CEH Practice Question: Advanced Topics: Wireless, Cloud, IoT, Cryptography
A penetration tester is assessing an AWS environment and discovers an S3 bucket with the following bucket policy: `{"Version":"2012-10-17","Statement":[{"Effect":"Allow","Principal":"*","Action":"s3:GetObject","Resource":"arn:aws:s3:::example-bucket/*"}]}`. Which of the following is the MOST likely security 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
✓
The bucket policy allows public read access to all objects
The policy allows anyone (Principal: *) to read any object in the bucket, making it publicly accessible and a common misconfiguration.
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 bucket policy allows public read access to all objects
Why this is correct
The bucket policy explicitly grants `s3:GetObject` permission to `Principal: "*"`, which signifies anonymous public access. This configuration allows any user on the internet, without authentication, to retrieve all objects stored within the S3 bucket. Such unrestricted read access poses a significant security risk, potentially exposing sensitive data to unauthorized parties and violating data privacy regulations.
- ✗
The bucket policy allows only GetObject, which is too restrictive
Why it's wrong here
Stating that `GetObject` is "too restrictive" misinterprets the nature of the security vulnerability. While `s3:GetObject` only permits reading objects, this specific action itself is not inherently problematic or overly restrictive in a policy context. The actual security flaw arises from granting this read permission to an overly broad principal, specifically `*`, which makes the data publicly accessible, rather than the granularity of the `GetObject` action itself.
- ✗
The bucket policy should use a Principal of AWS instead of *
Why it's wrong here
Suggesting the policy should use `Principal: { "AWS": "*" }` instead of `Principal: "*"` misunderstands the critical distinction between these two principal types. `Principal: "*"` grants access to *any* user, including unauthenticated anonymous users, leading to public data exposure. Conversely, `Principal: { "AWS": "*" }` grants access to *any authenticated AWS principal*, meaning users must possess valid AWS credentials to access the resource, which is a fundamentally different and more secure access model than anonymous public access.
- ✗
The bucket policy is missing a Deny statement for write operations
Why it's wrong here
The assertion that the policy is missing a `Deny` statement for write operations is incorrect due to the implicit deny principle of AWS IAM. If a specific action, such as `s3:PutObject` or `s3:DeleteObject`, is not explicitly permitted by an `Allow` statement within the policy, it is automatically denied by default. Therefore, an explicit `Deny` statement for write actions would be redundant when only `s3:GetObject` is allowed, as write access is already prevented.
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 |
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CEH practice question is part of Courseiva's free EC-Council 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 CEH exam.