsistent access control across AWS, Azure, GCP and on-prem systems
• Overexposed admin accounts in DevOps, vendor and break-glass workflows

Protect your most privileged identities without overprovisioning. Talk with Tenable about deploying just-in-time access at scale.