PEN-200 Password Attacks Practice Question
Exhibit
C:\> hashcat -m 1000 -a 0 hashes.txt wordlist.txt hashcat (v6.2.6) starting... * Device #1: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, 10240/10240 MB, 68CU * Kernel memory limit: 8192 MB * Loaded 1 hash (NTLM) * Started: Tue Oct 24 14:00:00 2023 * Stopped: Tue Oct 24 14:00:05 2023 * Status: Exhausted
Refer to the exhibit. The command failed to crack the NTLM hash despite using a comprehensive wordlist. What is the most likely reason for this result?
⚠ Common exam trap
Students mistakenly assume that an exhausted hashcat session means the hash is entirely uncrackable, rather than recognizing the wordlist was simply insufficient.
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
✓
The password is not present in the provided wordlist.
The 'Exhausted' status in Hashcat indicates that all candidates in the provided wordlist were tested against the hash, but none resulted in a match. In a penetration test, this suggests that the password complexity exceeds the provided dictionary content. The attacker must now pivot to alternative strategies such as rule-based attacks, mask attacks, or using a more extensive, custom-generated wordlist tailored to the target organization's password policies.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The hash type was incorrectly specified for NTLM.
Why it's wrong here
The command uses -m 1000, which is the correct identifier for NTLM in Hashcat. If the hash type were incorrect, the tool would likely return a 'Hash-file is empty' or 'No hashes loaded' error rather than proceeding to exhaust the wordlist without finding a match.
- ✓
The password is not present in the provided wordlist.
Why this is correct
The 'Exhausted' status explicitly confirms that every entry in wordlist.txt was processed against the loaded hash. Since no match was found, the password is simply not included in the dictionary, necessitating a shift to other techniques like brute-forcing or rule-based mangling to find the cleartext.
- ✗
The GPU memory limit was exceeded during processing.
Why it's wrong here
The exhibit shows the device loaded the hash successfully and processed the wordlist. If memory were an issue, Hashcat would have crashed or returned an explicit error message regarding memory allocation failures. The 'Exhausted' status confirms the GPU finished the assigned work successfully.
- ✗
The hash format is corrupted or invalid.
Why it's wrong here
If the hash were corrupted, Hashcat would have reported a failure to load the hash file or an error during the initialization phase. Since the tool progressed to the 'Exhausted' status, it confirms that the hash was successfully parsed and matched against the entire provided wordlist.
About these practice questions
This PEN-200 question is part of Courseiva's 285-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official OffSec exam blueprint
This PEN-200 practice question is part of Courseiva's free OffSec 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 PEN-200 exam.