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Question 34 of 1,040

Design Secure Architectures →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Quick Answer

The answer is to add kms:Decrypt permission for the specific customer-managed CMK ARN to ServiceRole, while keeping secretsmanager:GetSecretValue for the specific secret ARN. This is correct because when a secret is encrypted with a customer-managed CMK, AWS Secrets Manager calls kms:Decrypt on your behalf to retrieve the plaintext value; if the IAM role lacks that permission, the service fails with an AccessDeniedException even if GetSecretValue is allowed. On the SAA-C03 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the dependency between Secrets Manager and KMS—a common trap is assuming only GetSecretValue is needed, forgetting that the CMK’s key policy or the role’s IAM policy must explicitly grant kms:Decrypt. Remember the memory tip: “Get the secret, decrypt the key—both permissions set you free.”

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 microservice reads a secret from AWS Secrets Manager using its task role (ServiceRole). The secret is configured to use a customer-managed CMK. In production, the service fails with AccessDeniedException on GetSecretValue. CloudTrail shows that Secrets Manager attempted kms:Decrypt but was denied. Which IAM policy change is most appropriate to fix the failure while keeping 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 →

A
Add kms:Decrypt permission for the specific CMK ARN to ServiceRole, and also keep secretsmanager:GetSecretValue for the specific secret ARN.
The failure is due to kms:Decrypt being denied. Granting decrypt on the specific CMK and limiting Secrets Manager access to the exact secret preserves least-privilege while allowing Secrets Manager’s decryption step.
B
Add secretsmanager:ListSecrets permission on "*" so the service can discover the secret and retry the read.
Why wrong: ListSecrets addresses discovery, not decryption. The CloudTrail evidence indicates kms:Decrypt was denied, so this would not resolve the root cause.
C
Add s3:GetObject permission to ServiceRole for the KMS key alias stored in an S3 bucket.
Why wrong: Secrets Manager uses KMS for cryptographic operations; it does not require S3 GetObject permissions for the CMK. This is unrelated to the reported kms:Decrypt denial.
D
Add kms:Encrypt permission instead of kms:Decrypt, because the service only needs to read the secret.
Why wrong: Encrypt is the opposite operation. Reading a Secrets Manager value requires decrypting the stored ciphertext, so kms:Decrypt is the correct missing permission.

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

✓

Add kms:Decrypt permission for the specific CMK ARN to ServiceRole, and also keep secretsmanager:GetSecretValue for the specific secret ARN.

The AccessDeniedException occurs because the task role (ServiceRole) lacks the kms:Decrypt permission for the customer-managed CMK used to encrypt the secret. Secrets Manager calls kms:Decrypt on your behalf when retrieving the secret value. Adding kms:Decrypt for the specific CMK ARN to ServiceRole, while retaining secretsmanager:GetSecretValue for the specific secret ARN, grants the minimum required permissions to decrypt and read the secret.

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:Decrypt permission for the specific CMK ARN to ServiceRole, and also keep secretsmanager:GetSecretValue for the specific secret ARN.
Why this is correct
The failure is due to kms:Decrypt being denied. Granting decrypt on the specific CMK and limiting Secrets Manager access to the exact secret preserves least-privilege while allowing Secrets Manager’s decryption step.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Add secretsmanager:ListSecrets permission on "*" so the service can discover the secret and retry the read.
Why it's wrong here
ListSecrets addresses discovery, not decryption. The CloudTrail evidence indicates kms:Decrypt was denied, so this would not resolve the root cause.
✗
Add s3:GetObject permission to ServiceRole for the KMS key alias stored in an S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Secrets Manager uses KMS for cryptographic operations; it does not require S3 GetObject permissions for the CMK. This is unrelated to the reported kms:Decrypt denial.
✗
Add kms:Encrypt permission instead of kms:Decrypt, because the service only needs to read the secret.
Why it's wrong here
Encrypt is the opposite operation. Reading a Secrets Manager value requires decrypting the stored ciphertext, so kms:Decrypt is the correct missing permission.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates assume secretsmanager:GetSecretValue alone is sufficient, overlooking that Secrets Manager must call kms:Decrypt with the caller's permissions when a customer-managed CMK is used.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

When Secrets Manager retrieves a secret encrypted with a customer-managed CMK, it calls kms:Decrypt using the caller's IAM permissions (the task role). The KMS key policy must also grant the role decrypt access. Under the hood, the AWS KMS Decrypt API uses the key ARN to decrypt the ciphertext blob; without the kms:Decrypt permission, the request fails with AccessDeniedException. In production, this often occurs when the secret is created with a different role or the key policy is too restrictive.

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:Decrypt permission for the specific CMK ARN to ServiceRole, and also keep secretsmanager:GetSecretValue for the specific secret ARN. — The AccessDeniedException occurs because the task role (ServiceRole) lacks the kms:Decrypt permission for the customer-managed CMK used to encrypt the secret. Secrets Manager calls kms:Decrypt on your behalf when retrieving the secret value. Adding kms:Decrypt for the specific CMK ARN to ServiceRole, while retaining secretsmanager:GetSecretValue for the specific secret ARN, grants the minimum required permissions to decrypt and read the secret.

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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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. A microservice running in ECS retrieves a secret from AWS Secrets Manager. The secret is encrypted with a customer-managed CMK. An administrator re-keyed the secret to a new CMK (the key ARN changed), but kept the same KMS alias name. After re-keying, the service fails with an error from KMS: AccessDenied for kms:Decrypt. The ECS task role’s IAM policy still grants kms:Decrypt but only for the old CMK ARN. What is the best remediation to restore access while maintaining least privilege?

medium

A.Update the IAM policy to allow kms:Decrypt for all CMKs in the account using a wildcard resource (for example, arn:aws:kms:region:account-id:key/*).
✓ B.Update the ECS task role IAM policy to grant kms:Decrypt on the CMK alias ARN (arn:aws:kms:region:account-id:alias/<alias-name>) or to include the new CMK ARN, so decrypt authorization matches the re-keyed CMK.
C.Change the application to decrypt the secret itself using SSE-C keys so Secrets Manager no longer needs KMS.
D.Enable KMS key rotation for the old CMK so the CMK ARN resolves to the new key.

Why B: Option B is correct because the ECS task role's IAM policy still references the old CMK ARN, but the secret is now encrypted with a new CMK. Since KMS authorization is based on the key ARN (not the alias), the policy must be updated to grant kms:Decrypt on the new CMK ARN or on the alias ARN (which resolves to the current underlying key). This restores access while maintaining least privilege by scoping permissions to the specific key used for decryption.

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