This EX294 practice question tests your understanding of manage automation security and operations. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A playbook fails with 'ERROR! 'become' is not a valid attribute for a Play'. What is the most likely cause?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
The playbook lacks a hosts line
Why wrong: Missing hosts causes a different error.
The become directive is misspelled
Why wrong: The correct attribute name is 'become', not misspelling.
become is allowed only in tasks, not plays
Why wrong: become can be set at play level.
The playbook uses an older syntax that requires 'sudo'
Older Ansible used 'sudo: yes' instead of 'become: yes'.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
The playbook uses an older syntax that requires 'sudo'
Option D is correct because in older versions of Ansible (prior to 2.0), privilege escalation was handled using the 'sudo' keyword at the play level. The error 'become' is not a valid attribute for a Play' indicates that the playbook is using the modern 'become' directive at the play level, but the installed Ansible version (likely 1.x) does not support it. The correct syntax for that version would be 'sudo: yes'.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
The playbook lacks a hosts line
Why it's wrong here
Missing hosts causes a different error.
The become directive is misspelled
Why it's wrong here
The correct attribute name is 'become', not misspelling.
become is allowed only in tasks, not plays
Why it's wrong here
become can be set at play level.
The playbook uses an older syntax that requires 'sudo'
Why this is correct
Older Ansible used 'sudo: yes' instead of 'become: yes'.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates familiar with modern Ansible assume 'become' is universally valid, forgetting that EX294 covers RHEL 8 which ships with Ansible 2.9, but the question deliberately references an older version to test knowledge of version-specific syntax changes.
Detailed technical explanation
Ansible 2.0 introduced the unified 'become' system to replace the older 'sudo', 'su', and 'pbrun' directives. Under the hood, the play parser validates attributes against a whitelist of allowed keys per context (play vs task). In Ansible 1.x, 'become' is not in that whitelist for plays, causing the fatal parse error. A real-world scenario is maintaining legacy automation infrastructure where some controllers run Ansible 1.9.x and others 2.x, requiring conditional syntax or migration scripts.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A junior network technician can log in to a core router but cannot reach the enable prompt or configuration mode. The AAA server is authenticating the login — but the authorisation policy only grants privilege level 1, not 15. Authentication (who you are) is working; authorisation (what you can do) is not.
What to study next
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FAQ
Manage automation security and operations — This question tests Manage automation security and operations — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: The playbook uses an older syntax that requires 'sudo' — Option D is correct because in older versions of Ansible (prior to 2.0), privilege escalation was handled using the 'sudo' keyword at the play level. The error 'become' is not a valid attribute for a Play' indicates that the playbook is using the modern 'become' directive at the play level, but the installed Ansible version (likely 1.x) does not support it. The correct syntax for that version would be 'sudo: yes'.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
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