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A Clear Overview of the CBBH Certification

In this post, I’ll share my experience with the HTB Certified Bug Bounty Hunter (CBBH) certification. Whether you’re new to web penetration testing or already familiar with CBBH, there’s something here for everyone.

What is Web Application Penetration Testing and Bug Bounty Hunting?

Web Application Penetration Testing is the practice of assessing the security of web applications by simulating real-world attacks. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, XSS, authentication bypass, and more, before malicious actors can exploit them.

Bug Bounty Hunting, on the other hand, is a legal and coordinated process where independent security researchers find and report security vulnerabilities to organizations in exchange for rewards. It’s an excellent way to improve security skills while earning recognition or monetary compensation.

What is the CBBH Certification?

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The Certified Bug Bounty Hunter (CBBH) is an intermediate-level certification from Hack The Box that focuses on practical, hands-on skills for web application security testing and bug bounty hunting.

As with all HTB certifications, completion of the associated learning path is mandatory before attempting the exam. For CBBH, this means completing the Bug Bounty Hunter path in HTB Academy which includes 20 modules with skills assessment to practice the concepts learn in the course.

My Review and Experience

Path Completion

Initial Plan

My initial plan was to complete HTB CDSA and then take on the exam. However, after finishing the SOC Analyst path, I realized I needed more hands-on practice and to revisit all the modules before attempting the exam. This was mainly due to new concepts introduced in modules like:

  • Introduction to Malware Analysis & DFIR
  • Threat Hunting (a field I recently discovered and started to really enjoy)

I didn’t want to rush. Instead, I decided to take my time, dive deeper into these topics, and do additional research. I will start a blog series on threat hunting, where I’ll be exploring malware analysis and threat hunting in depth (more on that in my next post).

Switching Focus to CBBH

While pursuing those interests, I decided to complete the Bug Bounty Hunter path to strengthen my web application penetration testing skills.
At the time, I had already completed about 68% of the path thanks to my HTB CPTS certification, since the Penetration Tester path shares several overlapping modules with CBBH.
This left me with only 6 modules to complete before being eligible for the exam.

My Preparation Strategy

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After finishing the path, I created custom cheat sheets for each module not just the ones provided by HTB Academy.

These included:

  • Every command used in the module examples
  • Extra notes from solving skill assessments
  • Additional commands and techniques from my own research

This was incredibly helpful and played a huge role in passing the exam on my first attempt.
I highly recommend:

  1. Creating your own cheat sheets
  2. Organizing your notes in Markdown
  3. Keeping each module’s vulnerabilities and techniques handy during the exam

Exam Experience

I reviewed all modules again, finalized my notes, and scheduled my exam to start on July 28th.

The experience was smooth:

  • No technical issues
  • Very stable lab environment

Tips for the exam:

  • Refer to your notes and modules whenever stuck (I did this multiple times, and it saved me)
  • Take breaks and clear your mind when frustrated
  • Write your report as you go capture screenshots and command outputs immediately

I scored 100 points by capturing all 10 flags (only 85 points were needed to pass). The last flag was challenging but very satisfying to exploit.

It took me 5 days out of the 7 allotted to get 100 points and submit my report.

Reporting

My report was:

  • Neatly formatted
  • Thoroughly documented
  • Written so that the reader could reproduce everything without confusion

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This comes from lessons learned in past exams, where I significantly improved my reporting skills.

I submitted my report on August 1st and received my results on August 12th a much shorter wait compared to when I took the CPTS last year.

CBBH Cert

Final Thoughts

I highly recommend CBBH to anyone looking to:

  • Upskill in web application penetration testing
  • Begin bug bounty hunting

The methodology taught in the Bug Bounty Hunter path is more than enough to get started in real-world scenarios, and I plan to apply it in my free time.

What’s Next?

My next steps:

  • Take Hands-On Web Exploitations by NahamSec on HackingHub
  • Practice more with PortSwigger and PentesterLab
  • Eventually take on the bigger challenge of the HTB CWEE exam, which is already on my radar