OSCP · Module 9
Finding and Evaluating Public Exploits
Find, evaluate, and adapt public exploit code from SearchSploit, Exploit-DB, and GitHub. Understand what an exploit does before running it.
~1 h 2 resources Last updated September 27, 2026
Once you identify a service version or application, the next step is finding existing exploits for it. SearchSploit, Exploit-DB, GitHub, and Google are the primary sources. PEN-200 teaches you to evaluate exploit code before running it, understand what it does, and adapt it to your target environment. Blindly running exploit scripts without reading them is a fast way to crash a target or miss the actual vulnerability.
Finding and Evaluating Exploits
SearchSploit queries the local Exploit-DB mirror offline. Google and GitHub surface proof-of-concept code, advisory write-ups, and Metasploit modules. Evaluating reliability means reading the code, understanding the vulnerability class, and checking whether the target version and configuration match.
Understanding Exploit Code
Source code review skills help you understand what an exploit does before you run it. Trace the payload, identify hardcoded values that need changing, and verify the exploit targets the correct vulnerability. This is also how you spot backdoors in public exploit code.
Warning
HackIndex does not currently have a dedicated SearchSploit or Exploit-DB guide. For SearchSploit usage, run searchsploit <service> <version> on Kali and use -m to mirror exploits locally. Refer to the PEN-200 course material for detailed exploit evaluation methodology.
Read
The core material for this module. Where a guide goes deeper than needed, the relevant sections are highlighted.
Practice
Apply the module hands-on.
- Admirer HackTheBox Easy
- Agent Sudo TryHackMe Easy
- Armageddon HackTheBox Easy
- Blaster TryHackMe Easy
- Blue HackTheBox Easy
- Blue TryHackMe Easy
- BoardLight HackTheBox Easy
- Broker HackTheBox Easy
- BSides Vancouver 2018 Vulnhub Easy
- Curling HackTheBox Easy
- Horizontall HackTheBox Easy
- Ice TryHackMe Easy
- Ignite TryHackMe Easy
- Internal Proving Grounds Easy
- Irked HackTheBox Easy
- Keeper HackTheBox Easy
- Knife HackTheBox Easy
- Laboratory HackTheBox Easy
- Levram Proving Grounds Easy
- LinkVortex HackTheBox Easy
- Omni HackTheBox Easy
- OpenAdmin HackTheBox Easy
- Optimum HackTheBox Easy
- Postman HackTheBox Easy
- Remote HackTheBox Easy
- Shocker HackTheBox Easy
- Tomghost TryHackMe Easy
- Traverxec HackTheBox Easy
- Twiggy Proving Grounds Easy
- Valentine HackTheBox Easy
- Wombo Proving Grounds Easy
- Year of the Rabbit TryHackMe Easy
- Billyboss Proving Grounds Intermediate
- Bullybox Proving Grounds Intermediate
- Flu Proving Grounds Intermediate
- LaVita Proving Grounds Intermediate
- Marketing Proving Grounds Intermediate
- Metasploitable 3 Vulnhub Intermediate
- PyLoader Proving Grounds Intermediate
- Sybaris Proving Grounds Intermediate
- ZenPhoto Proving Grounds Intermediate
- Bastard HackTheBox Medium
- Builder HackTheBox Medium
- Election 1 Vulnhub Medium
- Hawk HackTheBox Medium
- Meta HackTheBox Medium
- Shibboleth HackTheBox Medium
- Steel Mountain TryHackMe Medium
- Teacher HackTheBox Medium
- Vulnerable Docker 1 Vulnhub Medium
- Web Developer 1 Vulnhub Medium
- Internal TryHackMe Hard
- Pinkys Palace v3 Vulnhub Hard
- Quick HackTheBox Hard
- Retro TryHackMe Hard