CompTIA · Free Practice Questions · Last reviewed May 2026
20real exam-style questions organised by domain, each with the correct answer highlighted and a plain-English explanation of why it's right — and why the others are wrong.
17% of exam · 6 sample questions below
A penetration tester has captured a WPA2 handshake. Which tool from the Aircrack-ng suite is used to crack the pre-shared key?
airmon-ng
airodump-ng
aireplay-ng
aircrack-ng
Correct: cracks WEP and WPA keys from captured handshakes.
Which tool is used for security auditing of AWS environments and can enumerate misconfigurations in IAM, S3, and other services?
Pacu
Correct: AWS-specific security testing framework.
CrackMapExec
Prowler
ScoutSuite
During a cloud security assessment of AWS, a tester wants to identify misconfigurations using automated tools. Which THREE tools are specifically designed for AWS security auditing?
Hashcat
Pacu
Correct: AWS exploitation framework.
Prowler
Correct: CIS benchmark tool for AWS.
CrackMapExec
ScoutSuite
Correct: multi-cloud but supports AWS auditing.
During code review, a penetration tester identifies the following line in a PHP web application: $sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='" . $_GET['user'] . "'"; Which type of vulnerability is most likely present?
SQL injection
Correct. Input is directly concatenated into an SQL query.
Insecure deserialization
Command injection
Cross-site scripting (XSS)
A penetration tester has obtained a set of NTLM password hashes from a Windows domain controller. The tester wants to perform an offline cracking attack using GPU acceleration. Which tool is best suited for this purpose?
Hashcat
Correct. Hashcat is optimized for GPU-accelerated cracking.
CrackMapExec
John the Ripper
Hydra
A penetration tester is writing a Python script to send a crafted TCP packet to a target. Which Python library should the tester use for low-level packet crafting and injection?
requests
impacket
scapy
Correct. Scapy allows crafting and sending custom packets.
socket
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Practice this domain13% of exam · 4 sample questions below
After completing a penetration test, the tester must deliver a report. According to standard practices, which of the following is a required component of the deliverables?
Executive summary, technical findings, and remediation guidance
These are standard components of a penetration test report.
Remediation guidance and a list of all tested IPs
Only technical findings and proof-of-concept code
Executive summary and raw data logs
A penetration tester is performing a wireless penetration test. The RoE states that testing is only allowed between 8 PM and 6 AM. At 7:30 PM, the tester begins active scanning. At 8:15 PM, a client employee calls emergency contact to report suspicious activity. According to the RoE, which of the following is the most likely reason for the call?
The tester used an unauthorized tool
The tester started testing outside the agreed time window
Active scanning began at 7:30 PM, before 8 PM.
The tester targeted an out-of-scope access point
The tester exceeded the allowed signal strength
Which type of penetration test provides the tester with full knowledge of the target environment, including network diagrams, source code, and administrative credentials?
Grey box
White box
Correct. White box testing provides full disclosure of the target environment.
Black box
Red team
During a red team exercise, the tester successfully gains access to an internal server and finds evidence of ongoing criminal activity unrelated to the client. According to best practices for handling discovered criminal activity, what should the tester do first?
Contact the client's emergency contact as defined in the RoE
Correct. The tester should follow the communication plan.
Immediately inform law enforcement
Cease all testing and delete the evidence
Continue testing and document the evidence for the final report
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Practice this domain21% of exam · 4 sample questions below
During a penetration test, you want to discover API endpoints and hidden parameters in a web application. Which tool combination is most effective for this task?
Wappalyzer and curl
WhatWeb and theHarvester
Gobuster and Nikto
Arjun and ffuf
Arjun is for parameter discovery; ffuf can bruteforce parameters and endpoints.
Which tool is specifically designed for scanning WordPress websites to detect vulnerabilities, such as outdated plugins, themes, and weak passwords?
OpenVAS
Nikto
WPScan
WPScan is made specifically for WordPress security assessments.
Nessus
During a penetration test, you want to perform a stealthy port scan that minimizes the chance of being logged by the target. Which Nmap option should you use?
-sU
-sV
-sT
-sS
SYN scan is half-open and less likely to be logged.
A penetration tester is performing passive reconnaissance on a target organization. Which of the following tools would be BEST suited to gather information about the organization's domain names, email addresses, and subdomains from publicly available sources without directly interacting with the target's systems?
Nmap
theHarvester
theHarvester performs passive OSINT collection of emails, subdomains, and hostnames.
Nessus
Metasploit
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Practice this domain35% of exam · 6 sample questions below
During a Windows privilege escalation attempt, the tester finds that the current user has the SeImpersonatePrivilege enabled. Which tool is commonly used to exploit this privilege to gain SYSTEM?
PrintSpoofer
PrintSpoofer leverages SeImpersonatePrivilege to escalate to SYSTEM.
SharpUp
Mimikatz
PowerUp
In a web application test, you find a parameter that directly references internal object IDs (e.g., user_id=123) and changing the ID allows access to another user's data. This vulnerability is known as:
Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR)
IDOR allows unauthorized access to objects by modifying reference values.
Cross-site scripting (XSS)
SQL injection
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)
During a penetration test, a tester successfully exploits a web application and gains a foothold. The tester needs to pivot to an internal network segment that is not directly accessible. Which THREE tools can the tester use to create a SOCKS proxy or tunnel for pivoting?
Chisel
Chisel is a fast TCP/UDP tunnel over HTTP.
Netcat
Nmap
Ligolo-ng
Ligolo-ng creates a SOCKS5 proxy for pivoting.
SSH with -D flag
SSH -D creates a dynamic SOCKS tunnel.
A penetration tester wants to perform a pass-the-hash attack against a Windows system. Which tool can be used to authenticate using the NTLM hash instead of a password?
Responder
Hashcat
CrackMapExec
CrackMapExec can use NTLM hashes for authentication via pass-the-hash.
John the Ripper
During a Windows privilege escalation attempt, a tester finds that the current user has the SeImpersonatePrivilege enabled. Which tool can be used to exploit this privilege to gain SYSTEM access?
PrintSpoofer
PrintSpoofer leverages SeImpersonatePrivilege to get SYSTEM.
PowerUp
CrackMapExec
Mimikatz
During a web application penetration test, a tester identifies a SQL injection vulnerability. Which TWO techniques could be used to extract data from the database? (Select TWO.)
Command injection
XXE injection
Blind time-based SQL injection
Time-based blind uses delays to infer data.
Reflected XSS
UNION-based SQL injection
UNION query combines results to retrieve data.
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Practice this domainThe PT0-003 exam has 85 questions and must be completed in 165 minutes. The passing score is 750/1000.
Multiple-choice and performance-based questions covering IT security, networking, and operations. Some questions are performance-based (PBQs), asking you to complete tasks in a simulated environment.
The exam covers 4 domains: Vulnerability Discovery and Analysis, Engagement Management, Reconnaissance and Enumeration, Attacks and Exploits. Questions are weighted by domain — higher-weight domains appear more on your actual exam.
No. These are original exam-style practice questions written against the official CompTIA PT0-003 exam objectives. They are not copied from the real exam. Courseiva focuses on genuine understanding, not memorisation of braindumps.
Courseiva tracks your accuracy per domain and routes you toward weak areas automatically. Free, no account required.