Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH v12) — Question 281

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?

Answer options

• A. Cache-based attack
• B. Timing-based attack
• C. Downgrade security attack
• D. Side-channel attack

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is 'Downgrade security attack' because the attacker forced the victim to connect using a less secure encryption method (WPA2) instead of the more secure option (WPA3). The other options, such as 'Cache-based attack' and 'Timing-based attack', do not apply to this scenario as they relate to different types of vulnerabilities and exploit techniques.