ANS-C01 Network Design Practice Question
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit.
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Principal": {
"Service": "ec2.amazonaws.com"
},
"Action": "sts:AssumeRole"
}
]
}Refer to the exhibit. An AWS administrator is troubleshooting an issue where an EC2 instance cannot access an S3 bucket using an instance profile. The instance profile is associated with an IAM role that has the above trust policy. The S3 bucket policy allows s3:GetObject only for the role's ARN. What is the most likely cause of the access failure?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often overlook the instance profile attachment step and instead focus on policy misconfigurations, assuming the trust policy or bucket policy is the issue when the real problem is the missing link between the instance and the role.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The instance profile is not attached to the EC2 instance
The instance profile must be attached to the EC2 instance for the IAM role's credentials to be available to the instance. Without this attachment, the EC2 instance cannot assume the role or use its permissions to access the S3 bucket, even if the trust policy and bucket policy are correctly configured.
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 VPC does not have an S3 VPC endpoint
Why it's wrong here
VPC endpoint is not required if the instance has internet access.
- ✓
The instance profile is not attached to the EC2 instance
Why this is correct
Without the instance profile, the EC2 instance cannot assume the role.
- ✗
The S3 bucket policy does not allow s3:ListBucket
Why it's wrong here
The bucket policy allows GetObject, but the role must be assumed first.
- ✗
The trust policy does not allow the S3 service to assume the role
Why it's wrong here
The trust policy is for EC2, not S3.
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 |
Go deeper
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This ANS-C01 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 ANS-C01 exam.