Offensive Security Certified Professional
(OSCP) Certification Exam Practice Test
Questions And Correct Answers (Verified
Answers) Plus Rationales 2026 Q&A |
Instant Download Pdf
1. Which of the following best describes the primary goal of the OSCP
exam?
A. To test the candidate’s ability to memorize commands
B. To evaluate knowledge of cybersecurity policy frameworks
C. To assess the ability to identify, exploit, and document security
vulnerabilities in real-world systems
D. To test programming proficiency exclusively
Rationale: The OSCP exam focuses on hands-on penetration testing
and practical exploitation, not theory or memorization.
2. During a penetration test, what is the first step in the process
according to the standard methodology?
A. Information gathering (reconnaissance)
, B. Exploitation
C. Post-exploitation
D. Reporting
Rationale: The penetration testing process starts with information
gathering to understand the target and identify possible attack
vectors.
3. Which tool is most commonly used for port scanning and service
detection?
A. Wireshark
B. Nmap
C. Metasploit
D. Burp Suite
Rationale: Nmap is a standard tool for scanning ports and identifying
services running on a target system.
4. The command “nmap -sS -p 80 192.168.1.1” performs what action?
A. UDP scan on port 80
B. SYN scan on port 80 of target 192.168.1.1
C. Full TCP connect scan
D. OS detection scan
Rationale: The -sS flag specifies a SYN (half-open) scan on the
specified port and target.
5. What does the “-O” option in Nmap do?
A. Enables OSINT collection
, B. Specifies output file
C. Enables OS detection
D. Outputs to standard input
Rationale: The “-O” flag enables OS detection to identify the
operating system of the target.
6. Which command can be used to identify the banner of a web service?
A. dirb
B. curl -I http://target
C. hydra
D. nikto
Rationale: curl -I retrieves HTTP headers, revealing server
information and banners.
7. What does “privilege escalation” refer to in penetration testing?
A. Changing user passwords
B. Finding open ports
C. Gaining higher-level permissions (e.g., root or admin)
D. Exiting the target system
Rationale: Privilege escalation involves exploiting system
vulnerabilities to move from a lower privilege level to a higher one.
8. Which Metasploit command initializes the database?
A. msfdb init
B. msfconsole start
C. db_nmap
, D. msfstart db
Rationale: The “msfdb init” command initializes the Metasploit
database to store scan and exploit data.
9. What is the default port for SSH?
A. 21
B. 25
C. 80
D. 22
Rationale: SSH services typically operate over TCP port 22.
10. Which of the following tools is primarily used for web
application vulnerability scanning?
A. Hydra
B. Nmap
C. Burp Suite
D. John the Ripper
Rationale: Burp Suite is widely used for testing web applications and
identifying vulnerabilities like XSS or SQLi.
11. Which Metasploit module type is used to gain access to a
system?
A. Auxiliary
B. Exploit
C. Payload
D. Encoder
(OSCP) Certification Exam Practice Test
Questions And Correct Answers (Verified
Answers) Plus Rationales 2026 Q&A |
Instant Download Pdf
1. Which of the following best describes the primary goal of the OSCP
exam?
A. To test the candidate’s ability to memorize commands
B. To evaluate knowledge of cybersecurity policy frameworks
C. To assess the ability to identify, exploit, and document security
vulnerabilities in real-world systems
D. To test programming proficiency exclusively
Rationale: The OSCP exam focuses on hands-on penetration testing
and practical exploitation, not theory or memorization.
2. During a penetration test, what is the first step in the process
according to the standard methodology?
A. Information gathering (reconnaissance)
, B. Exploitation
C. Post-exploitation
D. Reporting
Rationale: The penetration testing process starts with information
gathering to understand the target and identify possible attack
vectors.
3. Which tool is most commonly used for port scanning and service
detection?
A. Wireshark
B. Nmap
C. Metasploit
D. Burp Suite
Rationale: Nmap is a standard tool for scanning ports and identifying
services running on a target system.
4. The command “nmap -sS -p 80 192.168.1.1” performs what action?
A. UDP scan on port 80
B. SYN scan on port 80 of target 192.168.1.1
C. Full TCP connect scan
D. OS detection scan
Rationale: The -sS flag specifies a SYN (half-open) scan on the
specified port and target.
5. What does the “-O” option in Nmap do?
A. Enables OSINT collection
, B. Specifies output file
C. Enables OS detection
D. Outputs to standard input
Rationale: The “-O” flag enables OS detection to identify the
operating system of the target.
6. Which command can be used to identify the banner of a web service?
A. dirb
B. curl -I http://target
C. hydra
D. nikto
Rationale: curl -I retrieves HTTP headers, revealing server
information and banners.
7. What does “privilege escalation” refer to in penetration testing?
A. Changing user passwords
B. Finding open ports
C. Gaining higher-level permissions (e.g., root or admin)
D. Exiting the target system
Rationale: Privilege escalation involves exploiting system
vulnerabilities to move from a lower privilege level to a higher one.
8. Which Metasploit command initializes the database?
A. msfdb init
B. msfconsole start
C. db_nmap
, D. msfstart db
Rationale: The “msfdb init” command initializes the Metasploit
database to store scan and exploit data.
9. What is the default port for SSH?
A. 21
B. 25
C. 80
D. 22
Rationale: SSH services typically operate over TCP port 22.
10. Which of the following tools is primarily used for web
application vulnerability scanning?
A. Hydra
B. Nmap
C. Burp Suite
D. John the Ripper
Rationale: Burp Suite is widely used for testing web applications and
identifying vulnerabilities like XSS or SQLi.
11. Which Metasploit module type is used to gain access to a
system?
A. Auxiliary
B. Exploit
C. Payload
D. Encoder
