During a red team engagement at a technology startup in Austin, ethical hacker Priya simulates...

The correct answer is C. Rogue DHCP Server Attack because the observed impact is that client machines on the LAN begin receiving incorrect network configuration parameters—specifically altered default gateways and DNS server addresses—shortly after Priya connects her laptop. In CEH-aligned LAN attack concepts, a rogue DHCP attack occurs when an attacker introduces an unauthorized DHCP service that responds to DHCP discovery requests faster than the legitimate DHCP server. As a result, endpoints accept the attacker-provided lease options, which can redirect traffic through attacker-controlled infrastructure.

The redirection to “fake login portals hosted on Priya’s machine” is consistent with malicious DHCP option abuse. By supplying a rogue DNS server (or altering DNS-related options), the attacker can resolve internal hostnames (like intranet URLs) to the attacker’s IP, enabling credential harvesting via spoofed portals. By supplying a rogue default gateway, the attacker can position themselves as the network path for victim traffic, enabling man-in-the-middle style interception, traffic manipulation, and session hijacking. The mention of “temporary IP conflicts” further supports rogue DHCP behavior, because an attacker DHCP server can hand out addresses that overlap with the legitimate scope or cause duplicate assignments, producing conflicts and instability.

Why the other options are less accurate: DHCP starvation involves exhausting the legitimate DHCP pool by flooding requests with spoofed MAC addresses, often as a precursor to then standing up a rogue DHCP server. The scenario emphasizes that clients are actively receiving malicious settings (gateway/DNS), which is the hallmark of the rogue server stage rather than starvation alone. DNS cache poisoning targets DNS resolvers/caches and does not by itself cause clients to suddenly obtain new gateway/DNS configurations. Packet sniffing is passive and does not explain clients being reconfigured or redirected.

Therefore, Priya most likely performed a rogue DHCP server attack to reconfigure endpoints and redirect users to phishing portals.