Hack The Box

Getting Help

When we start working on boxes on Hack The Box, we may likely get stuck in certain areas and may need to ask other players for some little tips and hints, to be able to move forward on the box. Here are some areas in which we can get help.

Note: During any of your activities through Hack The Box, you must always follow HTB Rules, which can be found on this link.

Forum

The Hack The Box Forum is an excellent place for discussing live and retired Hack The Box boxes and challenges.

Each box has an official discussion thread, in which live discussions are had about all aspects of the box, without giving any spoilers or clear indications on how to exploit the box. If we want to work on a retired box and do not want to follow a step-by-step tutorial, we can read older box threads and look for hints and tips. This way, we can challenge ourselves on older boxes and consult the box's official discussion thread in case we get stuck.

Discord

Another great place to discuss Hack The Box boxes and challenges, in addition to various other aspects of Hack The Box, is the official HTB Discord server. We can join the Official HTB Discord server by clicking on this link. We will be asked to download the Discord app and create our Discord account to access the HTB server.

The Discord server covers a broad range of topics related to the Hack The Box, and you can also learn about the latest news and tournaments. The Discord server also covers discussions about General Announcements, Boxes and Challenges, Academy Modules, HTB Labs, Hacking and Pentesting, and General Support.

Be sure to read over the Server Rules to avoid any wrongdoings.

Asking Questions Effectively

If we are stuck at a certain point on a box or a challenge, we may want to ask a question in one of the above channels.

To get the best guidance on our problem, we need to ask our questions effectively.

Be sure to include the following in our question:

  • What point of the box/challenge are we stuck at 'i.e., user/root'?
  • What steps have we taken so far to get to the point we are at?
  • What step are we failing at, and what have we done to resolve our issue?
  • Always try to be very specific on what we need help on, rather than asking for general help

When we form our question using the above points, we may get some ideas that we may have missed, which can help us answer the question ourselves. Sometimes a comment from someone else will get us to an "aha!" moment, and we will be able to answer your question essentially. Other times we will find someone willing to work with us to solve our issue. It is always best to approach things from a learning perspective and not just look for answers to get points or improve our hall of fame positioning. We should NOT do any of the following:

  • Give away spoilers or clear indications that may spoil the machine for other people
  • Be vague in our description without providing enough details of what we have done

Answering Questions Effectively

If we have completed a specific box or challenge, we may want to help others by answering their questions. Getting involved in the community helps us build connections and build our team, which is a great way to improve our overall penetration testing and information security level. It may also help us build our Hack The Box profile and strengthen your understanding of the box or challenge you have just completed. When answering questions, be sure to do the following:

  • Be as spoiler-free as possible, and do not get direct instructions on how to complete the current step or the entire box
  • Give minor hints or tips that can lead to the right direction for completion, and do not give entire suggestions for completion
  • Share resources that we found helpful
  • Share tips on points we were getting stuck on

Getting Technical Help

In case we are facing any technical issues, we can always search for the problem we are facing in the official HTB FAQ, which contains a lot of very detailed and helpful articles. We are very likely to find an answer to our question there. If we cannot find an answer to our question, feel free to raise a ticket with HTB Support. Make sure you turn off your adblockers in order for the chat bubble to pop up at the bottom right of the page.