Hi everyone! In this article, I’d like to share my eWPT (eLearnSecurity Web Application Penetration Tester) exam experience. I’ll walk you through my expectations before the test, my exam-day approach, the materials I used to prepare, and some final thoughts.

Overall, the exam does a good job covering what a web application penetration tester should know. However, it is heavily focused on CMS exploitation (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla), which doesn’t always reflect the wide variety of applications we encounter in real-world scenarios.

Despite this limitation, I found the exam valuable. The training videos from INE/INE Security were particularly strong, with solid coverage of SOAP services, APIs, HTTP authentication/digest, and common vulnerabilities. As someone relatively early in my pentesting career, the course and exam changed how I approach testing environments.

This article is divided into three sections:

  1. Exam Strategy
  2. Study Materials & Mental Notes
  3. Final Opinions

Exam Strategy

The eWPT is essentially a structured CTF-style exam. As a junior penetration tester, it forced me to think methodically, especially when handling multiple hosts and ports.

One of the key skills tested is fuzzing and enumeration. Almost every major finding comes from careful recursive directory brute-forcing with tools like Gobuster or Dirsearch. In fact, many exam questions are simple fill-in-the-blank style, such as: “What version of Apache is running on 192.168.x.x:8080?”.

This format rewards persistence but can also be frustrating. For example, entering Apache2.4.6 vs Apache 2.4.6 might count as wrong depending on formatting. That’s why I personally think a report-based exam format would better evaluate real skills.

Another challenge was the lab environment itself. Latency between my machine and the target caused delays, forcing me to reset the lab twice. You also cannot use your local Burp configuration, which made some tasks less convenient.

To save time, I automated my scans with a simple bash loop to run Gobuster across multiple IP:port combinations. Small tricks like this made a big difference in time management.

Main lesson: Treat the exam like a CTF, but keep real-world methodology in mind. Fuzzing, persistence, and systematic enumeration will carry you.

Vulnerabilities I Encountered

During the exam, I ran into several well-known issues, including:

  • HTTP Basic Auth Brute Force (cluster bomb attack with encoded wordlists)
  • Drupal Form Brute Force using Hydra
  • Drupalgeddon 2 (CVE-2018-7600) leading to RCE
  • SQL Injection on a Drupal login page
  • XSS (Stored & Reflected) exercises
  • SOAP XXE to read local files
  • Sensitive data exposure in a Django app (hidden secret key)
  • WordPress exploitation through database access after gaining shell

While some scenarios felt unrealistic (like brute-forcing with common wordlists), they do reinforce fundamentals.

Study Materials & Mental Notes

My preparation combined official course content with community resources and practice labs:

  • INE/eLearnSecurity videos – solid baseline on fuzzing, authentication, CMS exploitation, SOAP, and API testing
  • PortSwigger Web Security Academy – great free labs on SQLi, XSS, authentication flaws, and logic bugs
  • TryHackMe (AppSec/Web Hacking modules) – useful for quick hands-on practice with CMS and brute force scenarios. Recommended rooms: Blog, Smol, Different CTF, Mountaineer
  • HackTheBox (Web Exploitation path) – solving a couple of web machines helped me handle multi-service environments, something you’ll see in the exam
  • Personal notes & scripts – I built a cheatsheet for Hydra syntax, Gobuster payloads, and bash one-liners. Automation really helps under time pressure

Mental Notes for the Exam:

  1. Don’t panic with multiple hosts – map and prioritize step by step
  2. Enumeration is everything – recursive fuzzing uncovers most answers
  3. Manage your time – don’t sink hours into dead ends
  4. Expect outdated CMS & misconfigurations – be ready with exploits/wordlists
  5. Remember: this is closer to a CTF-style lab than a real-world assessment

Final Opinions

In the end, the eWPT exam was both challenging and rewarding. It sharpened my skills in fuzzing, CMS exploitation, authentication bypass, and API/Web Service testing.

For beginners or junior testers, I think it’s a great foundation. It reinforces the importance of being methodical and comfortable with tools like Gobuster, Hydra, Burp Suite, and Metasploit.

That said, the exam has its limits. It doesn’t fully simulate real production environments with modern frameworks or advanced business logic flaws. To fill that gap, I strongly recommend supplementing your study with PortSwigger Academy, TryHackMe, HackTheBox, and if possible, real bug bounty or internship experience.

Key advice if you’re preparing:

  • Master fuzzing & automation – most answers hide behind enumeration
  • Focus on methodology over tools – tools change, methodology doesn’t
  • Treat it like a CTF, but extract real-world lessons

The eWPT is not the final destination, but it is an excellent stepping stone on the road to becoming a skilled web application penetration tester.

May the Pentest Be With You!