A company that utilizes an IaaS service provider has contracted with a vendor to perform a penetration test on its environment.
The vendor is able to exploit the virtualization layer and obtain access to other instances within the cloud provider's environment that do not belong to the company.
Which of the following BEST describes this attack?
Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer
A. B. C. D.A.
https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-machine-escapeThe attack described in the scenario is a VM escape attack, which is option A.
A VM escape is an attack that targets virtualization technology and exploits a vulnerability to escape the confines of a virtual machine (VM). In this case, the attacker was able to exploit the virtualization layer and gain access to other instances within the cloud provider's environment that do not belong to the company.
Virtualization is a technique used to create virtual versions of computer hardware, operating systems, storage devices, and other resources. This allows multiple virtual machines to run on a single physical machine, which improves hardware utilization and reduces costs. However, virtualization can also introduce new security risks, including the possibility of VM escapes.
When a VM escape occurs, the attacker gains access to the host system, which is the physical machine running the virtualization software. This allows the attacker to access other virtual machines running on the same host, which may belong to other customers of the cloud provider. The consequences of a VM escape can be severe, as it can result in the exposure of sensitive data and the compromise of other systems within the cloud environment.
Directory traversal, buffer overflow, and heap spraying are all different types of attacks that target software vulnerabilities, and they are not related to virtualization or VM escapes.
Directory traversal is an attack that exploits a vulnerability in a web application to access files outside of the application's web directory.
A buffer overflow is an attack that exploits a vulnerability in a program to overwrite memory and execute arbitrary code.
Heap spraying is an attack that involves filling the heap memory of a program with a large number of objects in order to increase the likelihood of a successful exploit.