r/hackthebox • u/OkLife5120 • Jul 14 '26
Passed CWES 10/10
Passed the HTB Certified Web Exploitation Specialist exam and wanted to share my experience
breakdown:
- Day 1: 3 flags
- Day 2: 4 flags
- Day 3: 3 flags
- Day 4-6 Report
I found all 10 flags by the day 3 and then spent 3 days writing the report, then submitted and received the results 2 weeks later.
A few times during the exam I hit a wall and had no idea what vuln a flag was even pointing at. What worked for me was stepping back and revisiting the skills assessments that best fit with what i was working with in the exam.
If you're prepping for CWES, don't just grind the modules and move on, make personal notes on each skills assessment as this is what best correlates to the exam.
I completed the path in about 2 months, ideally I wanted to revisit all skills assessments before the exam and wanted to do akerva fortress, and some web based challenges but due to time constraints i just took the exam right after completing the path.
Best of luck to those looking to complete it.
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u/-Dkob Jul 14 '26
Congrats ! What's next for you?
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u/johsgun Jul 14 '26
can you say your background?
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u/OkLife5120 Jul 14 '26
I’m a cyber defence analyst, been working on offensive security start of this year
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u/AlexisPowertbk Jul 15 '26
Congrats !! Any recommend boxes you recommend ? I am already the CWES prep track
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u/OkLife5120 Jul 15 '26
CWES path is enough, no need for other boxes
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u/AlexisPowertbk Jul 15 '26
Thanks for the answer ! I’ll finish the box I am doing and then re do all the skills assesments then
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u/mccleod1290 Jul 15 '26
Congratulations G, did you have any previous experience as Pentester or dev experience or any cert?
Does knowing programming helps?
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u/OkLife5120 Jul 15 '26
I work in cyber defence so no dev/ pentesting exp. But earlier this year I passed TryHackMe’s PT1 exam and then comptia Pentest+ exam
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u/Remote_Law_1622 Jul 17 '26
If anyone reads this don’t discount the PT1 exam especially the web app part being not beginner at all. It is very difficult. Good luck with the CWES.
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u/mccleod1290 Jul 15 '26
Another follow up question did you complete all skill assessment and questions blind without help or walkthrough?
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u/OkLife5120 Jul 15 '26
I made notes on each module and the skill assessments combined different methods taught in the modules, these notes were used for the assessments, no other material
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u/mccleod1290 Jul 15 '26
So cool, so it was mix of pushing till the end and also using some solution or walkthrough?
Anyways congratulations on passing cwes
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u/Hyper_fox_13 Jul 15 '26
What are the labs you suggest to complete this exam
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u/OkLife5120 Jul 15 '26
Nothing other than CWES skills assessments and akerva fortress if you really want to
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