CPU Utilization Issues: Effects and Risks | CompTIA Security+ Exam Question

Understanding CPU Utilization and Antivirus Program | CompTIA Security+

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Question

A security administrator is diagnosing a server where the CPU utilization is at 100% for 24 hours.

The main culprit of CPU utilization is the antivirus program.

Which of the following issue could occur if left unresolved? (Choose two.)

Answers

Explanations

Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer

A. B. C. D. E.

BE.

If the CPU utilization is at 100% for an extended period of time, it means that the system is under heavy load and is not able to efficiently execute other processes or tasks. In this case, the antivirus program is consuming all the CPU resources, indicating a possible problem.

The main issue that can occur if this problem is left unresolved are:

  1. Resource exhaustion: If the antivirus program continues to use all the CPU resources, it may cause resource exhaustion, leading to other critical system processes being unable to function correctly. This can cause the system to slow down, hang, or even crash. Hence, option E is correct.

  2. DoS attack: A Denial of Service (DoS) attack can occur if the antivirus program is causing high CPU utilization for an extended period. It may make the system unavailable to legitimate users, leading to a DoS attack. This can impact the availability of critical services and lead to significant business losses. Hence, option B is also correct.

Option A, MITM attack, is not relevant to the given scenario since it is not related to the CPU utilization of the server.

Option C, DLL injection, and option D, buffer overflow, are security vulnerabilities that can occur due to programming errors or design flaws in the software. These issues are not related to the high CPU utilization of the server caused by the antivirus program.

Therefore, options E and B are the correct answers for this scenario.

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