Pass CEH v13 312-50v13 exam [Aug 28, 2026] Updated 1102 Questions
ECCouncil 312-50v13 Actual Questions and 100% Cover Real Exam Questions
NEW QUESTION # 615
An experienced cyber attacker has created a fake Linkedin profile, successfully impersonating a high-ranking official from a well-established company, to execute a social engineering attack. The attacker then connected with other employees within the organization, receiving invitations to exclusive corporate events and gaining access to proprietary project details shared within the network. What advanced social engineering technique has the attacker primarily used to exploit the system and what is the most likely immediate threat to the organization?
- A. Spear Phishing and Spam
- B. Baiting and Involuntary Data Leakage
- C. Pretexting and Network Vulnerability
- D. Whaling and Targeted Attacks
Answer: D
Explanation:
Whaling is an advanced social engineering technique that targets high-profile individuals, such as executives, managers, or celebrities, by impersonating them or someone they trust, such as a colleague, partner, or vendor. The attacker creates a fake Linkedin profile, pretending to be a high-ranking official from a well- established company, and uses it to connect with other employees within the organization. The attacker then leverages the trust and authority of the fake profile to gain access to exclusive corporate events and proprietary project details shared within the network. This way, the attacker can launch targeted attacks against the organization, such as stealing sensitive data, compromising systems, or extorting money.
The most likely immediate threat to the organization is the loss of confidential information and intellectual property, which can damage the organization's reputation, competitiveness, and profitability. The attacker can also use the information to launch further attacks, such as ransomware, malware, or sabotage, against the organization or its partners and customers.
The other options are not as accurate as whaling for describing this scenario. Pretexting is a social engineering technique that involves creating a false scenario or identity to obtain information or access from a victim.
However, pretexting usually involves direct communication with the victim, such as a phone call or an email, rather than creating a fake Linkedin profile and connecting with the victim's network. Spear phishing is a social engineering technique that involves sending a personalized and targeted email to a specific individual or group, usually containing a malicious link or attachment. However, spear phishing does not involve creating a fake Linkedin profile and connecting with the victim's network. Baiting and involuntary data leakage are not social engineering techniques, but rather possible outcomes of social engineering attacks.
Baiting is a technique that involves offering something enticing to the victim, such as a free download, a gift card, or a job opportunity, in exchange for information or access. Involuntary data leakage is a situation where the victim unintentionally or unknowingly exposes sensitive information to the attacker, such as by clicking on a malicious link, opening an infected attachment, or using an unsecured network. References:
* Whaling: What is a whaling attack?
* Advanced Social Engineering Attack Techniques
* Top 8 Social Engineering Techniques and How to Prevent Them
NEW QUESTION # 616
What is CVSS used for?
- A. Exploitation
- B. Encryption
- C. Auditing
- D. Severity scoring
Answer: D
Explanation:
The correct answer is C, Severity scoring. CVSS stands for Common Vulnerability Scoring System. In CEH vulnerability analysis and vulnerability management topics, CVSS is used to measure and communicate how severe a vulnerability is. The CEH material explains that CVSS captures the principal characteristics of a vulnerability and produces a numerical score that reflects its severity. That score can then be translated into qualitative ratings such as low, medium, high, and critical, helping organizations assess and prioritize remediation activities. CVSS is not an encryption mechanism, because it does not protect data or perform cryptographic operations. It is also not exploitation, because it does not attack or take advantage of vulnerabilities. Auditing may use CVSS results as supporting evidence, but CVSS itself is specifically a scoring framework. Therefore, in this question, the best and most precise CEH-aligned answer is Severity scoring.
NEW QUESTION # 617
During an internal red team engagement, an operator discovers that TCP port 389 is open on a target system identified as a domain controller. To assess the extent of LDAP exposure, the operator runs the command ldapsearch -h < Target IP > -x -s base namingcontexts and receives a response revealing the base distinguished name (DN): DC=internal,DC=corp. This naming context indicates the root of the LDAP directory structure. With this discovery, the operator plans the next step to continue LDAP enumeration and expand visibility into users and objects in the domain. What is the most logical next action?
- A. Conduct an ARP scan on the local subnet
- B. Attempt an RDP login to the domain controller
- C. Launch a brute-force attack against user passwords via SMB
- D. Use the base DN in a filter to enumerate directory objects
Answer: D
Explanation:
Once the base DN is identified through LDAP namingContexts, CEH teaches that the next step in enumeration is to query the directory tree using this DN. This allows retrieval of users, groups, computers, and other AD objects. LDAP-based enumeration requires valid search filters rooted in the base DN.
