Cloud-Security-Engineer Identity And Access Security Practice Question
Prisma Cloud detects an AWS IAM policy that allows the 'iam:PassRole' action combined with 'ec2:RunInstances' without resource constraints. Why is this combination flagged as a critical risk?
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
✓
It enables privilege escalation by launching instances with highly privileged IAM roles
Unrestricted PassRole and RunInstances allows an attacker to launch an EC2 instance and attach a highly privileged IAM role to it, gaining administrative access to the environment.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
It enables privilege escalation by launching instances with highly privileged IAM roles
Why this is correct
An attacker can pass a powerful role to a newly launched EC2 instance and assume that role's permissions.
- ✗
It exposes internal RDS database snapshots to the public internet
Why it's wrong here
PassRole does not directly expose database snapshots.
- ✗
It allows anyone to bypass AWS billing alerts
Why it's wrong here
Billing alerts are unrelated to IAM pass role permissions.
- ✗
It automatically disables AWS CloudTrail logging
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail cannot be disabled via instance launching permissions.
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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 Palo Alto Networks exam blueprint
This Cloud-Security-Engineer practice question is part of Courseiva's free Palo Alto Networks 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 Cloud-Security-Engineer exam.