hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
Kerberoasting Attack — Cracking Service Account Passwords
During an internal penetration test, a tester gains access to a domain-joined Windows 10 workstation as a local administrator. The tester wants to escalate privileges to Domain Admin. Which attack involves requesting Kerberos service tickets that can be cracked offline to reveal the plaintext password of a service account?
Quick Answer
The answer is Kerberoasting, which is the correct attack for cracking service account passwords offline after requesting Kerberos service tickets. This technique works because service accounts registered with Service Principal Names (SPNs) in Active Directory have their TGS-REP tickets encrypted using the account’s NTLM hash, allowing an attacker with local administrator access on a domain-joined workstation to extract these tickets using tools like Rubeus or Impacket and crack them offline to reveal the plaintext password. On the CompTIA PenTest+ PT0-002 exam, this question tests your understanding of post-exploitation privilege escalation, often appearing as a scenario where you’ve gained initial foothold and need to move laterally or escalate to Domain Admin. A common trap is confusing Kerberoasting with AS-REP roasting—remember that Kerberoasting targets service tickets (TGS), not authentication requests (AS-REP). Memory tip: “Kerberos tickets for services, crack the hash to get the keys.”
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA often tests Kerberoasting by contrasting it with pass-the-hash, where candidates mistakenly think pass-the-hash involves cracking hashes offline, but it actually reuses the hash directly for authentication without offline cracking.
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
✓
Kerberoasting
Kerberoasting is the correct attack because it involves requesting Kerberos service tickets (TGS-REP) for service accounts registered with Service Principal Names (SPNs) in Active Directory. These tickets are encrypted with the service account's NTLM hash, which can be cracked offline to reveal the plaintext password. Since the tester has local administrator access on a domain-joined workstation, they can use tools like Rubeus or Impacket to request these tickets without needing domain admin privileges initially.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Pass-the-hash
Why it's wrong here
This attack uses captured NTLM hashes to authenticate, not by cracking tickets.
- ✓
Kerberoasting
Why this is correct
This attack requests and cracks Kerberos service tickets to obtain service account passwords.
- ✗
Golden ticket
Why it's wrong here
This forges a TGT using the krbtgt hash, allowing domain-wide access, but does not involve cracking.
- ✗
Silver ticket
Why it's wrong here
This forges a TGS ticket using a service account hash, but does not involve cracking the hash.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on PT0-003
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A penetration tester has gained access to a Windows domain and wants to perform a Kerberoasting attack. Which account privileges are required to request service tickets for Kerberoasting?
medium- A.Domain Admin
- ✓ B.Any domain user
- C.Local Administrator on the domain controller
- D.Enterprise Admin
Why B: Kerberoasting exploits the Kerberos protocol's TGS-REP step, where any domain user can request a service ticket for any service principal name (SPN) in Active Directory. The domain controller returns the ticket encrypted with the service account's NTLM hash, which the attacker can then crack offline. No special privileges beyond being a valid domain user are required because the TGS request is part of normal Kerberos authentication.
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.