NEW QUESTION # 618
You are conducting a security audit at a government agency. During your walkthrough, you observe a temporary contractor sitting in an open office area using their smartphone to discreetly record employees as they enter passwords into their systems. Upon further investigation, you find discarded documents in a nearby trash bin containing sensitive project information. What type of attack is most likely being performed?
- A. Distribution attack
- B. Insider attack
- C. Passive attack
- D. Close-in attack
Answer: C
Explanation:
The attacker is observing and collecting sensitive information without directly interacting with or altering systems, capturing data covertly through recording and discarded documents. This behavior aligns with a passive attack, where the goal is information gathering rather than system disruption.
NEW QUESTION # 619
During a security review, you have discovered that there are no documented security policies for the area you are assessing. Which of the following would be the most appropriate course of action?
- A. Stop the audit
- B. Create policies while testing
- C. Identify and evaluate current practices
- D. Increase the level of testing
Answer: C
Explanation:
The correct answer is C. Identify and evaluate current practices. In CEH-aligned security assessment concepts, a security audit/review is used to verify whether security policies and procedures are in place and being followed. If documented policies do not exist, the ethical hacker or auditor should not stop the audit or create policies during testing, because policy creation is a management/governance responsibility, not an assessor's role. Instead, the assessor should identify the organization's current practices, actual controls, informal procedures, and operational behavior, then evaluate them against accepted standards, baselines, legal requirements, and security best practices. CEH material also emphasizes that information security policies are a fundamental component of the security infrastructure and define requirements, rules, and controls for protecting organizational resources. The absence of policies should be documented as a finding, but the review can still continue by assessing what is currently being done in practice. Increasing testing does not address the governance gap. Thus, the best course is to identify and evaluate current practices.
NEW QUESTION # 620
During a security assessment, an attacker identifies a flaw in a multi-user file system. The system first verifies access rights to a temporary file created by a user. However, immediately after this verification, and before the file is processed, the attacker manages to swap the original file with a malicious version. This manipulation happens in the brief interval between the system's access verification and the moment it handles the file, resulting in the malicious file being treated as legitimate. Which vulnerability is the attacker exploiting?
- A. Time-of-validation/time-of-execution issue in resource management logic.
- B. Integer overflow during arithmetic computations with limited memory bounds.
- C. Improper certificate validation in trusted communication channels.
- D. Null pointer dereference leading to unexpected application behavior.
Answer: A
Explanation:
Comprehensive Explanation from CEH v13 Courseware:
CEH v13 explains that TOCTOU (Time-of-Check Time-of-Use) vulnerabilities arise when a system checks a condition (such as file permissions) and then later uses the resource based on that assumption. If there is even a tiny gap between the validation and the actual use, attackers can exploit this race condition by replacing or modifying the resource after validation but before execution. This is common in file-handling operations involving temporary files, symbolic links, or shared directories. CEH emphasizes that TOCTOU attacks often lead to privilege escalation, unauthorized execution, or tampering with data because the system trusts the earlier validation step. The attacker swaps the file at precisely the right moment, taking advantage of a race window. The other options-certificate validation, integer overflow, and null pointer dereference-do not involve timing-based race conditions. The scenario exactly matches CEH's description of TOCTOU exploitation, where attackers manipulate file access in the interval between validation and execution.
NEW QUESTION # 621
A hacker is analyzing a system that uses two rounds of symmetric encryption with different keys. To speed up key recovery, the attacker encrypts the known plaintext with all possible values of the first key and stores the intermediate ciphertexts. Then, they decrypt the final ciphertext using all possible values of the second key and compare the results to the stored values. Which cryptanalytic method does this approach represent?
- A. Flood memory with brute-forced credentials
- B. Use midpoint collision to identify key pair
- C. Reverse permutations to bypass encryption
- D. Scrape electromagnetic leakage for bits
Answer: B
Explanation:
CEH covers advanced cryptanalytic attacks, including Meet-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks, which are especially effective against multi-round symmetric encryption schemes. When an algorithm encrypts data twice using different keys, the naive brute-force method would require testing every possible combination of both keys-a time complexity of 2# × 2#. Meet-in-the-Middle dramatically reduces this complexity by splitting the problem in half. Attackers encrypt the plaintext using all potential values of the first key and store the results. They then decrypt the final ciphertext using all possible values of the second key. When an intermediate value matches one in storage, the corresponding key pair is identified. CEH highlights that this approach exploits the lack of key independence between two encryption layers, demonstrating how doubling encryption does not always double security. This attack is well-known for targeting 2DES, one of the historical examples covered in CEH. It is not related to side-channel attacks, brute-force flooding, or permutation reversal; it strictly relies on midpoint matching to reduce computational workload.
