Which is an advantage of pass-the-hash attacks?

• A. It requires cracking the hash
• B. It does not require cracking hashes
• C. It transmits plaintext passwords
• D. It needs password changes

Answer: (B)

Pass-the-hash attacks exploit the ability to authenticate using the captured hash itself, not the actual plaintext password. Once you have a valid NTLM or Kerberos hash, you can present it to services to gain access, enabling quick lateral movement without ever cracking the password. This is the key advantage: you don’t need to recover or reveal the plaintext password, just reuse the hash.

Because authentication is performed with the hash, not the password, you don’t transmit plaintext credentials. And the attack doesn’t require changing passwords to succeed. Those points explain why the option stating it does not require cracking hashes is the best fit.