GSEC · Question #89
In trace route results, what is the significance of an * result?
The correct answer is D. No reply was received for a particular hop. In traceroute output, an asterisk (*) indicates that no ICMP TTL-exceeded response was received from a hop within the timeout window.
Question
In trace route results, what is the significance of an * result?
Options
- AA listening port was identified.
- BA reply was returned in less than a second.
- CThe target host was successfully reached.
- DNo reply was received for a particular hop.
How the community answered
(31 responses)- A16% (5)
- B6% (2)
- C3% (1)
- D74% (23)
Why each option
In traceroute output, an asterisk (*) indicates that no ICMP TTL-exceeded response was received from a hop within the timeout window.
Open listening ports are identified by port scanners like nmap, not by traceroute hop results.
Traceroute measures round-trip time in milliseconds and displays numeric values for fast replies, not an asterisk.
Successful target host reachability is shown by a final hop returning the destination IP with a response time, not an asterisk.
Each traceroute probe sends a packet with an incrementing TTL value; when a router decrements TTL to zero it should return an ICMP 'Time Exceeded' message. An asterisk means that message never arrived - either the router is configured to drop ICMP, a firewall is blocking the response, or the packet was lost - so no reply was received for that specific hop.
Concept tested: Traceroute output interpretation and ICMP TTL
Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/tracert
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