What does privilege escalation entail in system security?

What does privilege escalation entail in system security?

• A. Gaining lower privileges to reduce risk.
• B. Gaining higher access rights than originally granted.
• C. Disabling authentication on the system.
• D. Installing a security patch.

Answer: (B)

Privilege escalation means moving from the level of access you are authorized for to a higher level of access than was originally granted. It typically involves obtaining admin/root privileges or other elevated rights, allowing actions that the initial account couldn’t perform. This is the essence of the concept: gaining higher access rights than what was granted. The other statements don’t fit because they describe either reducing privileges, bypassing authentication (breaking access controls), or applying a patch (a defensive or maintenance action), none of which capture the act of increasing privileges beyond the original grant.

Privilege escalation means moving from the level of access you are authorized for to a higher level of access than was originally granted. It typically involves obtaining admin/root privileges or other elevated rights, allowing actions that the initial account couldn’t perform. This is the essence of the concept: gaining higher access rights than what was granted.

The other statements don’t fit because they describe either reducing privileges, bypassing authentication (breaking access controls), or applying a patch (a defensive or maintenance action), none of which capture the act of increasing privileges beyond the original grant.