SAA-C03 Design Secure Architectures Practice Question
A claims portal uses Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL. Application credentials must not be stored on the EC2 instances, and authentication should use short-lived credentials. What should the architect recommend?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse network-level controls (security groups) with authentication mechanisms, or assume that storing credentials in user data or AMIs is acceptable because they are 'hidden' from the application code, but AWS explicitly considers these insecure practices for production workloads.
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
✓
IAM database authentication for RDS with an EC2 instance role
IAM database authentication for RDS with an EC2 instance role allows the application to obtain a short-lived authentication token (valid for 15 minutes) using the AWS CLI or SDK, without storing any credentials on the instance. The EC2 instance role provides the necessary permissions to generate the token, which is then used instead of a static password, meeting both security requirements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Store the database password in user data
Why it's wrong here
User data can be read from the instance and is not appropriate for secrets.
- ✗
Embed the database password in the AMI
Why it's wrong here
Baking secrets into an AMI makes rotation and exposure control difficult.
- ✓
IAM database authentication for RDS with an EC2 instance role
Why this is correct
IAM database authentication allows the application to use temporary AWS credentials instead of stored database passwords.
- ✗
Use a security group rule that allows only application instances
Why it's wrong here
Security groups limit network access but do not replace database authentication.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.