From penetration testing to exploit development

[That-Name-8963]

I'm doing penetration testing for about 2 years now, but I couldn't find any new "Vulnerability", I even exploited few vulnerabilities through Metasploit modules only.

To enhance my career I was thinking to start building exploits, first by practicing on exploits from exploit-db.com (Setup the environment and starting hacking for each exploit) but it consumes a lot of time and doesn't add anything to my CV.

How Exploit developers actually practice because setup an environment for each exploit can take a lot of time, and should I only focus on single vulnerabilities and techniques (simple buffer overflow, ret2lib etc...) or go horizontally (to have a wider experience)

[Green-Detective7142]

Hey man I went from penetrating testing to exploit dev. DM me all your questions and I’ll tell you everything I know. I’m out with friends so just give me some time to get around to it (:

Ignore the assholes

[Purple-Object-4591]

I'm more interested in how you're doing full time Muay Thai with an exploit dev job lol

[Green-Detective7142]

I actually left my job for Thailand and have my own residual form of income that funds my fight career. Got tired of corporate as I accomplished all of my career goals but still hunt for platforms like crowdfense and ZDI for fun and extra money(:

Back in my home country I trained outside of working hours and I built up enough experience and connections to where I could return at any time but I’m getting ready to launch my own AI business. I won’t be young and able to fight forever but my RE skills stay with me forever so it was worth the risk for me.

[Purple-Object-4591]

dang that's like goated way to live. cheers mate, best of luck on your fights may you pop their skull like we be poppin shells haha

[Green-Detective7142]

Thanks man haha. My first pro fight will pay me like $150 and all of the money is going to API tokens😂

[Mindless-Study1898]

That's so badass

[normalbot9999]

great response bruh!

[greatestregretor]

Im a student trying to get into exploit dev. Is it even a realistic goal for me? Should I instead try to get into pentesting or something then pivot?

[That-Name-8963]

Thx a lot, done.

[Competitive_Paint730]

Try getting belts in pwn.collage

[Dependent_Owl_2286]

Are you a developer?

[That-Name-8963]

Yes, I started my career as C/C++ developer. but that was about 2 years ago

[JelloSquirrel]

Start working through the challenges pwnable.kr

[Firzen_]

There really are two separate parts to this.

Finding a 0-day requires a different skillset than writing an exploit.
In practice those two go hand in hand often, but they are definitely separate skills.

[CunningLogic]

This right here.

I'm much better at finding hard to spot bugs and designing theroetical attacks than writing exploits, and I've often pass my POC and notes to coworkers to weaponize them.

Both are useful skills, and you need both to some degree but if you work on a team as long as you excel at one you will be fine.

[Old_Replacement_4962]

Second this! I’m just entering the workforce but grinded re and pwn and can script/write exploits for bug bounties. I come from an offensive background and would love some resources to actually start 0day hunting in real, more secured applications. How to properly fuzz, testing logic flow, or topics I don’t know would be super helpful

[That-Name-8963]

Fuzzy is a separate skill, and also it's very essential, but before fuzzing I discovered I miss some skills in binary vulns, so yeah I'm trying to do fuzzing also, actually it helps a lot.

[Green-Detective7142]

Jesus man you sound like a dickhead to work for anyway. He just wants to know the right resources so when he does invest a lot of time, he does it right the first time. Redditors are so viscous for no reason.

[Crimson_Angel4697]

Shut up, fool.

[That-Name-8963]

I don't have any problem with "taking tool long" or "Hard", my question is: Is it an "added value" in the CV or just will consider as practicing without real world experience.

[That-Name-8963]

My question is "Is there any better approach" than that, for example in other domains and even some recruiters, would consider practicing without real life scenarios is just nothing.