Which term describes elevating from a lower privilege level to perform privileged actions on a system?

• A. Vertical Privilege Escalation
• B. Horizontal Privilege Escalation
• C. Lateral Movement
• D. Privilege Escalation Loop

Answer: (A)

Elevating from a lower privilege level to perform privileged actions on a system is vertical privilege escalation. This refers to moving from a normal user or limited account to a higher-privilege level, such as an administrator or root, in order to execute actions that require those elevated rights. It’s about increasing the privilege level on the same system to access restricted resources or perform sensitive operations.

This differs from horizontal privilege escalation, which would mean gaining access to another account at the same privilege level (not higher rights). Lateral movement involves traversing to other systems within a network to expand control, rather than increasing privileges on a single system. The term privilege escalation loop isn’t a standard concept in this context.