Certified AppSec Pentester (CAPen) Review + Tips/Tricks
Description
I recently passed the AppSec Pentester (CAPen) certification from The SecOps Group. I prepared in a self-taught manner, taking advantage of the labs from PortSwigger Web Security Academy; the preparation path for CBBH (Certified Bug Bounty Hunter), and various other resources available online. In this post, I want to share my personal experience and thoughts on the exam..
Introduction
The Certified AppSec Pentester (CAPen) certification by The SecOps Group is designed to assess your practical skills in web application penetration testing. Unlike traditional multiple-choice exams, this one is completely hands-on, replicating real-world testing scenarios where you must identify, exploit, and report vulnerabilities.
Exam Overview
- Level: Intermediate
- Duration: 4 hours (+15 minutes for setup)
- Format: Practical challenges with flags, plus a few multiple-choice and true/false questions
- Mode: Online, on-demand (no need to schedule in advance)
- Cost: £250 per attempt, but they always run discount
- Retake: One free retake included
- Validity: The certification does not expire, and the voucher also has no expiration date
- Passing Criteria: 60% minimum to pass 75% or more to pass with merit
Exam Topics
The exam covers a wide range of web application vulnerabilities, including:
- SQL Injection (SQLi)
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
- Broken Authentication and Access Control
- Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- XML External Entity (XXE) Attacks
- Insecure File Uploads
- Cloud Misconfigurations
- TLS / HTTPS / Security Headers
- Other OWASP Top 10 Issues
These topics are aligned with the latest OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities, making the exam highly relevant for today’s threat landscape.
Exam Experience
Once you redeem your voucher, you’ll receive VPN credentials and a link to the exam portal. After connecting to the VPN, there’s a short setup phase (~5 minutes) before the exam officially begins.
Conclusion
In my opinion, I would categorize the exam as easy, provided you have a solid grasp of basic web exploitation techniques. The lab environment was stable throughout the entire session, and I experienced no significant issues with the VPN connection. If you’re comfortable with common web attack vectors such as XSS, SQLi, and broken access controls, you shouldn’t have much trouble passing the certification.
Recommended Resources
To prepare effectively, you don’t need official training. Here are some excellent (mostly free) resources:
- PortSwigger Web Security Academy - Excellent for XSS, SQLi, CSRF, and more
- HTB Certified Bug Bounty Hunter (CBBH) - Good prep for CAPen-style questions
- flaws.cloud / flaws2.cloud and AWS Misconfigurations – Practice cloud misconfigurations
Tips to Succed
- Practice regularly with real-world labs (PortSwigger, Hack The Box, TryHackMe)
- Take the official mock exam at least once to get familiar with the platform
- Document everything during your attempts
- Focus on fundamentals – most challenges don’t require advanced exploitation, just solid AppSec knowledge
- The syllabus provided on the official website is more than sufficient to pass the exam. However, it’s essential to practice in vulnerable lab environments to gain hands-on experience and understand the different scenarios you might encounter when exploiting a specific vulnerability.