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CCSP Practice Question: A security analyst is using a cloud security…

A security analyst is using a cloud security posture management (CSPM) tool that reports a finding of "storage bucket publicly accessible." However, upon manual inspection, the bucket's ACL and bucket policy both restrict access to authorized users only. What is the most likely cause of the false positive?

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 contains objects with public ACLs

CSPM tools can scan individual object ACLs within a bucket. If objects have public ACLs (e.g., read access to AllUsers), the tool may flag the bucket as publicly accessible even if the bucket-level policy restricts access. Option A (different region) is irrelevant as CSPM tools evaluate access controls regardless of region. Option B (policy syntax error) would likely cause an error, not a false positive of public access. Option D (CSPM misconfiguration) is possible but less likely since the specific object-level ACL is a common cause of such false positives.

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 is in a different region

    Why it's wrong here

    Region does not affect access permissions.

  • The bucket policy has a syntax error

    Why it's wrong here

    A syntax error would likely cause a different error, not a false positive.

  • The bucket contains objects with public ACLs

    Why this is correct

    Object-level ACLs can override bucket-level settings and cause a public access finding.

  • The CSPM tool is misconfigured

    Why it's wrong here

    Misconfiguration is possible but not the most likely cause.

Visual reference

Source Router + ACL permit 10.0.0.0/8 deny any Server 10.0.0.5 ✓ 192.168.1.1 ✗ dropped ACLs evaluate top-down; first match wins — implicit deny all at end

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JA

Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security

Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva

This CCSP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 CCSP exam.