Answer: USAGE

The minimum privilege required to access a file URL from an external stage is USAGE. This is explicitly stated in Snowflake documentation for the BUILD_STAGE_FILE_URL function, which is used to generate URLs for files in external stages. The community discussion shows 100% consensus on answer D (USAGE), with multiple comments referencing official Snowflake documentation that confirms USAGE is the required privilege. For internal stages, READ privilege would be needed, but for external stages specifically, USAGE is sufficient and represents the minimum permission level.

Author: LeetQuiz Editorial Team