SOA-C02 Practice Question: IAM permission boundaries to constrain what…
Developers are allowed to create IAM roles for their Lambda functions. However, the security team is concerned that developers could create roles with Administrator access, granting Lambda functions more permissions than the developers themselves have. What IAM feature prevents privilege escalation in this scenario?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse detective controls (like Access Analyzer, CloudTrail, or alarms) with preventive controls, thinking that monitoring or alerting can stop the action, when only a preventive mechanism like a permission boundary can block the creation of an overly permissive role at the time of the API call.
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
✓
Attach a permission boundary to each developer IAM user that limits them to creating roles with only the permissions they are allowed to grant
Permission boundaries are an IAM feature that allow you to set the maximum permissions that an identity-based policy can grant to a principal. By attaching a permission boundary to each developer IAM user that restricts them to creating roles with only the permissions they are allowed to grant, you prevent the developer from creating a Lambda execution role with AdministratorAccess or any other policy that exceeds the boundary. This directly addresses the privilege escalation concern because the boundary acts as a ceiling on the permissions the developer can delegate to the role.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Attach a permission boundary to each developer IAM user that limits them to creating roles with only the permissions they are allowed to grant
Why this is correct
The permission boundary on the developer prevents them from passing permissions they do not have (iam:PassRole with a role whose boundary exceeds their own). When combined with an IAM policy that requires any role they create to have the same boundary attached, privilege escalation is prevented systematically.
- ✗
Enable IAM Access Analyzer to detect when developers create overly permissive roles
Why it's wrong here
IAM Access Analyzer identifies resources accessible from outside the account (external access) or unused permissions (unused access), and generates policy recommendations. It detects after-the-fact and requires manual remediation. It does not prevent a developer from creating an overly permissive role in the first place.
- ✗
Require MFA for all IAM API calls so developers must re-authenticate before creating roles
Why it's wrong here
MFA verifies identity but does not restrict what actions an authenticated identity can take. A developer who has iam:CreateRole permission can still create an Administrator role after MFA verification. Permission boundaries restrict what actions are possible, not who can authenticate.
- ✗
Enable CloudTrail logging for all IAM API calls and set up a CloudWatch alarm for iam:CreateRole events
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail logging detects role creation after the fact. An alarm notifies the team but does not block the action. The developer can still create an overly permissive role before any remediation occurs. Permission boundaries prevent the escalation proactively.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SOA-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 SOA-C02 exam.