CPENT Cloud And Hybrid Infrastructure Security Practice Question
An AWS penetration tester discovers that an Amazon RDS database instance has the 'Publicly Accessible' flag set to true, and its security group allows inbound traffic from 0.0.0.0/0 on port 3306. What is the immediate risk, and what is the recommended control?
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 database can be reached from the internet; the security group should be restricted to trusted CIDR blocks and public accessibility disabled.
The database is exposed to the public internet, requiring network ACLs, security group restriction, and disabling public accessibility.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
S3 bucket policies will automatically override database access controls.
Why it's wrong here
S3 and RDS are independent services.
- ✗
The database is vulnerable to container escape via Docker socket exposure.
Why it's wrong here
RDS is a managed service and does not expose Docker sockets.
- ✗
IAM role trust policies are bypassed by external SQL injection attacks.
Why it's wrong here
RDS does not use IAM trust policies for SQL authentication.
- ✓
The database can be reached from the internet; the security group should be restricted to trusted CIDR blocks and public accessibility disabled.
Why this is correct
Public RDS instances with open security groups risk direct brute-force and vulnerability exploitation.
About these practice questions
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official EC-Council exam blueprint
This CPENT 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 CPENT exam.