SAA-C03 Design Secure Architectures Practice Question
A financial services company runs an internal web application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application must authenticate employees against the corporate identity provider (IdP) that supports SAML 2.0, and the company wants to avoid managing custom sign-in code. Which solution should a solutions architect recommend?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that IAM SAML identity providers authenticate application users, when they actually federate identities for AWS API access.
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
✓
Configure the ALB to use an Amazon Cognito user pool as an authentication action, and federate the corporate IdP with the user pool.
The ALB can perform user authentication as a listener rule action using Amazon Cognito or an OIDC-compliant IdP. Because the corporate IdP speaks SAML 2.0, federating it with a Cognito user pool lets the ALB handle the SAML exchange and issue a session cookie, so the application receives only authenticated requests and no custom sign-in code is required.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create an IAM SAML identity provider and attach an IAM role to the EC2 instance profile so the instance can call the IdP.
Why it's wrong here
IAM SAML identity providers are for AWS API federation (for example, AWS Management Console or CLI access), not for authenticating end users to a web application. An instance profile grants AWS permissions to the instance; it does not authenticate a browser session against a corporate IdP.
- ✗
Store the IdP SAML metadata in AWS Secrets Manager and have the application parse the SAML assertion on each request.
Why it's wrong here
Secrets Manager stores secrets, not SAML metadata, and parsing assertions in application code is exactly the custom sign-in logic the company wants to avoid. This also forces every EC2 instance to implement SAML validation, increasing risk and operational overhead compared with an ALB authentication action.
- ✓
Configure the ALB to use an Amazon Cognito user pool as an authentication action, and federate the corporate IdP with the user pool.
Why this is correct
ALB supports authenticate-cognito and authenticate-oidc actions on listener rules. A Cognito user pool can federate a SAML 2.0 IdP, so the ALB can offload the SAML exchange and issue its own session cookie. This meets the requirement without custom sign-in code on the EC2 instances.
- ✗
Place AWS WAF in front of the ALB and create a rule that validates the SAML assertion signature before forwarding traffic.
Why it's wrong here
AWS WAF inspects HTTP requests for threats such as SQL injection or bots; it does not perform SAML authentication or issue session cookies. Using WAF alone would leave the application responsible for the entire SAML flow, which the company explicitly wants to avoid.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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