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A company hosts a public-facing web application behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The development team has recently identified that the application is vulnerable to common web attacks such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS). The security team wants to deploy a managed solution that can inspect incoming HTTP requests and block malicious traffic before it reaches the application. The solution must integrate directly with the existing ALB and provide pre-configured rule sets that can be customized. Which AWS service should the company use?

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A company hosts a public-facing web application behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The development team has recently identified that the application is vulnerable to common web attacks such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS). The security team wants to deploy a managed solution that can inspect incoming HTTP requests and block malicious traffic before it reaches the application. The solution must integrate directly with the existing ALB and provide pre-configured rule sets that can be customized. Which AWS service should the company use?

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.

A

Distractor review

AWS Shield Advanced

AWS Shield Advanced provides enhanced DDoS protection against large-scale attacks, but it does not inspect application-layer traffic for SQL injection or XSS. It is not designed to filter based on web application vulnerabilities.

B

Distractor review

Amazon GuardDuty

Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that uses machine learning to identify malicious activity and unauthorized behavior in your AWS environment. It does not perform inline filtering of incoming HTTP requests to block application-layer attacks.

C

Best answer

AWS WAF

AWS WAF is a web application firewall that allows you to monitor and control HTTP and HTTPS requests forwarded to your protected resources. It integrates directly with ALB and provides managed rule sets for common threats like SQL injection and XSS. You can customize rules to meet specific requirements.

D

Distractor review

AWS Firewall Manager

AWS Firewall Manager simplifies the administration of firewall rules across multiple accounts and resources. It can centrally manage AWS WAF rules and AWS Shield Advanced protections, but the actual filtering of malicious traffic is performed by AWS WAF. Firewall Manager itself does not inspect or block requests.

Common exam trap

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.

Technical deep dive

How to think about this question

This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.

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.
  • Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.

TExam Day Tips

  • Underline the problem statement mentally.
  • 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.

Related practice questions

Related CLF-C02 practice-question pages

Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.

More questions from this exam

Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.

Question 1

A developer needs to launch a test server for a new application prototype. The developer logs into the AWS Management Console, selects an Amazon EC2 instance type, configures the security group, and starts the instance. The instance is running within two minutes, and the developer did not need to submit a formal request to the company's IT procurement team or wait for approval from a cloud administrator. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario best demonstrate?

Question 2

A solutions architect is planning a new web application on AWS. The workload will include 3 Amazon EC2 instances (t3.medium) running 24/7, an Application Load Balancer, and an Amazon RDS for MySQL db.t3.small database. The architect needs to estimate the monthly cost for the first year, considering different purchasing options (On-Demand, 1-year All Upfront Reserved Instance, and Compute Savings Plan). Which AWS tool should the architect use to create this estimate?

Question 3

A company's development team frequently needs temporary test environments. A developer can log into the AWS Management Console, select an Amazon EC2 instance type, configure storage, and launch the instance within minutes without any interaction with the IT infrastructure team. This capability is an example of which essential characteristic of cloud computing?

Question 4

A company's finance team needs to analyze AWS spending in detail. They require a report that includes hourly cost data for each AWS service, each individual resource (e.g., a specific EC2 instance), and any cost allocation tags applied. The team plans to export this data to an Amazon S3 bucket and then import it into a custom business intelligence (BI) analytics dashboard. Which AWS tool should the finance team use to generate this level of detailed cost data?

Question 5

A company uses AWS for its development environment. The finance team wants to set a monthly budget of $10,000. They want to receive an email notification when the actual costs reach 80% of the budget ($8,000) and again when costs exceed the budget. The team needs a managed AWS service that can automatically send these alerts without requiring custom code or third-party tools. Which AWS service should the team use?

Question 6

A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The security team needs to enforce a policy that restricts SSH access (port 22) from the internet (0.0.0.0/0) in all VPCs across all accounts. The team wants to centrally define the allowed rules and automatically apply them to newly created VPCs and security groups, while also automatically remediating any existing non-compliant security groups. Which AWS service should the team use?

FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this CLF-C02 question test?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: AWS WAF — AWS WAF is a web application firewall that helps protect web applications from common web exploits that could affect availability, compromise security, or consume excessive resources. It integrates directly with ALB, Amazon CloudFront, and Amazon API Gateway. AWS WAF provides managed rule groups from AWS and AWS Marketplace sellers that can be quickly applied and customized. The other services do not provide inline HTTP request filtering at the application layer. AWS Shield Advanced provides enhanced DDoS protection but does not inspect application-level payloads for SQL injection or XSS. Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that monitors for suspicious activity across AWS accounts but does not filter incoming traffic. AWS Firewall Manager is a central management service that can help enforce WAF and Shield rules across accounts, but the actual filtering is performed by AWS WAF, not Firewall Manager itself.

What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?

Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.

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