AWS CLI S3 A client error (403) occurred when calling the HeadObject operation: Forbidden

Question

I'm trying to set up an Amazon Linux AMI(ami-f0091d91) and have a script that runs a copy command to copy from an S3 bucket.

aws --debug s3 cp s3://aws-codedeploy-us-west-2/latest/codedeploy-agent.noarch.rpm.

This script works perfectly on my local machine but fails with the following error on the Amazon Image:

2016-03-22 01:07:47,110 - MainThread - botocore.auth - DEBUG - StringToSign:
HEAD
Tue, 22 Mar 2016 01:07:47 GMT
x-amz-security-token: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
/aws-codedeploy-us-west-2/latest/codedeploy-agent.noarch.rpm
2016-03-22 01:07:47,111 - MainThread - botocore.endpoint - DEBUG - Sending http request: 
2016-03-22 01:07:47,111 - MainThread - botocore.vendored.requests.packages.urllib3.connectionpool - INFO - Starting new HTTPS connection (1): aws-codedeploy-us-west-2.s3.amazonaws.com
2016-03-22 01:07:47,151 - MainThread - botocore.vendored.requests.packages.urllib3.connectionpool - DEBUG - "HEAD /latest/codedeploy-agent.noarch.rpm HTTP/1.1" 403 0
2016-03-22 01:07:47,151 - MainThread - botocore.parsers - DEBUG - Response headers: {'x-amz-id-2': '0mRvGge9ugu+KKyDmROm4jcTa1hAnA5Ax8vUlkKZXoJ//HVJAKxbpFHvOGaqiECa4sgon2F1kXw=', 'server': 'AmazonS3', 'transfer-encoding': 'chunked', 'x-amz-request-id': '6204CD88E880E5DD', 'date': 'Tue, 22 Mar 2016 01:07:46 GMT', 'content-type': 'application/xml'}
2016-03-22 01:07:47,152 - MainThread - botocore.parsers - DEBUG - Response body:
2016-03-22 01:07:47,152 - MainThread - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event needs-retry.s3.HeadObject: calling handler 
2016-03-22 01:07:47,152 - MainThread - botocore.retryhandler - DEBUG - No retry needed.
2016-03-22 01:07:47,152 - MainThread - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event after-call.s3.HeadObject: calling handler 
2016-03-22 01:07:47,152 - MainThread - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event after-call.s3.HeadObject: calling handler 
2016-03-22 01:07:47,152 - MainThread - awscli.errorhandler - DEBUG - HTTP Response Code: 403
2016-03-22 01:07:47,152 - MainThread - awscli.customizations.s3.s3handler - DEBUG - Exception caught during task execution: A client error (403) occurred when calling the HeadObject operation: Forbidden
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/awscli/customizations/s3/s3handler.py", line 100, in call
    total_files, total_parts = self._enqueue_tasks(files)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/awscli/customizations/s3/s3handler.py", line 178, in _enqueue_tasks
    for filename in files:
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/awscli/customizations/s3/fileinfobuilder.py", line 31, in call
    for file_base in files:
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/awscli/customizations/s3/filegenerator.py", line 142, in call
    for src_path, extra_information in file_iterator:
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/awscli/customizations/s3/filegenerator.py", line 314, in list_objects
    yield self._list_single_object(s3_path)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/awscli/customizations/s3/filegenerator.py", line 343, in _list_single_object
    response = self._client.head_object(**params)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/botocore/client.py", line 228, in _api_call
    return self._make_api_call(operation_name, kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/botocore/client.py", line 488, in _make_api_call
    model=operation_model, context=request_context
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/botocore/hooks.py", line 226, in emit
    return self._emit(event_name, kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/botocore/hooks.py", line 209, in _emit
    response = handler(**kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/awscli/errorhandler.py", line 70, in __call__
    http_status_code=http_response.status_code)
ClientError: A client error (403) occurred when calling the HeadObject operation: Forbidden
2016-03-22 01:07:47,153 - Thread-1 - awscli.customizations.s3.executor - DEBUG - Received print task: PrintTask(message='A client error (403) occurred when calling the HeadObject operation: Forbidden', error=True, total_parts=None, warning=None)
A client error (403) occurred when calling the HeadObject operation: Forbidden

However, when I run it with the --no-sign-request option, it works perfectly:

aws --debug --no-sign-request s3 cp s3://aws-codedeploy-us-west-2/latest/codedeploy-agent.noarch.rpm .

Can someone please explain what is going on? And why getting an error occurred (403) when calling the headobject operation: forbidden

Matthew Taylor · Accepted Answer

First, check whether your attached policy provides complete access to S3 and also to access objects within a S3 bucket, you have to provide this in the policy:

  “Resource”:"arn:aws:s3:::BUCKET_NAME/*"

Rather than this,

"Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::BUCKET_NAME"

The first statement allows complete access to all the objects available in the given S3 bucket.

If this is not the problem, then check whether the EC2 instances and the buckets are in the same regions. If they are not in the same regions, then it will raise errors. So, make sure EC2 instances and the buckets are in the same regions.

This will remove error occurred (403) when calling the headobject operation: forbidden

Ranjana Admin · Answer

The error "A Client Error (403) Occurred When Calling The HeadObject Operation: Forbidden" in AWS CLI indicates that you don't have the necessary permissions to perform the HeadObject operation on the specified S3 object. This can be due to several reasons related to permissions and access controls. Here are some common causes and solutions:

1. IAM Policies

Ensure that the IAM user or role you are using has the necessary permissions to access the S3 object. Specifically, you need the s3:GetObject permission. Here’s an example IAM policy that grants read access to all objects in a specific bucket:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "s3:GetObject",
            "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::your-bucket-name/*"
        }
    ]
}

2. Bucket Policy

The bucket policy should allow access to the objects within the bucket. Here’s an example bucket policy that grants read access to all objects in the bucket for a specific IAM user or role:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Principal": {
                "AWS": "arn:aws:iam::account-id:role/role-name-or-user-name"
            },
            "Action": "s3:GetObject",
            "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::your-bucket-name/*"
        }
    ]}3. Object ACLs

Ensure that the object's Access Control List (ACL) allows the desired action. You can check and modify the ACL of an object using the AWS CLI:

  aws s3api get-object-acl --bucket your-bucket-name --key object-key

To update the ACL:

AWS CLI S3 A client error (403) occurred when calling the HeadObject operation: Forbidden

About this question

Your answer

2 Answers

More AWS discussions

Learn & Explore

AWS Tutorials

AWS Interview Q&A

Latest AWS Blogs

Want answers to more AWS questions?

Stay in the loop — it’s free

You’re on the list!