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Academy Certifications
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Written by Diablo
Updated this week

The Academy role paths will prepare you for one of these Four Certification Exams:

  • HTB Certified Penetration Testing Specialist (HTB CPTS)

    A highly hands-on certification that assesses the candidates’ penetration testing skills. HTB CPTS certification holders will possess technical competency in the ethical hacking and penetration testing domains at an intermediate level. They will also be able to assess the risk at which an infrastructure is exposed and compose a commercial-grade as well as actionable report.

  • HTB Certified Bug Bounty Hunter(HTB CBBH)

    The HTB CBBH certification evaluates individuals' proficiency in bug bounty hunting and web application penetration testing. Those holding this certification will demonstrate intermediate-level technical competence in these domains. Additionally, they will have the ability to evaluate the risk exposure of web applications, services, or APIs and generate both commercial-grade and actionable reports.

  • HTB Certified Defensive Security Analyst (HTB CDSA)

    Professionals with HTB CDSA certification demonstrate proficiency in security analysis, SOC operations, and incident handling. At an intermediate level, they exhibit technical competence in these domains, enabling them to identify security incidents and recognize detection opportunities that may not be readily evident in the available data. These individuals excel in thinking creatively, connecting diverse data points, persistently exploring different angles to assess the full impact of an incident, and producing effective security incident reports.

  • The HTB Certified Web Exploitation Expert (HTB CWEE) focuses on building a mindset around risk mitigation and vulnerability identification, using various advanced and modern vulnerabilities as demos. This approach not only helps in identifying all of the covered vulnerabilities in the path but also others that are based on the same concepts or attack principles.

  • HTB Certified Active Directory Pentesting Expert (HTB CAPE) is a highly hands-on certification assessing candidates' skills in identifying and exploiting advanced Active Directory (AD) vulnerabilities. HTB CAPE certification holders will possess technical competency in both internal and external AD and Windows penetration testing, understanding complex attack paths, and employing advanced techniques to exploit them. HTB CAPE certification holders will demonstrate proficiency in executing sophisticated attacks abusing different authentication protocols such as Kerberos and NTLM and abusing misconfigurations within AD components such as ADCS, WSUS, Exchange, and Domain Trusts. Furthermore, they will be adept at leveraging specialized tools to exploit AD from Linux and Windows and utilizing Command and Control (C2) frameworks for post-exploitation operations.


Subscription

To unlock the desired role path, check the Academy Subscriptions for available options and their perks. If you want to take an exam, consider getting an Annual subscription, which provides access to all modules up to a certain tier (depending on the subscription) and includes an exam voucher. Alternatively, you can opt for a Monthly subscription, where you'll need to unlock each module individually and purchase the voucher separately.

To be eligible to sit for an exam, you must achieve 100% completion in the chosen role path and have an exam voucher.


The Exam Process

Starting the Exam

Once you have completed 100% of the path and have a valid voucher you can start the exam by heading to the exams page and choosing your exam,


Once you click the button you will get the following to confirm "By entering the exam one (1) attempt will be consumed. You will have X days to complete the exam and upload the report."

Connecting to the Exam VPN

Once you start the exam the timer will start counting towards the 7 or 10 days depending on the exam, to connect to the VPN you can use either the Pwnbox or the VPN file, NOT BOTH at the same time.

Using the Pwnbox

To spawn an instance of the Pwnbox you can choose the VPN server and the region and click Spawn Desktop, this will give you an instance that you can use to work on the exam.

Your Pwnbox instance will be alive for 4 days and can't be extended, it will terminate and you will have to start a new one.

Using the VPN file

The same steps apply for the VPN file, Select the VPN server with the least load and the recommended one and download the file.

You can find more information on troubleshooting VPN connections in this article:

Taking the Exam

Once you are connected to the VPN you can start the exam instance, it will spawn on the VPN server you chose and will give back an entry point, this will be your first step into the exam and it will show on the top right panel.

You can reset or stop the instance at any time and you can add more time to it once it drops below 100 Minutes(1H:40M).

In order to pass the exam you will need to

  • Obtain the minimum amount of points required (depending on the exam)

  • Compose and submit a commercial-grade report

Submitting the report

You can download the report template and use it to build your report or use sysreptor with our templates once you submit your report you will end your attempt and you can't go back again.

  • CPTS, CBBH,CAPE and CDSA require a PDF or ZIP (with no password and a maximum size of 20MB)

  • For CWEE the report needs to be in Markdown and zipped using the password as instructed in the exam. (maximum size of 20MB)

  • We don't accept any reports outside the exam platform

In case of failure to get the needed points you will still need to submit a report in order to get a second attempt. You won't be eligible for a second attempt if you did not submit a report for the first one.

Getting the results

The review process takes up to 20 business days and the results will be sent to you via email, In case you fail the first attempt you can start a second attempt right away and use the feedback to improve.

You have 14 days to start the second attempt from the day you get the feedback. In case you don't you will lose the second attempt.


Claiming and Validating the Certificate

By navigating to the My Certificates tab from the left side menu you will see all your certificates, by clicking Claim Certificate you will be prompted to enter your Full Name, this name will be shown on your certificate and you will use it later in validation.
Note that the name will always show in Upper Case on the certificate but it's case sensitive when validating it.

To validate your certificate navigate to https://www.hackthebox.com/certificates and enter your Full Name (The same Full Name you used when claiming the certificate and case sensitive) and the Certificate Number (HTBCERT-XXXXX).

To receive a Credly badge, ensure that the email associated with your account matches the one used on Credly. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you claim your badge:

  1. Confirm Your Email Address: Check that the email on your account is the same as the one on your Credly profile. This is essential for the badge to be issued to the correct account.

  2. Check Your Email for a Credly Notification: After completing the necessary steps, look for an email from Credly confirming your badge. This email should contain a link to claim your badge.

  3. Log in to Credly: Click the link in the email, or log in to your Credly account directly.

  4. Accept and Display Your Badge: Once logged in, you can accept the badge and display it on platforms like LinkedIn, or your personal website.

Credly badges are NOT available to Enterprise users yet.


If you run into any issues with the exam please reach out to the support team via the chat bubble. Note that the support team can't give any hints or guidance on the actual exam tasks.

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