CS0-003 Vulnerability Management Practice Question
A cloud security analyst is reviewing a misconfiguration in an AWS S3 bucket that allows public read access. The bucket contains sensitive customer data. Which of the following CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark checks would most likely identify this issue?
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
✓
Ensure S3 buckets do not allow public read access
CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark includes a control for ensuring S3 buckets do not allow public read access. The control is typically '1.5 Ensure S3 bucket policy restricts public read access'. 'Enable S3 bucket logging' is about logging, not access. 'Enable default encryption' is about encryption. 'Enable versioning' is about data protection.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable default encryption for S3 buckets
Why it's wrong here
Default encryption protects data at rest from unauthorized read at the storage layer if an attacker somehow obtains the underlying object, but it does nothing to stop a publicly readable bucket policy from serving objects openly over HTTPS to anyone.
- ✗
Enable S3 bucket logging
Why it's wrong here
Bucket access logging records who requested which objects and when, which supports forensic investigation after the fact, but enabling logging does not restrict the bucket's access control list or policy, so public exposure would continue unchanged.
- ✗
Enable versioning on S3 buckets
Why it's wrong here
Versioning preserves prior object states so accidental deletions or overwrites can be recovered, addressing data durability and integrity concerns, but it has no relationship to whether the bucket's ACL or policy grants public read permissions.
- ✓
Ensure S3 buckets do not allow public read access
Why this is correct
This CIS control checks bucket ACLs and bucket policies for statements granting access to 'Everyone' or 'AuthenticatedUsers' groups, which is precisely the misconfiguration exposing sensitive customer data, making it the check that flags and drives remediation of the finding.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
SOC Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 Analyst Roles
Key term
S3 bucket policy
An S3 bucket policy is a JSON-based resource-based access control document that defines who can access an Amazon S3 bucket and its objects, and what actions they can perform.
Key term
Encryption
Encryption is the process of converting readable data into a secret code to prevent unauthorized access.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CS0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CS0-004 exam.