NEW QUESTION # 622
A penetration tester is running a vulnerability scan on a company's network. The scan identifies an open port with a high-severity vulnerability linked to outdated software. What is the most appropriate next step for the tester?
- A. Research the vulnerability and determine if it has a publicly available exploit
- B. Execute a denial-of-service (DoS) attack on the open port
- C. Ignore the vulnerability and focus on finding more vulnerabilities
- D. Perform a brute-force attack on the service running on the open port
Answer: A
Explanation:
CEH v13 outlines a structured approach to vulnerability assessment and exploitation. After identifying a high- severity vulnerability, the next critical step is verification and research, not immediate exploitation. This ensures accuracy, reduces false positives, and avoids unnecessary risk. CEH emphasizes that testers must validate vulnerability details, confirm version applicability, assess exploit availability (e.g., Metasploit, Exploit-DB), and evaluate potential impact. Attempting DoS attacks (Option A) is prohibited unless explicitly scoped and does not align with responsible testing. Brute-force attacks (Option B) are unrelated to software version vulnerabilities. Ignoring the issue (Option D) violates CEH methodology. The correct process is to research and verify-ensuring exploitation is safe, relevant, and authorized. This aligns with CEH's vulnerability management lifecycle: discovery # verification # prioritization # exploitation (when allowed) # reporting.
NEW QUESTION # 623
During a red team engagement at a law firm in Dallas, ethical hacker Sarah connects a compromised workstation to a core switch. Within minutes, the switch begins experiencing instability, and multiple VLANs report traffic leakage across isolated departments. Sarah observes that her machine is now receiving packets not originally destined for it, giving her visibility into multiple active sessions. Logs show the switch's CAM table was overwhelmed during the attack.
Which sniffing technique did Sarah most likely use?
- A. VLAN Hopping
- B. MAC Flooding
- C. DNS Poisoning
- D. ARP Poisoning
Answer: B
Explanation:
Overloading the switch's CAM table causes it to fail open, sending traffic from multiple VLANs to the attacker's port. This technique, known as MAC flooding, allows the attacker to sniff traffic not originally destined for their machine.
NEW QUESTION # 624
A penetration tester discovers that a Linux server accepts SSH connections but limits password authentication after several failed attempts. The tester already possesses the target organization's written authorization. Which action BEST balances efficiency and responsible assessment practices while attempting authenticated access?
- A. Use a distributed brute-force attack from multiple cloud providers.
- B. Attempt credential stuffing using publicly leaked password databases.
- C. Test a small, approved password list against known authorized accounts.
- D. Continuously randomize usernames to bypass account lockout mechanisms.
Answer: C
Explanation:
When explicit authorization exists, testing a limited, approved password list validates password strength without unnecessarily increasing operational risk. Distributed brute-force attacks and credential stuffing create excessive noise and may affect production services. Randomizing usernames does not address authentication controls and provides little value during a professional penetration test.
NEW QUESTION # 625
A company's customer data in a cloud environment has been exposed due to an unknown vulnerability.
Which type of issue most likely led to the incident?
- A. Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack on cloud servers
- B. Exploitation of misconfigured security groups
- C. Side-channel attack on the hypervisor
- D. Brute-force attack on user passwords
Answer: B
Explanation:
In CEH's Cloud Computing module, one of the most common real-world causes of cloud data exposure is misconfiguration, especially overly permissive network access controls. Cloud platforms commonly use constructs like security groups / firewall rules / network ACLs to define inbound and outbound access. CEH highlights that exposing sensitive services (databases, storage endpoints, admin panels) to the public internet- whether by "0.0.0.0/0" rules, overly broad ports, or unintended administrative access-frequently results in unauthorized access and data leakage even without sophisticated exploit chains.
Option D is therefore the most likely, because misconfigured security groups can directly expose customer data stores or management interfaces, enabling data theft through normal connectivity rather than exploiting a rare hypervisor flaw.
Option A (hypervisor side-channel attack) is advanced and less common; it typically requires high attacker capability and conditions not implied here. Option B (DoS) impacts availability, not confidentiality, so it doesn't best explain data exposure. Option C (brute force passwords) is possible, but the question emphasizes an "unknown vulnerability" in the cloud environment-CEH teaching often frames "unknown vulnerability" in cloud incidents as misconfiguration or uncontrolled exposure rather than authentication guessing alone.
