S3 ListBucket Permission for AWS Glue — Common IAM Pitfall
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data ingestion and transformation. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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. An IAM policy is attached to an AWS Glue ETL job. The job reads from the Kinesis stream 'input-stream' and writes to S3 bucket 'data-lake-bucket'. The job fails with an access denied error. Which missing permission is most likely the cause?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
s3:ListBucket permission on the bucket
The AWS Glue ETL job fails with an access denied error because it lacks the s3:ListBucket permission on the 'data-lake-bucket'. When writing to S3, the job must first list the bucket to verify the target prefix exists and to handle multipart uploads; without this permission, the write operation fails even if s3:PutObject is granted.
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.
✗
kinesis:PutRecord permission on a wildcard stream ARN
Why it's wrong here
The ARN is specific; wildcard is not needed.
✗
kinesis:DescribeStream permission
Why it's wrong here
This is not required for writing to the stream.
✗
s3:PutObject permission on a specific prefix
Why it's wrong here
The policy already allows PutObject on all objects.
✓
s3:ListBucket permission on the bucket
Why this is correct
Glue needs ListBucket to verify bucket existence and structure.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume only s3:PutObject is needed for writing to S3, forgetting that AWS S3 operations like multipart uploads and prefix validation require the s3:ListBucket permission on the bucket resource.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, AWS Glue ETL uses the S3 multipart upload API for large datasets, which requires both s3:ListBucket (to check bucket existence and prefix) and s3:PutObject (to upload parts). The s3:ListBucket permission is evaluated first during the initial handshake; without it, the SDK throws an AccessDenied error before any data transfer begins. In real-world scenarios, this often occurs when IAM policies grant object-level permissions but omit bucket-level listing, especially in cross-account setups.
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.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
Storage Class
Min Duration
Retrieval
Use Case
S3 Standard
None
Immediate
Frequently accessed data
S3 Standard-IA
30 days
Immediate
Infrequent access, rapid retrieval
S3 One Zone-IA
30 days
Immediate
Non-critical infrequent data
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
None
Immediate–hours
Unknown or changing access patterns
S3 Glacier Instant
90 days
Milliseconds
Archive with instant retrieval
S3 Glacier Flexible
90 days
Minutes–hours
Archive, flexible retrieval
S3 Glacier Deep Archive
180 days
Hours
Long-term compliance archive
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.
Data Ingestion and Transformation — This question tests Data Ingestion and Transformation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: s3:ListBucket permission on the bucket — The AWS Glue ETL job fails with an access denied error because it lacks the s3:ListBucket permission on the 'data-lake-bucket'. When writing to S3, the job must first list the bucket to verify the target prefix exists and to handle multipart uploads; without this permission, the write operation fails even if s3:PutObject is granted.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Refer to the exhibit. An IAM policy is attached to a role used by an AWS Glue job. The job fails with an 'AccessDenied' error when trying to write to 's3://my-bucket/output/'. What is the most likely cause?
medium
✓ A.The resource ARN for S3 should include the bucket itself.
B.The glue:StartJobRun action is not allowed.
C.The policy does not grant s3:ListBucket permission.
D.The s3:GetObject action is missing.
Why A: The job fails with 'AccessDenied' when writing to S3. This is most likely because the IAM policy attached to the Glue role does not grant the s3:PutObject permission on the object ARN (e.g., 'arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/output/*'). Option A points out that the resource ARN should include the bucket itself, which is a common error: if the policy uses the bucket ARN (without the /* suffix) for the PutObject action, it will not allow the write operation. Option C is incorrect because s3:ListBucket is not required for the PutObject action; it is needed for listing contents, not for writing. Option B is irrelevant to the S3 write failure. Option D (s3:GetObject) is for reading, not writing.
Variation 2. The Glue job attempts to read data from 's3://my-data-bucket/input/' and write to 's3://my-data-bucket/output/'. It also tries to update a table in the Glue Data Catalog. The job fails with an access denied error. What is the MOST likely cause?
hard
✓ A.The IAM role is missing the 's3:ListBucket' permission on the bucket.
B.The 'glue:UpdateTable' action is not allowed on the specific table.
C.The policy is missing a condition key for the S3 bucket.
D.The resource ARN does not include the bucket itself; it only covers objects.
Why A: The Glue job reads from 's3://my-data-bucket/input/' and writes to 's3://my-data-bucket/output/'. For S3 read/write operations, the IAM role must have 's3:ListBucket' permission on the bucket itself (my-data-bucket) to allow listing of objects, in addition to 's3:GetObject' and 's3:PutObject' on the object ARN. Without 's3:ListBucket', the job cannot enumerate objects in the input prefix, leading to an access denied error.
Variation 3. Refer to the exhibit. An IAM policy is attached to an EC2 instance role that runs a data ingestion application. The application reads files from an S3 bucket 'data-lake-primary' and sends records to a Kinesis stream named 'clickstream'. The application is failing with an 'AccessDenied' error when trying to read from S3. What is the MOST likely cause?
medium
A.The actions are specified incorrectly; they should be s3:GetObject and s3:PutObject only.
B.The policy is not attached to the EC2 instance role.
C.The Kinesis stream name is incorrect.
✓ D.The policy does not include the s3:ListBucket permission.
Why D: The application reads files from an S3 bucket, which requires both s3:GetObject (to read the object) and s3:ListBucket (to list objects in the bucket, typically needed for operations like listing or navigating the bucket). Without s3:ListBucket, the SDK may fail with an AccessDenied error when it tries to enumerate objects or validate the bucket path, even if s3:GetObject is present. Option D correctly identifies this missing permission as the most likely cause.
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