This DVA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security. 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.
A company uses AWS IAM roles to grant permissions to EC2 instances. An application running on an instance fails to access an S3 bucket. The IAM role has the following policy attached: {"Version":"2012-10-17","Statement":[{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"s3:GetObject","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/*"}]}. What is the likely cause?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The policy does not include s3:ListBucket permission.
The IAM policy allows only `s3:GetObject` on objects within `my-bucket`, but the application likely needs to list the bucket's contents first (e.g., via `s3:ListBucket`) to know which objects to retrieve. Without `s3:ListBucket` permission on the bucket resource (`arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket`), any attempt to list objects (such as through the AWS CLI `aws s3 ls` or SDK operations like `listObjects`) will fail with an AccessDenied error, even though `GetObject` is allowed. This is a common oversight when granting S3 access, as listing is a separate action required for many operations.
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 instance does not have an instance profile.
Why it's wrong here
The instance profile is required but if the role is attached, it is present.
✓
The policy does not include s3:ListBucket permission.
Why this is correct
ListBucket is needed for many S3 operations like listing objects.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The trust policy of the role does not allow EC2 to assume it.
Why it's wrong here
If the instance is using the role, the trust policy is correct.
✗
The IAM role is not attached to the EC2 instance.
Why it's wrong here
The issue is likely missing permissions, not attachment.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume `s3:GetObject` on `/*` is sufficient for all read operations, forgetting that listing objects requires a separate bucket-level permission (`s3:ListBucket`) on the bucket itself, not the objects.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, S3 actions are divided into bucket-level (e.g., `s3:ListBucket`, `s3:GetBucketLocation`) and object-level (e.g., `s3:GetObject`, `s3:PutObject`). The `s3:ListBucket` permission must be granted on the bucket ARN (`arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket`), while `s3:GetObject` is granted on the object ARN (`arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/*`). In real-world scenarios, an application using the AWS SDK to iterate over objects (e.g., `listObjectsV2`) will fail if `s3:ListBucket` is missing, even if `GetObject` is allowed, leading to confusing errors that developers often misdiagnose as network or credential issues.
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 — This question tests Security — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The policy does not include s3:ListBucket permission. — The IAM policy allows only `s3:GetObject` on objects within `my-bucket`, but the application likely needs to list the bucket's contents first (e.g., via `s3:ListBucket`) to know which objects to retrieve. Without `s3:ListBucket` permission on the bucket resource (`arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket`), any attempt to list objects (such as through the AWS CLI `aws s3 ls` or SDK operations like `listObjects`) will fail with an AccessDenied error, even though `GetObject` is allowed. This is a common oversight when granting S3 access, as listing is a separate action required for many operations.
What should I do if I get this DVA-C02 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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