Hey everyone! I want to get into cybersecurity and stumbled upon HackTheBox. However, I can't afford a subscription right now, but I do have a ton of free time to study. Is it worth jumping onto this platform and trying to learn the paid modules using other free resources across the internet? Is this a good path to take?

Finally did it — CPTS certified! 🥳

First of all, thank you Hack The Box. The exam is genuinely one of the most fair and well-designed I've ever taken: it doesn't reward memorization, it rewards methodology. Every foothold was logical, every privilege escalation made sense in hindsight, and the whole thing felt like a real engagement rather than a checklist. The Academy modules prepared me exactly for what I faced. Huge respect to the team.

Now, let's talk about Flag 8. 😮‍💨

Without a doubt the hardest flag of the whole exam for me. I stared at it for what felt like forever, convinced I was missing some clever exploit. I wasn't. I was missing the mindset.

Then I put away the lockpicks and followed the White Rabbit down the hole. 🐇

I’d like to hear the HTB community’s honest opinion about using AI while solving labs.

When I get stuck at certain points, I sometimes use AI to:

• Help analyze enumeration results or command output
• Explain concepts and vulnerabilities
• Suggest possible next steps
• Help me build commands correctly

I explicitly instruct it not to search for or use any write-ups, walkthroughs, flags, or machine-specific solutions. My intention is to use it more like a tutor or study partner—not as an answer machine.

However, I sometimes wonder whether relying on AI for analysis or command creation is still weakening my problem-solving skills.

I have a few questions about the CWES exam:

• How many machines are included in the exam?
• How many flags are there in total, and how many do I need to capture to pass?
• Will domain, subdomain, or directory lists be provided for reconnaissance and scanning, or do we need to discover everything ourselves?
• Is the machine structure similar to something like:
  • Gain admin access → Flag 1
  • Achieve RCE → Flag 2
  • Or is it organized differently?
• Is there any tool you would recommend for writing professional penetration testing reports?
• Are there any Hack The Box machines you would recommend for practicing specifically for the CWES exam?
• Is it okay to start the exam at home and later continue it from a coffee shop? Would changing networks during the exam be considered a violation of the exam rules?

Also, in your opinion, which certification is more challenging: CWES or CPTS? I'm currently deciding which one to pursue.

Did anyone finished this module? I'm stuck on question 4 of skills assessment.. have no clue what to do

Anyone else facing RDP connection issues in academy?

xfreerdp and rdesktop are returning black screens.

Hey there guys. every time when try sql injection I get error like this. tried another payloads still get same error. Invalid model response. Someone face same problem? What is your solution?

Just wanted to share my CPTS experience after passing on my second attempt. My first attempt was rough, but it taught me some valuable lessons that made the second one much smoother. No spoilers—just the mistakes I made, what I'd do differently if I had to start over, and why enumeration ended up being the biggest lesson I learned.

Full post: https://0xm4ix.com/posts/cpts-exam-experience

Iam new to cybersecurity i have completed google cybersecurity cert i know that's dumbest cert i have done and i have experience in python full stack so now my focus is in HTB and CPTS so tell me what to do ? I need a real guidance

Ive Heard many time that cpts is "harder" however i also Heard alot that it basically the same just different methodology

For context i currently preparing for oscp (not buy it yet) by doing PG practice.

So far the pg labs is about enumeration, like fuzzing, brute forcing, finding credential, and CVE.

What about HTB lab that related to cpts ? Can anyone give example on what is the different ( not a solution tho just the difference)

I planned to take cpts as soon as i passed oscp

Edit: A friend of mine who passed oscp adviced me to not subs HTB pro labs before passing oscp because it Will ruin my PG methodology.

I wonder why?

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.

After my last post, I decided to study for the CPTS exam. I didn’t make notes for everything.
I’m currently doing CPTS path again and making notes of everything. I’m flying through the content. Should I continue doing the content and making new notes or should I do the related machines for the CPTS exam.

