CVA CVA Operating System & Host-Based Vulnerabilities

Question 1

What is privilege escalation in the context of operating system security?

Accepted Answer

Gaining higher-level permissions than originally granted to a user or process

Answer

Encrypting files to prevent unauthorized access

Answer

Patching a known OS vulnerability to close an attack surface

Answer

Auditing user accounts to enforce least privilege

Question 2

Which Windows security feature marks memory regions as non-executable to help prevent code injection attacks?

Accepted Answer

Data Execution Prevention (DEP)

Answer

Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)

Answer

Control Flow Guard (CFG)

Answer

Secure Boot

Question 3

What is the primary purpose of Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)?

Accepted Answer

To randomize memory addresses of key data areas, making exploitation harder

Answer

To encrypt sensitive data stored in RAM

Answer

To detect and remove rootkits from kernel memory

Answer

To enforce access control lists on system files

Question 4

Which Linux command is used to display currently running processes along with their resource usage?

Accepted Answer

top or ps aux

Answer

netstat -an

Answer

lsof -i

Answer

uname -a

Question 5

What best describes a rootkit in the context of host-based vulnerabilities?

Accepted Answer

Malware designed to hide its presence and maintain persistent privileged access

Answer

A script that automates software patch deployment

Answer

A tool used to scan for open ports on a target host

Answer

An encrypted partition used to protect sensitive operating system files

Question 6

Which Linux configuration file defines which users and groups have sudo (superuser) privileges?

Accepted Answer

/etc/sudoers

Answer

/etc/passwd

Answer

/etc/shadow

Answer

/etc/group

Question 7

Which Windows registry hive stores machine-wide configuration settings applicable to all users?

Accepted Answer

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM)

Answer

HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKCU)

Answer

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (HKCR)

Answer

HKEY_USERS (HKU)