SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A company is using AWS CloudFormation to manage infrastructure. The stack creation fails with the error 'Resource handler returned message: 'User: arn:aws:sts::123456789012:assumed-role/Admin/MySession is not authorized to perform: ec2:RunInstances'. What is the MOST likely cause?
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
✓
The IAM role used by CloudFormation does not have ec2:RunInstances permission.
The error message indicates that the IAM role assumed by CloudFormation does not have permission to perform ec2:RunInstances. Therefore, the IAM role used by CloudFormation lacks the necessary permissions (Option A). Option B is incorrect because a disabled region would cause a different error, not an authorization issue. Option C is incorrect because a syntax error would produce a validation error, not an IAM authorization error. Option D is incorrect because AWS accounts are automatically subscribed to EC2; there is no subscription requirement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The IAM role used by CloudFormation does not have ec2:RunInstances permission.
Why this is correct
The error clearly states the role is not authorized.
- ✗
The region specified in the template is disabled.
Why it's wrong here
Regions are not disabled by default.
- ✗
The CloudFormation template has a syntax error.
Why it's wrong here
Syntax errors produce different messages.
- ✗
The AWS account is not subscribed to EC2 service.
Why it's wrong here
All accounts have EC2 access.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This SAP-C02 question is part of Courseiva's 1,660-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAP-C02 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 SAP-C02 exam.