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Question 36 of 1,040

Design Secure Architectures →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Quick Answer

The correct remediation is to modify the SCP so it no longer denies kms:Decrypt for that specific CMK when applied to the Finance OU, while preserving the deny behavior for other OUs. This is because an SCP deny explicitly overrides any IAM allow—SCPs act as a boundary policy that is evaluated before IAM policies, and an explicit deny in an SCP cannot be bypassed by any IAM permission, no matter how permissive. On the SAA-C03 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the AWS authorization hierarchy: SCPs set the maximum permissions for an OU, and IAM policies can only grant access within that boundary. A common trap is assuming you can fix the issue by editing the IAM policy alone, but the SCP deny must be removed or conditionally excluded first. Remember the mnemonic: “SCP denies first, IAM allows last—if SCP says no, IAM can’t go.”

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.

In AWS Organizations, a Service Control Policy (SCP) denies kms:Decrypt on a production CMK for all principals in the Finance OU. A developer in the Finance OU created/updated an IAM policy that allows secrets access, but the application still fails with AccessDenied due to the SCP. You must enable only the Finance OU to decrypt that specific CMK while keeping the SCP restrictions for other OUs. What is the correct remediation?

Question 1mediummultiple choice

Full question →

A
Update the developer’s IAM policy to allow kms:Decrypt on the CMK alias ARN so the request bypasses the SCP.
Why wrong: An SCP Deny at the Organizations level overrides IAM allows. IAM changes cannot neutralize an SCP explicit Deny.
B
Modify the SCP so it no longer denies kms:Decrypt for that specific CMK when applied to the Finance OU, while preserving the deny behavior for other OUs.
Because the SCP is what creates the Deny, the correct fix is to adjust the SCP scope/conditions so that kms:Decrypt for the specific CMK is not denied for the Finance OU. Other OUs remain under the same restrictive SCP behavior.
C
Add a KMS key policy statement that allows the developer role to decrypt the CMK.
Why wrong: KMS key policies can grant authorization to principals, but they cannot override an SCP explicit Deny. Organizations evaluation blocks the request before the KMS key policy authorization is applied.
D
Attach a permissions boundary that grants kms:Decrypt so the SCP becomes irrelevant.
Why wrong: Permission boundaries do not override SCP Deny effects. The SCP explicit deny still blocks the action regardless of permission boundaries.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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

✓

Modify the SCP so it no longer denies kms:Decrypt for that specific CMK when applied to the Finance OU, while preserving the deny behavior for other OUs.

Option B is correct because SCPs are evaluated before IAM policies and cannot be bypassed by IAM permissions. By modifying the SCP to exclude the specific CMK for the Finance OU (e.g., using a Condition key like `kms:ViaService` or a resource-level exception), you remove the explicit deny for that OU while keeping it in place for all other OUs. This ensures the developer's IAM policy can then allow `kms:Decrypt` without being blocked by the SCP.

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 developer’s IAM policy to allow kms:Decrypt on the CMK alias ARN so the request bypasses the SCP.
Why it's wrong here
An SCP Deny at the Organizations level overrides IAM allows. IAM changes cannot neutralize an SCP explicit Deny.
✓
Modify the SCP so it no longer denies kms:Decrypt for that specific CMK when applied to the Finance OU, while preserving the deny behavior for other OUs.
Why this is correct
Because the SCP is what creates the Deny, the correct fix is to adjust the SCP scope/conditions so that kms:Decrypt for the specific CMK is not denied for the Finance OU. Other OUs remain under the same restrictive SCP behavior.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Add a KMS key policy statement that allows the developer role to decrypt the CMK.
Why it's wrong here
KMS key policies can grant authorization to principals, but they cannot override an SCP explicit Deny. Organizations evaluation blocks the request before the KMS key policy authorization is applied.
✗
Attach a permissions boundary that grants kms:Decrypt so the SCP becomes irrelevant.
Why it's wrong here
Permission boundaries do not override SCP Deny effects. The SCP explicit deny still blocks the action regardless of permission boundaries.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates mistakenly think IAM policies or KMS key policies can override an SCP, but SCPs are a higher-order policy that always takes precedence over any allow within the account.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

SCPs act as a guardrail at the AWS Organizations level, applying an implicit or explicit deny that cannot be overridden by any IAM policy, permissions boundary, or resource-based policy within the account. The effective permissions for a principal are the intersection of all applicable policies (IAM, resource-based, permissions boundaries) minus any explicit denies from SCPs. In practice, to allow decryption for only the Finance OU, you would add a `Condition` block in the SCP using `aws:ResourceOrgPaths` or `kms:ViaService` to exclude that specific CMK from the deny statement when the request originates from the Finance OU.

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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.

What to study next

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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: Modify the SCP so it no longer denies kms:Decrypt for that specific CMK when applied to the Finance OU, while preserving the deny behavior for other OUs. — Option B is correct because SCPs are evaluated before IAM policies and cannot be bypassed by IAM permissions. By modifying the SCP to exclude the specific CMK for the Finance OU (e.g., using a Condition key like `kms:ViaService` or a resource-level exception), you remove the explicit deny for that OU while keeping it in place for all other OUs. This ensures the developer's IAM policy can then allow `kms:Decrypt` without being blocked by the SCP.

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.

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Same concept, more angles

1 more ways this is tested on SAA-C03

These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.

Variation 1. Your AWS Organization uses a Service Control Policy (SCP) that includes a Deny statement for secretsmanager:GetSecretValue for all member accounts in the "Finance" OU when requests are made outside us-east-1. An application role has an IAM policy that allows secretsmanager:GetSecretValue for the required secret in us-west-2. In us-west-2, requests fail with AccessDenied. What is the most appropriate action?

medium

A.Update the application role IAM policy to include us-west-2 in the resource ARN.
B.Create a permission boundary that removes the deny behavior for the member account.
✓ C.Modify the SCP to allow secretsmanager:GetSecretValue in us-west-2 for the Finance OU (if that aligns with policy intent), or move the workload to us-east-1.
D.Use sts:AssumeRole into another account that is not in the Finance OU to bypass the SCP.

Why C: SCPs are deny-by-default and act as an outer boundary on all IAM policies in member accounts. Even if the application role's IAM policy allows secretsmanager:GetSecretValue in us-west-2, the SCP's explicit Deny for requests outside us-east-1 overrides that allow. The correct fix is either to modify the SCP to permit the action in us-west-2 (if that aligns with organizational intent) or to relocate the workload to us-east-1, because SCPs cannot be overridden by any IAM policy within the account.

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