Cloud Security Assessment and Penetration Testing CSE Practice Questions (Page 9)

Questions 41–45

1. 41application · medium

   A penetration tester is conducting a test on a customer's GCP environment. The tester has been given access to a service account with 'Compute Admin' role. The tester wants to test for privilege escalation by creating a new VM with a custom service account that has broader permissions. What is the most appropriate action?

   • AUse the 'Compute Admin' role to modify the existing VM's service account to 'Owner' and then test the permissions.
   • BAttempt to access the GCP metadata server to retrieve the default service account's token.
   • CCreate a VM with a service account that has 'Owner' role to test if the tester can escalate privileges beyond the granted scope.
   • DRefrain from creating a VM with a broader service account because it might violate the testing agreement.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
2. 42application · medium

   A penetration tester is conducting an assessment of a cloud application hosted on AWS. The tester has completed reconnaissance and identified an S3 bucket that appears to be publicly writable. What is the next most appropriate step in the methodology?

   • AMove on to test other resources and include the bucket in the final report.
   • BDelete a file from the bucket to prove the vulnerability is critical.
   • CAttempt to upload a harmless test file to the bucket to confirm write access.
   • DImmediately report the finding to the client and stop testing.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
4. 43application · medium

   After a cloud penetration test, the tester has identified several vulnerabilities, including a critical one that allows unauthorized access to a management API. The client wants to know which vulnerability to fix first. What should the tester recommend?

   • AFix the critical vulnerability that allows unauthorized access to the management API first.
   • BFix all vulnerabilities at the same time to ensure comprehensive remediation.
   • CFix the easiest vulnerabilities first to build momentum.
   • DWait for the next scheduled maintenance window to fix all vulnerabilities.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
5. 44application · medium

   A company wants to assess the security of its multi-cloud environment (AWS and Azure) before a major compliance audit. The security team has limited time and budget. They need to identify high-risk misconfigurations across both platforms. Which type of security assessment is most appropriate?

   • AA cloud security posture assessment using CSPM tools to scan for misconfigurations.
   • BA manual review of all cloud resource settings by the security team.
   • CA vulnerability scan of all public-facing IP addresses from the internet.
   • DA full penetration test of all applications and infrastructure in both clouds.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
6. 45expert · hard

   A penetration tester is assessing a cloud environment that uses Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) for authentication. The tester has been given credentials for a low-privileged user account. The goal is to determine if the user can escalate privileges to access sensitive resources. Which technique is most appropriate?

   • AAttempt to brute-force the passwords of other users.
   • BRequest a new password for the user account from the help desk.
   • CUse a network scanner to find open ports on Azure AD's infrastructure.
   • DEnumerate Azure AD roles and permissions assigned to the user account.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first