CISM Certified Information Security Manager – Question0744

Simple Network Management Protocol v2 (SNMP v2) is used frequently to monitor networks. Which of the following vulnerabilities does it always introduce?

A.
Remote buffer overflow
B. Cross site scripting
C. Clear text authentication
D. Man-in-the-middle attack

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

Explanation:
One of the main problems with using SNMP vl and v°2 is the clear text “community string” that it uses to authenticate. It is easy to sniff and reuse. Most times, the SNMP community string is shared throughout the organization’s servers and routers, making this authentication problem a serious threat to security. There have been some isolated cases of remote buffer overflows against SNMP daemons, but generally that is not a problem. Cross site scripting is a web application vulnerability that is not related to SNMP. A man-in-the-middle attack against a user datagram protocol (UDP) makes no sense since there is no active session; every request has the community string and is answered independently.