- A
Update the KMS key policy to allow the partner role or account to use the key.
KMS evaluates the key policy before permitting use of a customer managed key. Cross-account use requires the key policy to trust the external principal or a grant to that principal.
- B
Enable automatic key rotation to solve the cross-account access requirement.
Why wrong: Key rotation improves cryptographic hygiene, but it does not grant permissions to another account. Access control is handled by policies or grants, not rotation settings.
- C
Attach IAM permissions in the partner account for kms:Encrypt, kms:Decrypt, and kms:GenerateDataKey on the CMK.
The partner role also needs IAM permission to call KMS actions against the key. Cross-account KMS access requires both an identity policy and a key policy or grant.
- D
Replace the CMK with the AWS managed key alias/aws/s3.
Why wrong: AWS managed keys are not designed for this kind of cross-account sharing model. They also do not give the same policy control as a customer managed KMS key.
- E
Export the KMS key material and share it with the partner account.
Why wrong: Exporting key material is not a normal or recommended pattern for KMS access. It undermines the service model and is unnecessary when key policy and IAM permissions are available.
SAA-C03 Design Secure Architectures Practice Question
This SAA-C03 practice question tests your understanding of design secure architectures. 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 central security account stores encrypted log files in S3 using a customer managed AWS KMS key. A partner account already has S3 bucket access through an assumed role and now must also be able to encrypt and decrypt objects that use the same KMS key. Which two actions are required? Select two.
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
Update the KMS key policy to allow the partner role or account to use the key.
Option A is correct because the KMS key policy must explicitly grant the partner account or its assumed role permission to use the key for cryptographic operations. Without this cross-account policy statement, the partner account cannot access the key even if it has IAM permissions, as KMS key policies are the primary access control mechanism for cross-account usage.
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.
- ✓
Update the KMS key policy to allow the partner role or account to use the key.
Why this is correct
KMS evaluates the key policy before permitting use of a customer managed key. Cross-account use requires the key policy to trust the external principal or a grant to that principal.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Enable automatic key rotation to solve the cross-account access requirement.
Why it's wrong here
Key rotation improves cryptographic hygiene, but it does not grant permissions to another account. Access control is handled by policies or grants, not rotation settings.
- ✓
Attach IAM permissions in the partner account for kms:Encrypt, kms:Decrypt, and kms:GenerateDataKey on the CMK.
Why this is correct
The partner role also needs IAM permission to call KMS actions against the key. Cross-account KMS access requires both an identity policy and a key policy or grant.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Replace the CMK with the AWS managed key alias/aws/s3.
Why it's wrong here
AWS managed keys are not designed for this kind of cross-account sharing model. They also do not give the same policy control as a customer managed KMS key.
- ✗
Export the KMS key material and share it with the partner account.
Why it's wrong here
Exporting key material is not a normal or recommended pattern for KMS access. It undermines the service model and is unnecessary when key policy and IAM permissions are available.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often think IAM permissions alone are sufficient for cross-account KMS access, forgetting that KMS key policies must explicitly allow the external account, and vice versa, that key policy alone is not enough without corresponding IAM permissions in the partner account.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, KMS uses a key policy document that can include a statement with a Principal element specifying the partner account's root ARN or the assumed role's ARN. The partner account's IAM role must also have the kms:Encrypt, kms:Decrypt, and kms:GenerateDataKey permissions attached to its IAM policy, because KMS requires both a key policy grant and an IAM permission grant for cross-account access—this is a two-step authorization model. In real-world scenarios, this ensures that even if the key policy allows the account, the specific role must be explicitly authorized to perform the actions.
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.
- →
Design Secure Architectures — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Design Secure Architectures practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All SAA-C03 questions
1,040 questions across all exam domains
- →
SAA-C03 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
SAA-C03 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Related SAA-C03 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Design Secure Architectures practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to Design Secure Architectures.
Design Resilient Architectures practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to Design Resilient Architectures.
Design High-Performing Architectures practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to Design High-Performing Architectures.
Design Cost-Optimized Architectures practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to Design Cost-Optimized Architectures.
SAA-C03 VPC practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC.
SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions.
SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions.
SAA-C03 IAM policy practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 IAM policy.
SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions.
SAA-C03 CloudFront practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 CloudFront.
SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions.
SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions.
Practice this exam
Start a free SAA-C03 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAA-C03 question test?
Design Secure Architectures — This question tests Design Secure Architectures — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Update the KMS key policy to allow the partner role or account to use the key. — Option A is correct because the KMS key policy must explicitly grant the partner account or its assumed role permission to use the key for cryptographic operations. Without this cross-account policy statement, the partner account cannot access the key even if it has IAM permissions, as KMS key policies are the primary access control mechanism for cross-account usage.
What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Keep practising
More SAA-C03 practice questions
- A content publishing system uses Lambda functions that call an unreliable third-party API. Failed events must be retaine…
- A startup runs two EC2-based workloads in the same AWS Region. Its customer-facing API is always on, and its nightly vid…
- A warehouse integration service must use shared file storage across Linux EC2 instances in multiple Availability Zones.…
- A team runs a stateless web app on Amazon EC2 behind an Application Load Balancer. During traffic spikes, new EC2 instan…
- A service in private subnets downloads product images from Amazon S3 and stores job state in DynamoDB. A NAT Gateway is…
- A static site is hosted in Amazon S3 and delivered by CloudFront. After a frontend release, the same JavaScript bundles…
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This SAA-C03 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 SAA-C03 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.