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312-50V12 · Question #299

312-50V12 Question #299: Real Exam Question with Answer & Explanation

The correct answer is C: Downgrade security attack. The attack describes an attacker forcing a victim's device to connect using a less secure WPA2 protocol, despite WPA3 being available, to facilitate cracking the encryption.

Submitted by yuriko_h· Mar 4, 2026Wireless Network, Mobile, IoT, and OT Hacking

Question

An attacker identified that a user and an access point are both compatible with WPA2 and WPA3 encryption. The attacker installed a rogue access point with only WPA2 compatibility in the vicinity and forced the victim to go through the WPA2 four-way handshake to get connected. After the connection was established, the attacker used automated tools to crack WPA2-encrypted messages. What is the attack performed in the above scenario?

Options

  • ACache-based attack
  • BTiming-based attack
  • CDowngrade security attack
  • DSide-channel attack

Explanation

The attack describes an attacker forcing a victim's device to connect using a less secure WPA2 protocol, despite WPA3 being available, to facilitate cracking the encryption.

Common mistakes.

  • A. A cache-based attack exploits vulnerabilities related to a processor's cache memory to infer sensitive information, which is unrelated to manipulating network protocol negotiation.
  • B. A timing-based attack infers sensitive data by measuring the time taken for certain operations to complete, which is not the method described for forcing a protocol downgrade.
  • D. A side-channel attack extracts information from the physical implementation of a system (e.g., power consumption or electromagnetic emissions), rather than directly forcing a less secure cryptographic protocol.

Concept tested. Wi-Fi protocol downgrade attack

Reference. https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/security

Topics

#downgrade attack#WPA2#WPA3#wireless security#rogue access point

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