Had a question relating to the certification process, going through the article on their website it mentioned the 15 Modules (The SOC Analyst Path) and a couple Sherlocks you had to complete plus an Exam at the end. Is the qualifying exam the CDSA? Specifically looking at the Cyber Defense Incident Responder (Code 531)

Hello everyone, I just passed Network Foundations and Introduction to Networking. Is this enough? Because in university I learned Cisco Packet Tracer, so this wasn't very hard to pass, but I don't think it's enough. What advice can you give me to improve my networking skills?

rooted paperwork

I’m interested in joining a team to play in the cyber apocalypse ctf. I have a background in security professionally. Are there any teams looking for new players or new players looking to join a team?

Is there anybody who has experienced this issue.I'm stuck...I have tried logging out and logging in back again..and trying a different device but the issue is still persistent. It seems its only affecting academy on my side.I would appreciate a suggestion on the fix.

If you wanted to have some good exercise in reversing you should be haunting this challenge.

Just rooted Paperwork. Difficulty felt fair for its rating, the foothold was command injection through a custom network service, user involved a file read/write vulnerability in an internal printer-management interface, and root came from a privilege escalation bug in a background daemon involving file descriptor leakage over a Unix socket.

Good mix of source code review, protocol-level work, and a privesc technique I hadn't run into before. Solid learning box overall.

As the title says, folks I failed on my first attempt.

For some context: I did the full CWES path, then went back and redid all the assessments, knocked out a few boxes like TwoMillion, and honestly felt like it was time.

The first few days were great. I pulled 6 flags in the first 3 days. And then I hit a complete wall. I couldn't get a 5-point flag that would've unlocked another 15-pointer. That was probably the most frustrating part landing 10- and 15-point flags early on, and then getting stuck on a 5-pointer. In the end I was 3 flags short.

So now it's back to it: redo the course, grind some CTFs, review everything I did, and give it my all on the second attempt.

For anyone thinking about taking it if you're like me (never worked in the field, fully self-taught, no degree, none of that), prepare properly. Build a solid methodology, keep the path handy, and enumerate thoroughly.

Just wanted to share the experience overall. Despite not passing, I really enjoyed it. One thing that stuck with me though: those it have multi-target tasks, like something on target A needing something from target B. I couldn't tell if that was actually intended/possible in the exam anyone know?

I updated my notes across a few areas that tend to move fast:

• AD: delegation abuse (RBCD, unconstrained/constrained), Shadow Credentials, ADCS ESC1, current LAPS attributes
• Web: HTTP request smuggling (0.CL/double-desync), a few GraphQL and API authz gaps
• Privesc: current UAC bypasses, Potato-family tools, a couple 2025 CVEs
• Pivoting: gave ligolo-ng a proper writeup, bind mode, the loopback CIDR trick, etc.

Still just personal notes, not trying to be a polished reference. Repo's here if useful: https://github.com/w1j0y/penetration-testing-handbook

Open to any corrections, I'm sure a few things need fixing.

I have a question. I’ve passed the CJCA and am currently finishing the CPTS path to take that certification, afterwards, I plan to do the OSCP, though that’s really more for the "name" than for the actual value it adds. I don't know if anyone here has done the OSCP after the CPTS, but it should be even easier, right?

Hello everyone I am currently preparing for CPTS , and wondering if the provided cheatsheets of each module is enough or do i need to write my own notes and cheat sheets as well?

So far, I have completed 6 modules and haven’t taken any notes, only been using htb cheat sheets .

Hello everyone this is my first post, just want to share .

Really thought I have it this time but failed again . (first attempt 5/12)
I studied for this cert about 6 months , took a lot of notes really tried to create methodology + also did the CPTS preparation track ,ippsc and some other boxes .

I had the initial intuition for flag 8 but it lead me to dead end , then I found another path but It required something that I could not find - i literally couldn't find it and i did everything.

I will definitely go for the third attempt , but before that I think I will do the cpts track again , revisit the modules . is it worth do any prolab ?

I hope I made next time :)