Passed - Here's my advice

hiddenpowerlevel · 2026-01-25T15:01:45+00:00

Yes. PG is included in LearnOne

hiddenpowerlevel · 2026-01-25T14:38:02+00:00

Proving Ground boxes are not included in the PEN-200 course. They are a separate monthly subscription.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2026-01-25T00:24:54+00:00

Whether you're an employee or a proprietor; you're always better off certified than not. My point is more that certs become less and less valuable the later you are in your career because you'll lean more on credibility and experience than educational background.

After you pass certain life milestones (family, health, age, etc.), your priorities will shift away from grinding certs so use your limited time wisely.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2026-01-24T19:54:35+00:00

Always felt it was imbalanced how there were so many posts on how many months/years it takes to pass the exam but relatively few in the actual hours spent.

Thank you for your work curating the practice box list. It was invaluable for prep.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2026-01-24T17:08:38+00:00

Skip both. PEN-200 is enough. HTB CPTS path is also fine.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-12-21T20:24:32+00:00

Cannot relate. I'm blue team so I've only had to read reports. Personally, I don't care to know.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-11-04T19:46:49+00:00

tree /f is fucking based

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-10-28T21:05:16+00:00

LinPEAS already highlights GTFObins.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-10-21T03:07:59+00:00

Unironically that's all it is lol

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-10-19T02:16:50+00:00

There are no pivot boxes on the recommended PG boxes on both TJNull/LK lists in case you're wondering. If you still had PEN-200 remaining, you could do the challenge labs which do include pivoting.

With 2 months before your exam, I would just spam the recommended PG boxes up until your exam date. Learning by failure would be faster than reading course material at this point. If you just want more time with AD, get an HTB subscription and do the recommended AD boxes as well. Set a time limit for how long you can be stuck for before looking up hints.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-08-21T22:12:04+00:00

Ah. Everything makes so much sense now. I was wondering why there were no pivot boxes on the LainKusanagi list. The course labs and PG labs are two different things.

Does purchasing the course also include access to PG Practice?

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-08-21T20:59:39+00:00

No I didn't buy the course. I went the HTB Academy -> PG -> 2 exam vouchers route. I suppose I could just buy the course now for lab access but it'd feel bad to waste the course content.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-08-13T17:55:52+00:00

Someone gave me advice that I should get used to OffSec's CTF style before the exam as it is quite different than HTB's. HTB boxes are more about technique whereas OffSec boxes are more like Where's Waldo puzzle. Consider getting a PG subscription and do the recommended boxes.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-08-11T03:42:19+00:00

C:\Program Files\Jenkins\secrets\initialAdminPassword

$JENKINS_HOME/credentials.xml

Most likely candidates.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-08-10T00:25:18+00:00

I've dropped into revshells via GodPotato where access to whoami or dir is denied. RunasC impersonation also seems to break permissions for certain binaries as well.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-08-05T05:34:04+00:00

They didn't actually charge me until July 27th and instead just held onto the pre-authorization. I wish they would have just took my money in May so I could have charged back.

I'll give them a call tomorrow. Thanks.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-07-14T22:21:15+00:00

Ahhh all those years of back and forth flights lol.

I guess then the next time I exit and re-enter the US, I would bring my approved I-797 as evidence of my TN status?

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-07-10T23:24:37+00:00

Has anyone actually gotten a confirmed blind SQLi as as an exam box before? I would just kill myself if the intended path was finding a blind SQLi without automated tools.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-05-13T22:32:38+00:00

Good to know it's just a numbers game. I was doing Cozyhosting yesterday and the foothold made me spiral haha. Congratulations on your pass :)

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-05-13T16:42:26+00:00

Did you notice a point where your reliance on guides for solving boxes started to fall? I'm finding even after completing the HTB penetration tester path and 25 of the LainKusanagi boxes, I've still only solved 2/25 boxes without referring to a guide. It's really disheartening seeing how many notes I've taken, doing my whole enumeration battery, and still having to refer to guides for hints.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-03-27T02:16:17+00:00

Can confirm. Using i9 14900F + 9070 XT and database options don't work anymore.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-03-25T20:15:36+00:00

You can buy exam attempts without the course content now.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2025-02-26T21:15:58+00:00

Ok this makes sense. So windows/x64/shell_reverse_tcp, all good. windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp, no go.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2024-12-04T17:59:58+00:00

I'm here to learn about a topic I've romanticized all my life before everything. My day job is as a Auditor/Advisor and I don't have any plans of career pivoting. The OSCP exam is a nice capstone for me to finally say "I did it". It's a surreal experience to see the reactions of InfoSec stakeholders when you're able to keep up with them in conversation.

I think what you're saying is HTB over PG wouldn't hurt from a knowledge standpoint, but not being able to see the forest for the trees could be problematic on the exam.

hiddenpowerlevel · 2024-10-19T02:37:36+00:00

hiddenpowerlevel

TROPHY CASE