Release notes

Updated at:

This page tracks significant changes to Key Management Service (KMS), including new features, optimizations, and bug fixes.

Important

KMS 1.0 entered End of Full Support (EoFS) on March 30, 2025, and reached End of Service (EOS) on September 30, 2025 (both at 00:00:00 GMT+8). If you still have KMS 1.0 resources, migrate them to KMS 3.0 instances as soon as possible. See Migrate KMS 1.0 resources to KMS 3.0 instances.

2026

Version

Change type

Description

Date

Region

References

dkms-3.9.0

New feature

Instance Gateway OpenAPI now authenticates GenerateDataKey and Decrypt calls from Trusted Computing Environments (TCE), so workloads running in TCE can access KMS with policy-based access control.

2026-01-13

All regions

Policy condition keys

dkms-3.9.0

Optimization

Instance SDK now supports asymmetric key rotation, aligning SDK capabilities with OpenAPI.

2026-01-13

All regions

None

dkms-3.8.0

New feature

Hardware instances now support manual backup, giving you control over when backups are created in addition to automatic backups.

2026-01-06

All regions

Backup management

2025

Version

Change type

Description

Date

Region

References

dkms-3.7.0

New feature

International hardware instances now support asymmetric Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) import. International single-version keys can also be migrated to hardware instances.

2025-12-09

International regions

Migration steps

dkms-3.6.2

Optimization

Resource policy authentication now supports Strict Mode, allowing you to enforce stricter access control when evaluating policy conditions.

2025-10-28

All regions

Policy condition keys

dkms-3.6.1

Bug fix

Resolved a backup failure that occurred in single-owner instance scenarios.

2025-10-09

All regions

None

dkms-3.6.0

New feature

Instance sharing now supports Independent Ownership mode, enabling the instance owner to retain control over shared resources. Software instances now also support multi-version BYOK key import.

2025-09-12

All regions

Share KMS instances across multiple accounts

dkms-3.5.0

New feature

Multi-version symmetric keys in Chinese mainland regions can now be migrated to hardware instances.

2025-08-13

US regions

Migration steps

dkms-3.4.0

New feature

New instances in US regions exclusively use TLSv1.2, enforcing a minimum TLS version for data in transit.

2025-08-06

All regions

N/A

dkms-3.3.0

New feature

Hardware instances in China now support key rotation, bringing this capability in line with software instances.

2025-08-12

All regions

Migration steps

dkms-3.3.0

Bug fix

Resolved session handling issues for international hardware instances.

2025-08-12

All regions

Migration steps

dkms-3.2.2

New feature

Software key management instances now support creating asymmetric keys with the RSA-4096 specification.

2025-06-18

All regions

Understanding KMS keys

dkms-3.2.0

Optimization

Secret retrieval performance is improved by caching secrets in ciphertext in Redis, reducing latency for high-frequency secret reads.

2025-02-19

All regions

None

dkms-3.1.0

Optimization

KMS instances now dynamically detect Hardware Security Module (HSM) cluster changes after scale-out, keeping data synchronized without manual intervention.

2025-01-07

All regions

Purchase and enable a KMS instance

2024

Version

Change type

Description

Date

Region

References

dkms-3.0.0

New feature

Cryptographic operations can now be performed by calling OpenAPI through a dedicated gateway using the Alibaba Cloud SDK.

2024-12-23

All regions

Alibaba Cloud SDK

dkms-2.9.0

Optimization

KMS security hardening.

2024-10-31

All regions

None

dkms-2.8.0

Other

KMS 1.0 reached End of Full Support (EoFS) on March 30, 2025, and reaches End of Service (EOS) on September 30, 2025 (both at 00:00:00 GMT+8). Migrate KMS 1.0 resources to KMS 3.0 instances before the EOS date.

2024-09-25

All regions

Migrate KMS 1.0 resources to KMS 3.0 instances

dkms-2.7.0

New feature

Secret rotation events, scheduled deletion events, and actual deletion events are now delivered to Cloud Monitor, enabling you to set alerts on secret lifecycle changes.

2024-06-03

All regions

Alert events

New feature

Data Management (DMS) supports logging on to databases using KMS secrets, so database credentials can be managed centrally in Secrets Manager.

2024-06-03

All regions

Integrate ApsaraDB RDS secrets into DMS

New feature

Software key management instances now support free automatic backup.

2024-05-10

All regions

Backup management

New feature

Software key management instances now support BYOK keys, letting you import your own symmetric or asymmetric key material.

