Question 1mediummulti select
Full question →mediummulti selectObjective-mapped
An application in Account B reads objects from an Amazon S3 bucket in Account A. The bucket uses SSE-KMS with a customer managed key in Account A. The role in Account B already has s3:GetObject, but downloads fail with AccessDenied on decrypt. Which two changes are required for the role to read the object successfully? Select two.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Add an SCP that grants the role additional permissions for KMS usage.
Service control policies cannot grant permissions. SCPs only set the maximum permissions that identities in an account or OU can use; they never add allow permissions.
B
Best answer
Add kms:Decrypt permission in the role's IAM policy for the KMS key.
The caller needs an identity-based permission that allows kms:Decrypt on the specific CMK used to encrypt the S3 object. Without that allow statement, KMS denies the decrypt request even if S3 access is permitted.
C
Best answer
Update the KMS key policy in Account A to allow the role from Account B to use Decrypt.
For cross-account SSE-KMS access, the CMK policy in the owning account must trust the external principal or an authorized account path. KMS evaluates both the identity policy and the key policy, so both must allow the operation.
D
Distractor review
Grant the role read access with an S3 bucket ACL.
An ACL can affect S3 object authorization, but it does not grant permission to use the KMS key. The failure is at the decrypt step, so changing the ACL alone does not resolve the access denied error.
E
Distractor review
Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration on the bucket.
Transfer Acceleration only changes the network path for object transfers. It does not change IAM or KMS authorization and therefore cannot fix a missing decrypt permission.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: authentication is not authorization
Logging in proves the user can authenticate. It does not automatically mean the user is allowed to enter privileged or configuration mode. Watch for AAA authorization, privilege level and command authorization details.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This kind of question is testing the difference between identity and permission. A user may successfully log in to a router because authentication is working, but still fail to enter configuration mode because authorization is missing, misconfigured or mapped to a lower privilege level.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Authentication checks who the user is.
- Authorization controls what the user is allowed to do after login.
- Privilege levels affect access to EXEC and configuration commands.
- AAA, TACACS+ and RADIUS can separate login success from command access.
TExam Day Tips
- Do not assume successful login means full administrative access.
- Look for words such as cannot enter configuration mode, privilege level, authorization or command access.
- Separate login problems from permission problems before choosing the answer.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A team needs to distribute TCP traffic (not HTTP) across multiple services. The services must see the original client source IP for auditing. Which AWS load balancer is the best fit?
Question 2
A team wants to run containerized services with AWS-managed orchestration and autoscaling. They do NOT require Kubernetes compatibility. Which AWS service choice is most appropriate to meet these goals?
Question 3
A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a IoT ingestion API. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure? The design must avoid adding custom operational scripts.
Question 4
A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a claims portal. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure?
Question 5
A team wants to delegate IAM management to developers, but must ensure developers can never grant themselves permissions beyond a specific limit. Which AWS mechanism best matches this requirement?
Question 6
A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a healthcare document service. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAA-C03 question test?
Authentication checks who the user is.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Add kms:Decrypt permission in the role's IAM policy for the KMS key. — For SSE-KMS encrypted objects, S3 must be allowed to return the object and KMS must be allowed to decrypt the data key. The role in Account B already has s3:GetObject, so the missing authorization is at the KMS layer. The role also needs an identity policy that allows kms:Decrypt, and the CMK policy in Account A must explicitly trust that external principal or account path. Both controls are required for the read to succeed. An SCP cannot add permissions, so it cannot resolve an authorization failure. An S3 ACL governs S3 object access only and does not authorize KMS decrypt operations. Transfer Acceleration is unrelated to encryption or authorization. The only correct fix is to permit decrypt in both the role policy and the CMK policy.
What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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