AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (legacy) — Question 852

A user is trying to connect to a running EC2 instance using SSH. However, the user gets an Unprotected Private Key File error. Which of the below mentioned options can be a possible reason for rejection?

Answer options

• A. The private key file has the wrong file permission
• B. The ppk file used for SSH is read only
• C. The public key file has the wrong permission
• D. The user has provided the wrong user name for the OS login

Correct answer: A

Explanation

The 'Unprotected Private Key File' error occurs because SSH clients require private key files (such as .pem files) to have highly restrictive permissions, typically allowing read access only to the file owner (e.g., chmod 400). If the permissions are too permissive, the SSH client will refuse to use the key for security reasons. Incorrect usernames, public key permissions, or read-only .ppk files do not trigger this specific warning message.