What is the outcome of a rainbow attack followed by successful hash matching?

The outcome of a rainbow attack followed by successful hash matching results in the attacker obtaining a valid password.

Rainbow tables are precomputed tables used to reverse cryptographic hash functions, primarily to crack password hashes. When an attacker utilizes a rainbow attack, they are essentially leveraging these tables to find the plaintext password that corresponds to a specific hash value. If the attacker successfully matches a hash from a target system with an entry in the rainbow table, they can retrieve the plaintext password associated with that hash. With the valid password in hand, the attacker can then gain authorized access to the system or account protected by that password.

Other scenarios, such as being prompted for another password or being locked out permanently, do not occur directly as a result of a rainbow attack and hash matching. Gaining access to the encryption key typically involves more complex exploitation techniques and does not directly follow from a simple password hash match. The primary intent of a rainbow table attack is to facilitate the retrieval of the plaintext password, which makes the first outcome the correct one in this context.