hardMultiple Choice
200-201 Practice Question: Refer to the exhibit
Exhibit
Event: 1 Timestamp: 2023-04-10 14:23:45 Source IP: 10.0.1.5 Destination IP: 192.168.1.100 Signature: "SHELLCODE x86 NOOP Unspecified" Classification: Attempted Administrator Privilege Gain Priority: 1 Action: Alert
Refer to the exhibit. Based on the intrusion event, what is the likely intent of the traffic?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the ability to distinguish between attack types by focusing on payload characteristics—candidates may confuse a buffer overflow with a DoS because both involve excessive data, but the structured pattern of repeated characters is the key differentiator.
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
✓
Buffer overflow attempt
The intrusion event shows a long string of 'A' characters (0x41) being sent to an HTTP server, which is a classic pattern for a buffer overflow attack. The intent is to overflow a buffer in the web server software, potentially overwriting memory and executing arbitrary code, making D the correct answer.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Denial of service
Why it's wrong here
A denial-of-service intent requires volumetric or resource-exhaustion traffic, such as floods or repeated connection attempts, which the exhibit does not show. It is tempting because DoS is a common intrusion category, but it would be correct only where traffic volume or resource consumption overwhelms a target.
- ✗
Normal web browsing
Why it's wrong here
Normal web browsing would show standard HTTP or HTTPS request-response patterns to legitimate destinations, which the exhibited intrusion event does not match. It is tempting because benign traffic is a plausible explanation for network activity, but it would be correct only when the event lacks the scanning or exploit signatures present here.
- ✗
Port scan
Why it's wrong here
A port scan intent requires sequential or systematic probes across multiple ports to identify open services, which the exhibit does not demonstrate. It is tempting because scanning is a frequent precursor to attacks, but it would be correct only where the traffic pattern shows enumeration across a port range.
- ✓
Buffer overflow attempt
Why this is correct
Oversized input sent to a service that fails to bound-check its buffers causes memory corruption, letting an attacker overwrite adjacent memory and redirect execution. The exhibit's malformed, unusually long payload targeting a listening service is characteristic of this attempt to gain code execution or crash the process.
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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.