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CISSP Practice Question: That they cannot access a file share after being…
A user reports that they cannot access a file share after being moved to a different department. The file share is secured with NTFS permissions and share permissions. The user is a member of the 'Marketing' group, but the file share is only accessible by 'Sales' group. What is the most likely reason?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often focus on the interplay between share and NTFS permissions (the 'most restrictive' rule) and overlook the simpler, more direct cause: the user simply does not belong to the required group, which is the foundational prerequisite for any access to be granted.
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 user is not a member of the Sales group
The user is unable to access the file share because the share is explicitly configured to allow access only to the 'Sales' group. Since the user has been moved to a different department and is now a member of 'Marketing' rather than 'Sales', they lack the necessary group membership. Even if share permissions were permissive, NTFS permissions would still need to grant access; however, the core issue is that the user is not in the required group. This is the most direct and likely reason for the access failure.
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 share permissions deny access to Marketing
Why it's wrong here
Share permissions are typically configured broadly, often granting 'Everyone' or 'Authenticated Users' full control, with granular access control delegated to NTFS permissions. It is less common for share permissions to explicitly deny a specific user group like Marketing, especially when the underlying issue points to a group membership requirement for access. Therefore, the share permissions are unlikely to be the primary cause of this specific access denial.
- ✓
The user is not a member of the Sales group
Why this is correct
This is the correct answer because access to file shares is governed by both share and NTFS permissions, with the most restrictive applying. If the file share's security configuration explicitly grants access only to members of the 'Sales' group, and the user in question belongs to the 'Marketing' group, they will be denied access. The user's lack of membership in the required 'Sales' group directly prevents them from satisfying the access control criteria.
- ✗
The user's account is disabled
Why it's wrong here
A disabled user account would prevent the user from logging in or accessing any network resources, not just a specific file share. The problem statement indicates the user can generally function but specifically cannot access *this particular file share*. There is no information provided to suggest a broader account issue, making a disabled account an unsupported and less specific explanation for the reported problem.
- ✗
The NTFS permissions deny access
Why it's wrong here
While the NTFS permissions ultimately deny access to the user, this option describes the *mechanism* of denial rather than the *root cause*. The NTFS permissions are likely correctly configured to grant access only to the 'Sales' group. The fundamental reason the user is denied is their lack of membership in the 'Sales' group, which is the prerequisite for satisfying the NTFS Access Control List (ACL) requirements. The issue isn't a misconfiguration of NTFS permissions, but rather the user's identity relative to those permissions.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISSP 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 CISSP exam.