AWS IoT Core credential provider requires private key to be sent

Question

I was reading through these docs and noticed that the steps to request a security token requires the client to send its private key to credential provider service.

```
curl --cert your certificate --key your device certificate key pair -H "x-amzn-iot-thingname: your thing name" --cacert AmazonRootCA1.pem https://your endpoint /role-aliases/your role alias/credentials
```

This is mentioned in these docs: 
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/iot/latest/developerguide/authorizing-direct-aws.html 
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/how-to-eliminate-the-need-for-hardcoded-aws-credentials-in-devices-by-using-the-aws-iot-credentials-provider/

Looking at it superficially, I would think this is a security flaw and would defeat the purpose of using asymmetric keys in the first place.

Any help to help me understand what is going on is greatly appreciated.

Gavin_A · Accepted Answer

Hi,

The private key is _never_ sent to the Credential Provider. It is used to establish a mutual ([mTLS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_authentication)) connection with the endpoint. That gives Credential Provider the ability to verify the presented X.509 certificates.

AWS IoT Core credential provider requires private key to be sent

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