This is just a short post for me to remember this event and share any resources others might find useful! :star2:

Background

  • I was severely ahead of most people as I graduated with a Security Degree
  • Furthermore I had already worked as a pentester for 1 year at this point…

Lab Time + Methodology

  • I had the lucky opportunity to be sponsored 90 days + 60 days lab time

  • Seems like a lot!

  • But I pretty much wasted 80% of the 90 days lab time by adamantly not working on it outside of work

  • I fully utilized the 60 days lab time in and out of work
    (when I wasn’t on client work of course)

  • During this time I only did about 17-20 boxes

    • mostly by myself
    • only consulting the student forums if I got stuck for 2 days or more…
    • (Curse you Sufferance, curse you…)


  • I took notes with OneNote btw


  • Towards the end, I had already developed the —
    • methodology
    • mindset
    • whatever you want to call it

    that allows you to:

    • identify potential entry points
    • identify and escape rabbit holes
    • lol (Did I mention try harder?)

Exam Exam Exam [Resources Here]

I won’t be giving any spoilers of course, but I will be sharing what tools/resources aided me in solving the boxes :wink:

Meta

  • I started at 8am
  • Proctor setup lasted from 7:45 - 8:15-ish
  • I always took a break every two hours, ALWAYS
  • I did not eat any form of unhealthy snacks or beverages, to avoid the risk of crashing/cravings
  • Alwyas stay hydrated :potable_water:
  • Finished at 3am, took time to gather screenshots, officially ended at 5am

Enumeration

:100: AutoRecon

Buffer Overflow: Bad Characters

:1234: Bulb Security mona.py guide (Web Archive link as original is down…)

Privilege Escalation

:+1: winPEAS and linPEAS

Misc

rlwrap:
It seems like a pain to set up but it is so handy when you get a shell

Report Writing

  • I just used the official OSCP Exam Template
  • Edited in MS Word — no fancy Serpico shit here :hankey:
  • It actually took me 12 hours (not including breaks) to write and format!!
    • I was caught by surprise thinking I would finish at 10pm
    • I ended up finishing at 5am lol

Results in

On the morning of September 21st, I got the email from Offensive Security congratulating me on passing! :grin:

congrats