CPENT Active Directory Attacks Practice Question
An ethical hacker has obtained the NTLM password hash of a local administrator account on a Windows workstation and wants to perform lateral movement using Pass-the-Hash (PtH). Which tool allows executing a command or spawning an interactive prompt on a remote system using only the NTLM hash without knowing the plaintext password?
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
✓
psexec.py from the Impacket toolkit
Pass-the-Hash relies on injecting or using the NTLM hash directly in place of the user's password during authentication. Impacket's psexec.py (or crackmapexec / netexec) natively supports NTLM hash authentication.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Windows Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc.exe)
Why it's wrong here
Native mstsc.exe does not support passing raw NTLM hashes unless Restricted Admin mode is enabled and specific conditions are met, whereas Impacket handles raw hashes directly.
- ✗
Standard Windows net use command
Why it's wrong here
The native net use command line utility requires the plaintext password or an active Kerberos ticket/NTLM session established by the LSASS subsystem.
- ✗
WinRM standard client via browser
Why it's wrong here
Standard web browsers do not support injecting raw NTLM hashes for interactive WinRM authentication without specialized extensions.
- ✓
psexec.py from the Impacket toolkit
Why this is correct
Impacket's psexec.py allows passing the NTLM hash directly using the -hashes parameter to gain a remote SMB/RPC shell.
About these practice questions
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official EC-Council exam blueprint
This CPENT 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 CPENT exam.