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 developer has an IAM policy that allows 's3:GetObject' for a specific S3 bucket. However, when the developer tries to download an object using the AWS CLI, access is denied. What could be the issue?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The object is encrypted with SSE-KMS and the user lacks kms:Decrypt permission.
Option D is correct because when an S3 object is encrypted with SSE-KMS, the `s3:GetObject` permission alone is insufficient. The AWS CLI must also have `kms:Decrypt` permission on the KMS key used to encrypt the object. Without this, the S3 service cannot decrypt the object before returning it, resulting in an access denied error even though the S3 policy allows the GetObject action.
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 bucket policy explicitly denies access to the user.
Why it's wrong here
While possible, the question states the IAM policy allows access; an explicit deny in the bucket policy would override.
✗
The bucket is in a different region than the CLI configuration.
Why it's wrong here
The CLI can access buckets in any region if the endpoint is correct.
✗
The bucket ACL does not grant the user access.
Why it's wrong here
ACLs are legacy and not evaluated if IAM policies allow access; but they cannot deny.
✓
The object is encrypted with SSE-KMS and the user lacks kms:Decrypt permission.
Why this is correct
With SSE-KMS, the user needs both S3 and KMS permissions to download.
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 S3 access control is solely based on S3-specific permissions (like s3:GetObject) and overlook the fact that KMS permissions are required when SSE-KMS is used, leading them to incorrectly choose a bucket policy or ACL issue.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
When SSE-KMS is used, S3 calls the AWS KMS Decrypt API on behalf of the requester. The requester must have `kms:Decrypt` permission on the specific KMS key (identified by its ARN or alias). If the key is in a different account or the user lacks the permission, S3 returns an access denied error, not a KMS-specific error, to avoid leaking information about the encryption key. This is a common pitfall when migrating from SSE-S3 to SSE-KMS.
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 object is encrypted with SSE-KMS and the user lacks kms:Decrypt permission. — Option D is correct because when an S3 object is encrypted with SSE-KMS, the `s3:GetObject` permission alone is insufficient. The AWS CLI must also have `kms:Decrypt` permission on the KMS key used to encrypt the object. Without this, the S3 service cannot decrypt the object before returning it, resulting in an access denied error even though the S3 policy allows the GetObject action.
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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This DVA-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DVA-C02 exam.
Question Discussion
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