CSSLP Timed Practice Test 3 — 10 Questions

Question 1

You are auditing a design that uses JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) for stateless authentication. Which vulnerability is most critical if the 'alg: none' attack is possible?

Accepted Answer

Token signature bypass/forgery.. The 'alg: none' vulnerability allows an attacker to forge tokens by telling the server to skip signature verification.

Answer

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF).

Answer

Broken object-level authorization.

Answer

Insecure cookie flags.

Question 2

During threat modeling, you are asked to classify data sensitivity. Which outcome is the primary goal of this activity?

Accepted Answer

To identify which security controls and protection levels are required for specific data assets.. Data classification allows for the application of appropriate security controls based on the data's risk profile.

Answer

To identify the database engine version.

Answer

To automate the backup frequency of the database.

Answer

To determine which data needs to be deleted periodically.

Question 3

When conducting a secure design review, which activity provides the most insight into potential session management vulnerabilities?

Accepted Answer

Analyzing the implementation of HttpOnly and Secure flags on session cookies.. Session management is best reviewed by analyzing the cookie attributes and token handling flows.

Answer

Checking for SQL injection in login forms.

Answer

Reviewing the database schema for password hashing algorithms.

Answer

Verifying the presence of a Web Application Firewall (WAF).

Question 4

During a threat model, you identify a risk related to 'Broken Access Control'. Which design mitigation is best suited for this?

Accepted Answer

Enforcing centralized, server-side authorization checks for every request.. Policy-based access control (RBAC or ABAC) ensures users only access resources they are authorized to.

Answer

Using HTTPS for all communications.

Answer

Implementing a strong password policy.

Answer

Relying on client-side hidden fields to identify user roles.

Question 5

Which design principle is exemplified by implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to inspect incoming traffic before it hits the application logic?

Accepted Answer

Defense in depth.. Defense in depth uses multiple layers of security to protect assets, ensuring that one failure does not lead to a total compromise.

Answer

Fail-safe defaults.

Answer

Complete mediation.

Answer

Economy of mechanism.

Question 6

You are designing a system to comply with 'Fail-Safe Defaults'. Which configuration best reflects this?

Accepted Answer

If the authorization check fails, explicitly deny the request.. Fail-safe defaults mean that if an error or crash occurs, the system defaults to the most secure state (e.g., access denied).

Answer

If the authentication service is down, allow access to all users.

Answer

If the firewall fails, allow all traffic to pass through.

Answer

Default all new user accounts to 'Administrator' role.

Answer

If the load balancer times out, bypass the application logic.

Question 7

To ensure secure deployment of software artifacts, you must verify the integrity of the binaries. Which mechanism is most effective for ensuring that artifacts have not been tampered with since they were signed by the build system?

Accepted Answer

Verify the digital signature using a trusted public key from your organization's key store.. Cryptographic signing (such as GPG or Cosign for containers) creates a verifiable link between the source code and the binary.

Answer

Check the file timestamp using the operating system's file system metadata.

Answer

Upload the artifact to a public VirusTotal scan before deploying.

Answer

Compare the file size of the artifact with the size listed in the manifest file.

Question 8

In a cloud-native environment, which design practice minimizes the impact of a compromised container?

Accepted Answer

Enforcing read-only root filesystems for containers.. Containers should be designed to be immutable and run with minimal privileges, reducing the blast radius.

Answer

Storing secret keys as environment variables in the container spec.

Answer

Running the application process as the root user.

Answer

Using a single large image for all microservices.

Question 9

Your team is adopting a 'Secure by Default' posture. Which design requirement should be included in the development specification?

Accepted Answer

Disabling all unused services and ports in the production container image.. Secure by default means security controls are enabled without user intervention, such as disabling unnecessary features.

Answer

Allowing administrative access to all users by default.

Answer

Using self-signed certificates in the development environment only.

Answer

Providing a configuration wizard to enable SSL after deployment.

Question 10

What is the primary goal of the 'Principle of Least Privilege' (PoLP)?

Accepted Answer

To restrict access to the minimum necessary for a task.. PoLP ensures that entities are granted only the minimum level of access required to perform their functions.

Answer

To simplify administrative tasks by giving everyone full access.

Answer

To ensure that security controls are invisible to users.

Answer

To provide all users with the same set of permissions.

Answer

To automatically grant permissions based on time of day.