2024-05-09

All regions

Import symmetric key material · Import asymmetric key material

New feature

External key management instances now support Hold Your Own Key (HYOK), giving you full control over your key material stored outside Alibaba Cloud.

2024-04-29

All regions

Manage external keys

New feature

Keys in KMS instances can now be synchronized across regions, supporting disaster recovery and multi-region workloads.

2024-04-11

All regions

Cross-region synchronization

New feature

Resource-based access control policies are now supported for keys and secrets. Attach policies directly to a key or secret to control which Alibaba Cloud accounts, RAM users, and RAM roles can access it.

2024-03-20

All regions

Key policies · Secret policies

2023

Version

Change type

Description

Date

Region

References

New feature

ListSecrets now returns the SecretType parameter, making it easier to filter secrets by type programmatically.

2023-12-27

All regions

ListSecrets

New feature

KMS is now available in Thailand (Bangkok).

Thailand (Bangkok)

Regions and zones

New feature

Cloud Monitor integration now supports alert settings for KMS system events, enabling proactive monitoring.

2023-11-24

All regions

Alert events

New feature

Simple Log Service (SLS) integration now stores and enables query analysis of KMS instance data plane access logs for up to 180 days.

2023-10-30

All regions

Overview of Simple Log Service · Use Simple Log Service · Log field details

New feature

KMS instances now support generating asymmetric data key pairs via GenerateDataKeyPair, GenerateDataKeyPairWithoutPlaintext, AdvanceGenerateDataKeyPair, and AdvanceGenerateDataKeyPairWithoutPlaintext.

2023-09-25

All regions

GenerateDataKeyPair · GenerateDataKeyPairWithoutPlaintext · AdvanceGenerateDataKeyPair · AdvanceGenerateDataKeyPairWithoutPlaintext

New feature

KMS instances now support dual-zone deployment, improving service availability and disaster recovery.

2023-08-11

All regions

Purchase and activate KMS instances

New feature

Software key management instances now support 10,000 and 20,000 queries per second (QPS) performance tiers.

2023-07-28

All regions

Performance data

New feature

KMS is now available in China (Chengdu).

China (Chengdu)

Regions and zones

New feature

KMS integrates with Alibaba Cloud Tag Service, supporting bulk tagging of multiple keys or secrets at once via TagResources, UntagResources, and ListTagResources.

2023-06-20

China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Chengdu), China (Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), South Korea (Seoul), Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta), Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London), US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), Philippines (Manila), and Thailand (Bangkok)

TagResources · UntagResources · ListTagResources

New feature

Symmetric key rotation is now supported for software key management instances.

Key rotation

New feature

Keys and secrets in software key management instances can now be backed up and restored.

Backup management

New feature

A KMS instance can be shared across multiple Alibaba Cloud accounts for server-side encryption in Alibaba Cloud services.

2023-04-20

China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Chengdu), China (Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), South Korea (Seoul), Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta), Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London), US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), Philippines (Manila), and Thailand (Bangkok)

Share KMS instances across multiple accounts

New feature

A new KMS console is released, supporting unified management of software-protected keys, hardware-protected keys, default keys, and secrets.

2023-03-16

All regions

What is Key Management Service · Overview of Key Management Service · Overview of Secrets Manager

2022

No feature releases.

November 2022

Feature overview

Release date

Region

References

Dedicated KMS Secrets Manager supports managed RAM secrets, RDS secrets, and ECS secrets

Nov 30, 2022

China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Shenzhen)

May 2022

Feature overview

Release date

Region

References

KMS supports Dedicated KMS Basic Edition

May 20, 2022

China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Shenzhen)

July 2022

Feature overview

Release date

Region

References

Dedicated KMS supports Secrets Manager

Jul 20, 2022

China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Shenzhen)

2021

Version

Change type

Description

Date

Region

References

New feature

KMS is now available in Philippines (Manila).

2021-10-01

Philippines (Manila)

None

New feature

KMS supports Dedicated KMS Standard Edition, providing dedicated HSM-backed key management for regulated workloads.

2021-09-05

China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Shenzhen), China (Hong Kong), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Singapore

Overview of Dedicated KMS Standard Edition · Manage Dedicated KMS Standard Edition instances · Manage application endpoints · Dedicated KMS SDK

New feature

KMS now supports dynamic RAM secrets, enabling automatic rotation of RAM user access keys managed through Secrets Manager.

