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Question 467 of 1,040
Design Secure Architectures →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Quick Answer

The answer is to add kms:CreateGrant permission to the CMK key policy for the role. This is correct because when an S3 service reads encrypted objects using a customer-managed CMK, certain operations—like using an S3 bucket key or performing cross-account decryption—require the service to create a grant on the CMK to authorize the cryptographic operation. Even though the IAM role has kms:Decrypt, the key policy must explicitly allow kms:CreateGrant for the role, or the grant-based workflow fails with the exact error described. On the SAA-C03 exam, this scenario tests your understanding that key policies are the primary access control for customer-managed CMKs, and that grants are a separate authorization mechanism often needed for service-to-service interactions. A common trap is assuming IAM permissions alone suffice, but the key policy must explicitly include kms:CreateGrant when a service like S3 needs to delegate access. Memory tip: “Decrypt lets you use the key; CreateGrant lets the service borrow it.”

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 service reads encrypted data from Amazon S3. The S3 objects use a customer-managed CMK. The IAM role used by the service has kms:Decrypt in its identity policy, but decryption fails with a KMS error stating the role is not authorized to perform kms:CreateGrant. The CMK’s key policy allows kms:Decrypt for the role but does not include kms:CreateGrant. What is the most appropriate change to resolve the failure while preserving least privilege?

Clue words in this question

Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.

  • Clue: "least"

    Why it matters: You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.

Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →

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

✓

Add kms:CreateGrant permission to the CMK key policy for the role (scoped to the necessary CMK), keeping other KMS permissions minimal.

The error indicates that the service requires a grant to allow the KMS key to be used in a cryptographic operation that involves a grant-based workflow (e.g., using the S3 bucket key or cross-account access). The IAM role has kms:Decrypt, but the key policy does not grant kms:CreateGrant, which is necessary for the service to create a grant on the CMK. Adding kms:CreateGrant to the key policy scoped to the role resolves the failure while adhering to least privilege by only granting the minimum additional permission needed.

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.

  • ✓

    Add kms:CreateGrant permission to the CMK key policy for the role (scoped to the necessary CMK), keeping other KMS permissions minimal.

    Why this is correct

    The error explicitly indicates missing authorization to create grants (kms:CreateGrant). Some AWS services require creating a grant to use a key on behalf of a principal. Adding only kms:CreateGrant to the key policy for the specific role resolves the failure with minimal additional access.

    Clue confirmation

    The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.

    Related concept

    Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

  • ✗

    Enable key rotation because it makes grant creation unnecessary.

    Why it's wrong here

    Key rotation affects key lifecycle management, not whether the principal is authorized to call kms:CreateGrant. The access failure is authorization-related, not rotation-related.

  • ✗

    Add kms:DescribeKey to the key policy and remove kms:Decrypt to reduce permissions.

    Why it's wrong here

    DescribeKey allows viewing key metadata but does not grant decryption capability. The failure is about CreateGrant authorization, and removing kms:Decrypt would break the decrypt path.

  • ✗

    Update the IAM role to use kms:ScheduleKeyDeletion so future decrypt attempts succeed.

    Why it's wrong here

    Scheduling key deletion is unrelated to grant creation and would not fix kms:CreateGrant authorization. It would also introduce serious availability/compliance risk.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates assume IAM permissions alone are sufficient for all KMS operations, but key policies must explicitly allow kms:CreateGrant when a service needs to create a grant on a customer-managed CMK.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

KMS grants are used to delegate temporary access to a CMK for specific operations, often required when a service like S3 needs to perform cryptographic operations on behalf of a principal (e.g., when using SSE-KMS with a customer-managed CMK and a bucket policy that grants cross-account access). The kms:CreateGrant permission must be explicitly allowed in the key policy because IAM policies alone cannot authorize grant creation on a CMK that is not in the same account. In practice, this error commonly occurs when an S3 bucket is configured to use a KMS key from a different AWS account or when the service uses the GenerateDataKey or Decrypt API with a grant-based workflow.

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.

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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: Add kms:CreateGrant permission to the CMK key policy for the role (scoped to the necessary CMK), keeping other KMS permissions minimal. — The error indicates that the service requires a grant to allow the KMS key to be used in a cryptographic operation that involves a grant-based workflow (e.g., using the S3 bucket key or cross-account access). The IAM role has kms:Decrypt, but the key policy does not grant kms:CreateGrant, which is necessary for the service to create a grant on the CMK. Adding kms:CreateGrant to the key policy scoped to the role resolves the failure while adhering to least privilege by only granting the minimum additional permission needed.

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.

Are there clue words in this question I should notice?

Yes — watch for: "least". You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026

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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.