This CEH practice question tests your understanding of advanced topics: wireless, cloud, iot, cryptography. 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.
A security analyst captures a large number of weak initialization vectors (IVs) using airodump-ng. Which attack does this preparation indicate?
WPS PIN brute force
Why wrong: WPS attacks target the PIN, not IVs.
WPA2 dictionary attack
Why wrong: WPA2 cracking requires the four-way handshake, not weak IVs.
WEP key cracking
Weak IVs are characteristic of WEP encryption; capturing enough allows aircrack-ng to derive the key.
Evil twin attack
Why wrong: Evil twin involves setting up a rogue AP, not capturing IVs.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
WEP key cracking
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) uses the RC4 stream cipher with a 24-bit initialization vector (IV) that is transmitted in plaintext. Weak IVs, such as those identified by tools like airodump-ng, are predictable or repeatable, allowing an attacker to capture enough packets to recover the WEP key using statistical attacks like the FMS (Fluhrer, Mantin, Shamir) or KoreK attacks. This preparation directly indicates an attempt to crack the WEP key.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
WPS PIN brute force
Why it's wrong here
WPS attacks target the PIN, not IVs.
WPA2 dictionary attack
Why it's wrong here
WPA2 cracking requires the four-way handshake, not weak IVs.
WEP key cracking
Why this is correct
Weak IVs are characteristic of WEP encryption; capturing enough allows aircrack-ng to derive the key.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Evil twin attack
Why it's wrong here
Evil twin involves setting up a rogue AP, not capturing IVs.
Common exam traps
EC-Council often tests the distinction between WEP and WPA/WPA2 by having candidates confuse weak IVs (a WEP-specific vulnerability) with the 4-way handshake (required for WPA/WPA2 cracking), leading them to incorrectly select the WPA2 dictionary attack option.
Detailed technical explanation
Weak IVs in WEP are those that leak information about the RC4 key stream, particularly when the IV is predictable (e.g., 0x00-0xFF) or when the IV and the secret key combine to produce a known state. The FMS attack exploits IVs that start with specific byte patterns (e.g., (A+3, 255, X)), allowing an attacker to recover the root key after capturing around 250,000 to 1 million weak IVs. In practice, modern tools like aircrack-ng automate this process, but the attack is only effective against WEP, not WPA/WPA2, which use TKIP or CCMP with per-packet key mixing and MIC protection.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the CEH exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Advanced Topics: Wireless, Cloud, IoT, Cryptography — This question tests Advanced Topics: Wireless, Cloud, IoT, Cryptography — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: WEP key cracking — WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) uses the RC4 stream cipher with a 24-bit initialization vector (IV) that is transmitted in plaintext. Weak IVs, such as those identified by tools like airodump-ng, are predictable or repeatable, allowing an attacker to capture enough packets to recover the WEP key using statistical attacks like the FMS (Fluhrer, Mantin, Shamir) or KoreK attacks. This preparation directly indicates an attempt to crack the WEP key.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
This CEH practice question is part of Courseiva's free EC-Council 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 CEH exam.
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