The answer is that the condition 'aws:SourceAccount' does not match the account of the Rekognition service, causing the read access to fail. This happens because the S3 bucket policy includes a cross-account condition that explicitly checks the source account ID of the request, but when an IAM role in a different account invokes Rekognition, the service principal's request carries that foreign account ID rather than the bucket owner's account. The condition 'aws:SourceAccount' is designed to prevent confused deputy problems, but it will block Rekognition from reading images if the account specified in the policy doesn't match the account where the Rekognition API call originates. On the AWS Certified AI Practitioner AIF-C01 exam, this tests your understanding of how S3 bucket policy conditions interact with cross-account service access, a common trap where students assume the principal permission alone is sufficient. Remember the memory tip: "SourceAccount must match the caller's account, not the bucket's account."
AIF-C01 Practice Question: Security, Compliance and Governance for AI Solutions
This AIF-C01 practice question tests your understanding of security, compliance and governance for ai solutions. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Refer to the exhibit. A company has the S3 bucket policy shown above. The company uses Amazon Rekognition to analyze images in the 'my-images' bucket. An IAM role used by a Lambda function calls Rekognition. Why might Rekognition be unable to read images from the bucket?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The condition 'aws:SourceAccount' does not match the account of the Rekognition service
The bucket policy includes a condition 'aws:SourceAccount' that restricts access to requests originating from a specific AWS account. If the Rekognition service is being called from a different account (e.g., the Lambda function's IAM role is in a different account than the one specified in the condition), Rekognition will be denied read access to the S3 bucket. This condition is often misconfigured, causing cross-account access failures even when the principal is allowed.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
The Lambda function does not have an IAM role that allows Rekognition to call S3
Why it's wrong here
Rekognition does not assume the Lambda role; it uses the bucket policy.
✗
The bucket policy does not grant Rekognition access to the bucket
Why it's wrong here
The policy grants s3:GetObject to Rekognition service principal.
✗
The bucket policy does not include PutObject permission
Why it's wrong here
Rekognition only needs GetObject to read images.
✓
The condition 'aws:SourceAccount' does not match the account of the Rekognition service
Why this is correct
The condition ensures that the request originates from the specified account; if not, access is denied.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the nuance that a bucket policy can explicitly grant access to a service principal (like Rekognition) but still block requests due to a condition key mismatch, leading candidates to incorrectly assume the policy is missing the permission entirely.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The 'aws:SourceAccount' condition key is used in S3 bucket policies to prevent the confused deputy problem by ensuring that only requests originating from a specific AWS account are allowed. When Rekognition is invoked via a cross-account role, the source account of the request may differ from the bucket owner's account, causing the condition to fail. This is a common security best practice, but misalignment between the condition value and the actual calling account leads to silent access denial.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Security, Compliance and Governance for AI Solutions — This question tests Security, Compliance and Governance for AI Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The condition 'aws:SourceAccount' does not match the account of the Rekognition service — The bucket policy includes a condition 'aws:SourceAccount' that restricts access to requests originating from a specific AWS account. If the Rekognition service is being called from a different account (e.g., the Lambda function's IAM role is in a different account than the one specified in the condition), Rekognition will be denied read access to the S3 bucket. This condition is often misconfigured, causing cross-account access failures even when the principal is allowed.
What should I do if I get this AIF-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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