hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CAS-004 Practice Question: A large enterprise recently migrated its critical…
A large enterprise recently migrated its critical applications to a hybrid cloud environment. The security team is concerned about the risk of privileged account abuse. They have implemented a privileged access management (PAM) solution that rotates passwords for service accounts after each use. However, during a incident response drill, the team discovers that an attacker who compromised a jump server was able to access multiple administrative consoles without re-authentication. Investigation reveals that the PAM solution uses session recording but does not enforce session termination; instead, it relies on the lifecycle of the token issued during initial authentication. The attacker captured a valid token and reused it from a different machine. Which of the following is the most effective remediation?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often choose to shorten token lifetimes (Option C) as a quick fix, overlooking that token binding is the only option that cryptographically ties the token to the client's TLS session, making it unreplayable from a different machine regardless of the token's lifetime.
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
✓
Implement token-binding by including the client's TLS certificate in the token
Token binding (RFC 8471) cryptographically ties the token to the client's TLS session, preventing an attacker from replaying a captured token from a different machine. Since the PAM solution does not enforce session termination, binding the token to the client's TLS certificate ensures that even if the token is stolen, it cannot be reused from any other endpoint, directly addressing the root cause of the token reuse attack.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Implement token-binding by including the client's TLS certificate in the token
Why this is correct
Token-binding binds the token to the device, ensuring it cannot be used elsewhere.
- ✗
Require multi-factor authentication at each console access
Why it's wrong here
Good but does not prevent token theft; MFA can be bypassed if token is still valid.
- ✗
Shorten the token lifetime to 30 seconds
Why it's wrong here
Impractical for operational use and still allows replay within that window.
- ✗
Deploy a host-based intrusion detection system on the jump server
Why it's wrong here
HIDS can detect but not prevent token reuse.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CAS-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CAS-005 exam.