SY0-501 Question #168: Real Exam Question with Answer & Explanation

Question

An attacker uses a network sniffer to capture the packets of a transaction that adds $20 to a gift card. The attacker then user a function of the sniffer to push those packets back onto the network again, adding another $20 to the gift card. This can be done many times. Which of the following describes this type of attack?

Options

• AInteger overflow attack
• BSmurf attack
• CReplay attack
• DBuffer overflow attack
• ECross-site scripting attack

Explanation

The described scenario, where an attacker captures legitimate transaction packets and retransmits them to repeat an action, is characteristic of a replay attack.

Common mistakes.

• A. An integer overflow attack occurs when a program attempts to store a numeric value larger than the data type allocated to it, leading to incorrect calculations or memory corruption, which is not what is depicted here.
• B. A Smurf attack is a type of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that uses ICMP echo requests with a spoofed source IP to flood a target, not related to retransmitting transaction data.
• D. A buffer overflow attack involves writing more data to a buffer than it can hold, overwriting adjacent memory and potentially executing malicious code, which is different from replaying network traffic.
• E. A cross-site scripting (XSS) attack involves injecting malicious client-side scripts into web pages to be executed by other users, primarily targeting web application vulnerabilities rather than network packet retransmission.

Concept tested. Network replay attack identification

Reference. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/secauthn/replay-attacks

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