Which of the following BEST describes this attack?

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?
A . VM escape
B . Directory traversal
C . Buffer overflow
D . Heap spraying

View Answer

Answer: A

Explanation:

VM escape is a type of attack that allows an attacker to break out of a virtual machine (VM) and access the host system or other VMs within the same cloud provider’s environment. VM escape can exploit the vulnerabilities in the virtualization layer or hypervisor that separates and isolates the VMs from each other and from the host system. VM escape can result in serious consequences, such as compromising the security and privacy of other customers’ data or resources, gaining unauthorized access to the cloud provider’s infrastructure or services, or launching further attacks on other systems or networks. VM escape best describes the attack that was performed by a vendor who was 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.

Reference: CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Exam Objectives, page 19, section 4.1

Reference: https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-machine-escape