According to CEH v13 Module 04: Enumeration and Module 08: Sniffing, packet sniffers such as Wireshark, tcpdump, and EtherApe are designed to capture and analyze network traffic at the data link (Layer 2) and network (Layer 3) layers of the OSI model.
At Layer 2 (Data Link), sniffers capture Ethernet frames, including MAC addresses and frame type.
At Layer 3 (Network), sniffers interpret IP headers, IP addresses, and transport layer protocols (TCP, UDP).
They do not operate at Layer 1 (Physical) as they do not deal with raw electrical signals.
Packet sniffers also do not manipulate traffic but passively monitor and capture packets that traverse the network.
Therefore, the correct statement is:
Packet Sniffers operate on both Layer 2 & Layer 3 of the OSI model.
Option Analysis:
A. Layer 1: ❌ Incorrect. Layer 1 is the physical layer (electrical, optical signals).
B. Layer 2: ❌ Partially correct but incomplete.
C. Both Layer 2 & Layer 3: Correct. Full coverage of packet sniffing capabilities.
D. Layer 3: ❌ Partially correct but incomplete.
Reference from CEH v13 Courseware:
Module 08 – Sniffing, Section: How Packet Sniffers Work
CEH iLabs: Capturing Ethernet Frames and IP Packets Using Wireshark
OSI Model Mapping in CEH Official eBook
