Which Attack Intercepts Data on Public Wi-Fi?

SY0-701 By islever Editorial Last updated

Short answer

D On-path attack

Question

A user, who is waiting for a flight at an airport, logs in to the airline website using the public Wi-Fi, ignores a security warning and purchases an upgraded seat. When the flight lands, the user finds unauthorized credit card charges. Which of the following attacks most likely occurred?
  1. Replay attack
  2. Memory leak
  3. Buffer overflow attack
  4. On-path attack Correct Answer

Key Takeaways

The exam tests your ability to identify on-path (MITM) attacks from real-world scenario clues like public Wi-Fi and ignored certificate warnings, not just technical definitions.

This SY0-701 question describes a user on public Wi-Fi ignoring a security warning then seeing unauthorized credit card charges. The correct answer is on-path attack, also called man-in-the-middle, as confirmed by unanimous community consensus.

Common mistake: Replay attack is a tempting wrong answer because both involve capturing network traffic, but replay simply resends captured data without actively intercepting or modifying the live connection as on-path does.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

An on-path attack (formerly called man-in-the-middle) occurs when an attacker places themselves between the user and the airline website, intercepting and potentially altering communications. Public Wi-Fi is notoriously unsecure, making it easy for attackers to capture sensitive data like credit card numbers during the purchase. The ignored security warning is a strong clue—it likely indicated an invalid TLS certificate or untrusted connection, which is a classic MITM setup.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

A replay attack involves capturing a valid transmission and later resending it, but the scenario describes immediate unauthorized charges after a single session, not a replay of old data. A memory leak is a software bug that gradually consumes memory; it has nothing to do with network interception. A buffer overflow attack corrupts memory to execute code, which is unrelated to capturing network traffic on public Wi-Fi.

Community Comment Notes

All commenters agree on D, with one noting that "on-path is the new man in the middle"—the official CompTIA terminology update. Another comment (likely from ChatGPT) correctly explains that the attacker intercepted credit card information during the transaction, aligning with the scenario details. The consistency across comments reinforces that this is a straightforward identification of MITM techniques.

Official Reference

These links open the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

When you see 'public Wi-Fi' and 'ignored a security warning' in the same question, immediately think of on-path/man-in-the-middle. Look for network interception clues and distinguish them from replay or memory-related attacks by asking whether the attacker is actively positioned in the communication path.

Community Votes

D
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer D. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 4 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 4

  1. Glacier88 👍 6 Answered D
    On-path attack. Public Wi-Fi: Public Wi-Fi networks are often unsecured and can be easily compromised by attackers. Man-in-the-middle: An on-path attack involves an attacker intercepting communication between the user and the airline website, potentially capturing sensitive information like credit card details. Security warning: The ignored security warning likely indicated that the connection was not secure, making the user vulnerable to an on-path attack. Replay attacks, memory leaks, and buffer overflow attacks are less likely in this scenario. Replay attacks involve reusing captured data, but it's not clear how that would have led to unauthorized charges. Memory leaks and buffer overflow attacks are typically associated with software vulnerabilities, not network-based attacks.
  2. Kingamj 👍 6 Answered D
    ChatGPT An on-path attack, also known as a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack, occurs when an attacker intercepts the communication between two parties (in this case, the user and the airline's website). Since the user was on a public Wi-Fi network and ignored security warnings, it's possible that the attacker was able to intercept the credit card information during the transaction, leading to unauthorized charges.
  3. jafyyy 👍 1
    D This attack results from an attacker's interception of data sent over public WI-FI.
  4. test_arrow 👍 1 Answered D
    on-path is the new man in the middle

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