200-901 Application Deployment and Security Practice Question
This 200-901 practice question tests your understanding of application deployment and security. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Network Topology
Refer to the exhibit. What is the most effective action to eliminate both vulnerabilities in the container image?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Switch the base image to a distroless base image that does not include openssl and curl.
Option D is correct because switching to a distroless base image removes unnecessary packages like openssl and curl entirely, eliminating the vulnerabilities they introduce. Distroless images contain only the application and its runtime dependencies, reducing the attack surface by excluding OS package managers and shell utilities that are common sources of CVEs. This approach directly addresses both vulnerabilities by ensuring the vulnerable components are not present in the image at all.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Rebuild the image using the same base image but update the OS packages.
Why it's wrong here
May not fully eliminate if the base image still contains the vulnerable libraries.
✗
Add a .dockerignore file to exclude vulnerable libraries.
Why it's wrong here
Does not affect the base image contents.
✗
Only run the container with read-only root filesystem.
Why it's wrong here
Does not remove vulnerabilities.
✓
Switch the base image to a distroless base image that does not include openssl and curl.
Why this is correct
Removes these libraries entirely, as they are not needed by the application.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the misconception that updating packages (Option A) is sufficient, when the real goal is to eliminate the vulnerable components entirely, not just patch them.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Distroless images, such as those provided by Google (e.g., gcr.io/distroless/base), are built using a minimal set of libraries (typically glibc, libssl, and libcrypto) but omit package managers, shells, and utilities like curl or openssl. This reduces the image size and eliminates entire classes of vulnerabilities because there is no way to install or run additional software. In practice, this means that even if a CVE is disclosed for openssl, the distroless image is unaffected because the openssl binary is not present—only the shared libraries needed by the application runtime are included.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Application Deployment and Security — This question tests Application Deployment and Security — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Switch the base image to a distroless base image that does not include openssl and curl. — Option D is correct because switching to a distroless base image removes unnecessary packages like openssl and curl entirely, eliminating the vulnerabilities they introduce. Distroless images contain only the application and its runtime dependencies, reducing the attack surface by excluding OS package managers and shell utilities that are common sources of CVEs. This approach directly addresses both vulnerabilities by ensuring the vulnerable components are not present in the image at all.
What should I do if I get this 200-901 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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