Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company has deployed a web application on Amazon EC2 instances. The company's security team wants to ensure that the underlying host operating system is patched against a newly discovered vulnerability. According to the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, who is responsible for applying the patch to the host operating system?
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
The company, because patches for underlying infrastructure are always the customer's responsibility in EC2.
This is incorrect. While customers are responsible for managing the guest operating system on EC2 instances, the underlying infrastructure, including the host OS, is managed by AWS as part of 'Security of the Cloud'.
B
Best answer
AWS, because the hypervisor and host OS are part of the 'Security of the Cloud'.
Correct. AWS is responsible for protecting the infrastructure that runs all AWS services, including the host OS, hypervisor, physical servers, and networking. Patching the host OS falls under this responsibility.
C
Distractor review
The company, because EC2 is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering and the customer manages the OS.
This is a common misunderstanding. Although customers manage the guest OS on EC2 instances, the host OS is part of the underlying cloud infrastructure and is managed by AWS. The customer's OS management responsibility is limited to the guest OS.
D
Distractor review
Both the company and AWS share responsibility equally for host OS patching.
This is incorrect. Responsibility is not equal; it is clearly divided. AWS manages the host OS, and the customer manages the guest OS. There is no shared responsibility for patching the host OS.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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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?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS, because the hypervisor and host OS are part of the 'Security of the Cloud'. — Under the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, 'Security of the Cloud' includes the physical infrastructure, hypervisor, and host operating system that run AWS services. For Amazon EC2, which is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering, AWS is responsible for patching the host OS. The customer is responsible for managing the guest OS (including patches), applications, and data. Therefore, applying the host OS patch is AWS's responsibility, not the customer's.
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.
Discussion
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