2021-08-13

All regions

Overview of dynamic RAM secrets · Managed secret plug-in for Alibaba Cloud SDKs

New feature

KMS now supports dynamic ApsaraDB RDS secrets. New APIs: RotateSecret and UpdateSecretRotationPolicy.

2021-01-04

All regions

Overview of dynamic ApsaraDB RDS secrets · Secrets Manager JDBC client · RotateSecret · UpdateSecretRotationPolicy

2020

Version

Change type

Description

Date

Region

References

New feature

An API operation to activate KMS is now supported. New APIs: OpenKmsService and DescribeAccountKmsStatus.

2020-10-20

All regions

OpenKmsService · DescribeAccountKmsStatus

New feature

KMS now supports cross-system exchange, re-encryption, and cross-region import and export of data keys. New APIs: GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext, GenerateAndExportDataKey, ExportDataKey, and ReEncrypt. KMS is now available in China (Guangzhou).

2020-07-07

All regions

GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext · GenerateAndExportDataKey · ExportDataKey · ReEncrypt

New feature

Secrets Manager is released. KMS is now available in China (Ulanqab) and China (Heyuan).

2020-02-24

All regions

Overview of Secrets Manager · Overview of generic secrets · Manage generic secrets · Rotate a generic secret

2019

Version

Change type

Description

Date

Region

References

New feature

KMS now supports asymmetric keys for encryption, decryption, and digital signature operations. New APIs: AsymmetricEncrypt, AsymmetricDecrypt, AsymmetricSign, AsymmetricVerify, and GetPublicKey.

2019-12-13

All regions

Overview of asymmetric keys · Asymmetric data encryption and decryption · Asymmetric digital signatures

New feature

Hardware key management instances can now use an HSM cluster to store keys, meeting the regulatory requirements of State Cryptography Administration (SCA).

2019-11-18

China (Beijing) and China (Shanghai)

KMS hardware key management instances support HSMs

New feature

Each customer master key (CMK) now supports multiple versions and automatic rotation. New APIs: UpdateKeyDescription and GenerateDataKeyWithoutPlaintext.

2019-09-24

All regions

Automatic rotation of keys

New feature

Hardware key management instances can now use an HSM cluster to store keys.

2019-07-31

Singapore and China (Hong Kong)

KMS hardware key management instances support HSMs

New feature

Key tags and tag-based authentication are now supported.

2019-05-01

All regions

TagResource · Use RAM to implement access control on resources

2018

Version

Change type

Description

Date

Region

References

New feature

ActionTrail integration is now supported for auditing KMS operations.

2018-07-24

All regions

Use ActionTrail to query the operations of Key Management Service

New feature

BYOK support added via new API operations for importing key material. CMK aliases are now supported. KMS is now available in Indonesia (Jakarta), US (Virginia), and US (Silicon Valley).

2018-08-30

All regions

Import key material

2017

Version

Change type

Description

Date

Region

References

New feature

KMS is now available in China (Qingdao), China (Hohhot), and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur).

2017-11-15

China (Qingdao), China (Hohhot), and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

None

New feature

New API: DescribeRegions. KMS SDK updated to V2.4.0.

2017-06-05

All regions

DescribeRegions

New feature

KMS is now available for commercial use (launched April 25, 2017). KMS is now available in China (Zhangjiakou).

2017-05-10

All regions

None

Optimization

Performance optimization.

2017-03-01

All regions

None

New feature

KMS is now available in China (Hong Kong).

2017-01-22

China (Hong Kong)

None

2016

Version

Change type

Description

Date

Region

References

New feature

KMS is now available in Japan (Tokyo), Germany (Frankfurt), and UAE (Dubai).

2016-11-29

Japan (Tokyo), Germany (Frankfurt), and UAE (Dubai)

None

New feature

New APIs for key deletion scheduling: ScheduleKeyDeletion and CancelKeyDeletion.

2016-09-20

All regions

ScheduleKeyDeletion · CancelKeyDeletion

New feature

The EncryptionContext parameter is now supported in the Encrypt and Decrypt API operations.

2016-08-10

All regions

Description of EncryptionContext

New feature

CMKs can now be enabled or disabled.

2016-06-22

All regions

Create a CMK

New feature

KMS is now available in China (Beijing), China (Shanghai), and China (Shenzhen).

2016-05-19

China (Beijing), China (Shanghai), and China (Shenzhen)

None

New feature

KMS is released.

2016-04-06

All regions

What is Key Management Service