mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
200-201 Practice Question: During a PCAP analysis, an analyst sees an ICMP…
During a PCAP analysis, an analyst sees an ICMP echo reply packet that is larger than usual (2000 bytes). What is this likely indicating?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between a high-volume attack (like an ICMP flood or Smurf attack) and a malformed-packet attack (like Ping of Death), where the key indicator is the abnormal size of a single packet rather than the rate of packets.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Ping of death attempt
A standard ICMP echo reply packet has a payload of 56 bytes (or 64 bytes including the ICMP header) for a total IP packet size of 84 bytes. A 2000-byte ICMP echo reply exceeds the maximum allowed size for an ICMP packet (65535 bytes for IPv4, but typical implementations limit the data portion to much smaller values). This oversized packet is characteristic of a Ping of Death attack, where the attacker sends a malformed ICMP packet that, when reassembled, causes a buffer overflow on the target system, leading to a crash or denial of service.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
ICMP flood
Why it's wrong here
ICMP flood involves many packets, not a single large packet.
- ✗
Fragmented packet
Why it's wrong here
Fragmentation would split the packet, not just make it large.
- ✗
Smurf attack
Why it's wrong here
Smurf attack uses broadcast amplification, not large packets.
- ✓
Ping of death attempt
Why this is correct
Ping of death uses oversized ICMP packets to crash systems.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 979 original 200-201 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 200-201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 200-201 exam.