VA-003 Assess Vault tokens Practice Question
A DevOps engineer notices that a long-running application using a Vault token fails after 24 hours. The token was created with a TTL of 48h. The token role has a default TTL of 48h and a max TTL of 72h. What is the most likely cause of the failure?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often mistakenly assume the role's TTL is the sole determinant, ignoring that mount-level and system-level TTLs can override it.
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 mount's max TTL for the token is 24h, overriding the role's setting.
The most likely cause is that the mount's max TTL for the token is set to 24h, which overrides the role's max TTL of 72h. In Vault, the effective TTL of a token is the minimum of the role's TTL, the mount's max TTL, and the system's max TTL. Since the token fails exactly after 24 hours, the mount's max TTL of 24h is the limiting factor, causing the token to expire even though the role allows up to 48h.
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 token was manually revoked by an administrator.
Why it's wrong here
No mention of manual revocation.
- ✗
The token was revoked due to a policy violation.
Why it's wrong here
There is no indication of a policy violation.
- ✗
The token is a batch token and cannot be renewed.
Why it's wrong here
Batch tokens are non-renewable but still last for their full TTL; a batch token with 48h TTL would not fail at 24h.
- ✓
The mount's max TTL for the token is 24h, overriding the role's setting.
Why this is correct
The mount's max TTL is applied first and can cause early expiration.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This VA-003 practice question is part of Courseiva's free HashiCorp 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 VA-003 exam.