A company wants to reduce the risk of exploitation from known vulnerabilities in its web servers. Which mitigation strategy is most directly effective?

Increase the number of web servers

Use stronger passwords for user accounts

Regularly apply security patches

A penetration tester has gained access to a Windows machine as a low-privileged user. The tester wants to escalate privileges to administrator and then maintain access. Which tool or technique would be most appropriate for the privilege escalation step?

Use a credential harvesting tool to capture passwords from memory.

Use a port scanner to identify other services on the network.

Use a remote access trojan to establish a persistent connection.

Use a local privilege escalation exploit such as a kernel vulnerability or a service misconfiguration.

A company is implementing a defense-in-depth strategy for its web application. The application is publicly accessible and handles sensitive user data. The security team has limited budget and must choose between two controls: a web application firewall (WAF) or an intrusion detection system (IDS). Which approach best balances the need for prevention and detection within the budget constraint?

Deploy the WAF because it can block attacks in real time, and use the existing server logs for detection.

Deploy neither and rely on the existing firewall.

Deploy the IDS because it provides detailed alerts, and rely on the existing firewall for prevention.

Deploy both the WAF and the IDS, exceeding the budget.

A penetration tester is performing an assessment of a network. The tester has completed enumeration and vulnerability analysis and has identified a critical vulnerability in a web application. However, the tester also notices that the application is protected by a web application firewall (WAF) that is known to block common exploit attempts. Which approach should the tester take to successfully exploit the vulnerability?

Look for ways to bypass the WAF, such as encoding the payload

Attempt the exploit directly and hope the WAF does not block it

Disable the WAF by exploiting a different vulnerability

Abandon the exploitation phase and report the vulnerability

GIAC Foundational Cybersecurity Technologies

Domain 6Objective 1

Exploitation & Mitigation GFACT Practice Questions (Page 3)

Part of the Offensive Security and Defense domain, which makes up ~25% of our current practice bank. GIAC (SANS) does not publish an official question count, but from its 120-minute exam (~50–80 total, ~13–20 in this domain), expect 7–10 from this objective — we provide 47 practice questions to prepare you well beyond it. (estimate)

47questions here

10free pages

7concepts

Questions 11–15

11application · medium
A company wants to reduce the risk of exploitation from known vulnerabilities in its web servers. Which mitigation strategy is most directly effective?
Select an answer first
12application · medium
A penetration tester has gained access to a Windows machine as a low-privileged user. The tester wants to escalate privileges to administrator and then maintain access. Which tool or technique would be most appropriate for the privilege escalation step?
Select an answer first
13expert · hard
A company is implementing a defense-in-depth strategy for its web application. The application is publicly accessible and handles sensitive user data. The security team has limited budget and must choose between two controls: a web application firewall (WAF) or an intrusion detection system (IDS). Which approach best balances the need for prevention and detection within the budget constraint?
Select an answer first
14expert · hard
A penetration tester is performing an assessment of a network. The tester has completed enumeration and vulnerability analysis and has identified a critical vulnerability in a web application. However, the tester also notices that the application is protected by a web application firewall (WAF) that is known to block common exploit attempts. Which approach should the tester take to successfully exploit the vulnerability?
Select an answer first
15foundation · easy
Which technique is commonly used by attackers to escalate privileges from a standard user to an administrator by taking advantage of a misconfigured service that runs with elevated privileges?
Select an answer first

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Exploitation & Mitigation GFACT Practice Questions (Page 3)

Questions 11–15

A company wants to reduce the risk of exploitation from known vulnerabilities in its web servers. Which mitigation strategy is most directly effective?

A penetration tester has gained access to a Windows machine as a low-privileged user. The tester wants to escalate privileges to administrator and then maintain access. Which tool or technique would be most appropriate for the privilege escalation step?

Which technique is commonly used by attackers to escalate privileges from a standard user to an administrator by taking advantage of a misconfigured service that runs with elevated privileges?

Keep studying — Offensive Security and Defense