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

Had the same issue but with a different root cause - was trying to create a bucket, and instead of getting a 404, got 403. As S3 is globally namespaced, someone else had created the bucket, so while I had the correct permissions and setup for my account, I still would get 403 from a HEAD request. Solution was to check if the bucket exists globally first, and if so, try a different bucket name.