CEH countermeasures include least-privilege security group rules, segmentation, continuous configuration monitoring, cloud security posture management, and auditing publicly exposed resources.
NEW QUESTION # 626
Following an attack on its mobile infrastructure, an e-commerce company is reconsidering its mobile security strategies. In an event where an attacker has been able to gain partial root access to the mobile application, which of these tactics will offer the most effective barrier to additional exploitation?
- A. Implementation of certificate pinning to protect against Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attacks.
- B. Implementing a mobile application management solution to control access rights and user permissions.
- C. Conducting regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing on the mobile application.
- D. Leveraging secure coding practices and automated code review processes in the development stage.
Answer: A
Explanation:
Certificate pinning ensures the mobile application only trusts specific server certificates, preventing attackers with partial root access from intercepting or manipulating traffic through man-in-the-middle techniques, thereby significantly limiting further exploitation paths.
NEW QUESTION # 627
Stella, a professional hacker, performs an attack on web services by exploiting a vulnerability that provides additional routing information in the SOAP header to support asynchronous communication. This further allows the transmission of web-service requests and response messages using different TCP connections. Which of the following attack techniques is used by Stella to compromise the web services?
- A. Web services parsing attacks
- B. XML injection
- C. SOAPAction spoofing
- D. WS-Address spoofing
Answer: D
NEW QUESTION # 628
A penetration tester evaluates a company's susceptibility to advanced social engineering attacks targeting its executive team. Using detailed knowledge of recent financial audits and ongoing projects, the tester crafts a highly credible pretext to deceive executives into revealing their network credentials. What is the most effective social engineering technique the tester should employ to obtain the necessary credentials without raising suspicion?
- A. Conduct a phone call posing as an external auditor requesting access to financial systems
- B. Send a mass phishing email with a link to a fake financial report
- C. Create a convincing fake email from the CFO asking for immediate credential verification
- D. Develop a spear-phishing email that references specific financial audit details and requests login confirmation
Answer: D
Explanation:
Spear-phishing is a targeted form of phishing that uses personalized and context-rich information to increase credibility. CEH emphasizes that referencing specific internal projects, financial data, or organizational events significantly raises the success rate when attacking high-value targets such as executives. This tailored approach avoids suspicion and exploits trust more effectively than broad or generic phishing attempts.
NEW QUESTION # 629
When you are getting information about a web server, it is very important to know the HTTP Methods (GET, POST, HEAD, PUT, DELETE, TRACE) that are available because there are two critical methods (PUT and DELETE). PUT can upload a file to the server and DELETE can delete a file from the server. You can detect all these methods (GET, POST, HEAD, DELETE, PUT, TRACE) using NMAP script engine. What Nmap script will help you with this task?
- A. http enum
- B. http-methods
- C. http-git
- D. http-headers
Answer: B
Explanation:
Nmap provides a scripting engine (NSE) that includes a script named http-methods. This script sends OPTIONS requests to the web server to determine which HTTP methods are supported. Identifying risky methods like PUT and DELETE helps detect misconfigured or vulnerable web servers.
Example command:
nmap --script http-methods -p 80 <target>
Reference - CEH v13 Official Study Guide:
Module 11: Hacking Web Applications
Quote:
"The Nmap script http-methods helps identify enabled HTTP methods including potentially dangerous ones like PUT and DELETE." Incorrect Options Explained:
B: http-enum is used to enumerate directories and applications, not methods.
C: http-headers retrieves HTTP headers.
D: http-git checks for Git repositories on web servers.
NEW QUESTION # 630
While assessing a web server's behavior, a tester sends malformed HTTP GET requests using unusual methods like "DELETE" and "OPTIONS" combined with long URI strings and observes varying status codes and response headers. The tester uses a tool that matches these responses against known patterns to deduce the server's software and version. Which technique is the tester employing?
- A. Sending phishing emails to extract web server login credentials.
- B. Injecting scripts into headers for persistent XSS attacks on the server-side.
- C. Fingerprinting server identity using banner-grabbing techniques.
- D. Conducting session fixation using malformed cookie headers targeting the web server.
Answer: C
Explanation:
By sending crafted HTTP requests and analyzing differences in response codes, headers, and behavior, the tester is matching server responses against known signatures to identify the underlying web server software and version. This is characteristic of server fingerprinting through banner-grabbing and response analysis.
NEW QUESTION # 631
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