We recently discovered that EBS snapshots will not copy correctly if the copy command was executed using a third-party IAM role. The issue does not exist if the copy command was executed using access keys. This problem appears to have started July 30, 2014.
The symptoms of the issue are that the copy initiates, a new snapshot is created in the new region, but the new snapshot results in an “error” status.
We are working with AWS support to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible.
Once the issue is resolved, we will notify our customers.
In the meantime, if you are using an IAM role for your “Copy EBS Snapshots” action, you can switch your action to use IAM access keys instead. This is not an ideal situation since IAM roles are preferred over access keys, but it will work-around the problem until it is resolved.