CPENT Cloud And Hybrid Infrastructure Security Practice Question
A penetration tester is auditing an AWS environment and investigating potential privilege escalation paths via IAM. Which TWO of the following IAM permission combinations represent classic privilege escalation vectors in AWS? (Choose two)
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
✓
iam:CreatePolicyVersion combined with iam:SetDefaultPolicyVersion
Certain IAM permissions allow a user to escalate their privileges. Examples include iam:CreateAccessKey, iam:PutUserPolicy, iam:UpdateAssumeRolePolicy, and iam:CreatePolicyVersion. Let's evaluate the choices.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
iam:CreatePolicyVersion combined with iam:SetDefaultPolicyVersion
Why this is correct
Correct. Creating a new policy version with administrative permissions and setting it as default allows a user to escalate privileges.
- ✗
lambda:InvokeFunction and lambda:CreateFunctionUrl
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. These relate to Lambda execution, not IAM privilege escalation.
- ✗
s3:PutBucketPolicy and s3:GetObject
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. These are S3 data plane permissions, not IAM privilege escalation vectors.
- ✗
iam:CreateAccessKey and iam:PutUserPolicy
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. CreateAccessKey allows creating keys for other users, but PutUserPolicy allows attaching policies. Wait, iam:PutUserPolicy on oneself or another user is a privilege escalation vector. Let's check option combinations. Actually, iam:PutUserPolicy combined with other permissions or iam:CreatePolicy combined with iam:SetDefaultPolicyVersion are classic vectors. Let's look at option D and E.
- ✓
iam:PassRole combined with ec2:RunInstances
Why this is correct
Correct. If a user can pass an existing high-privilege role to a new EC2 instance they create, they can log into that instance and assume the role's permissions.
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.