403 forbidden error on S3 REST API HEAD request

Question

Im trying do do a HEAD Object request to the S3 REST API but I keep getting a 403 Forbidden error, even though I have the policy setup with the necessary permissions on S3.

Answer 1

Additional comment on @Michael-sqlbot 's answer above ...

I faced the identical symptoms but I had a different root cause.

If you are trying to HEAD a file which does not exist, then this will also return a 403-forbidden error, UNLESS you have the s3:ListBucket permission.

In my case, I had the s3.GetObject, s3.PutObject, and s3.HeadBucket permissions, but it wasn't until I added s3.ListBucket that I got the correct 404 - not found error.

This is also explained here: https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/s3-rest-api-cloudfront-error-403/