PT0-002 Vulnerability Discovery and Analysis Practice Question
A penetration tester has captured a WPA2 handshake. Which tool from the Aircrack-ng suite is used to crack the pre-shared key?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the tool that captures the handshake (airodump-ng) or the tool that forces the handshake (aireplay-ng) with the tool that actually performs the cryptographic cracking (aircrack-ng), leading them to select a wrong option.
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
✓
aircrack-ng
Aircrack-ng (option D) is the tool in the Aircrack-ng suite specifically designed to crack WPA2 pre-shared keys (PSK) by performing an offline dictionary or brute-force attack against the captured four-way handshake. It uses the handshake data (specifically the EAPOL frames) to derive the Pairwise Master Key (PMK) and verify it against candidate passphrases, making it the correct choice for this task.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
airmon-ng
Why it's wrong here
airmon-ng enables monitor mode on wireless interfaces.
- ✗
airodump-ng
Why it's wrong here
airodump-ng captures packets, does not crack.
- ✗
aireplay-ng
Why it's wrong here
aireplay-ng injects packets for deauth/ARP replay, not cracking.
- ✓
aircrack-ng
Why this is correct
Correct: cracks WEP and WPA keys from captured handshakes.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PT0-003 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 PT0-003 exam.