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SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/secplus-on-path-attack

An attacker secretly positions themselves between two devices to sniff or change their traffic. What is this attack called?

On-path attack, formerly called man-in-the-middle.

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  1. An on-path attack ✔
  2. A birthday attack
  3. A reflected DDoS

Why: Everything flows through the attacker. TLS and certificate checks help, because the attacker cannot read or change protected traffic without being noticed.

Huh, didn't know that: MITRE ATT&CK calls the technique adversary-in-the-middle and lists sub-techniques such as ARP cache poisoning and evil twin.

The dad joke
The on-path attacker said, I am just here for the traffic. The packets said, we are not.
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References

Answer: An on-path attack. Everything flows through the attacker. TLS and certificate checks help, because the attacker cannot read or change protected traffic without being noticed.

  1. MITRE ATT&CK T1557, Adversary-in-the-Middle attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1557
    Adversaries may attempt to position themselves between two or more networked devices using an adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) technique
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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