{"id":5242,"date":"2025-11-14T19:58:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.corelan-certified.com\/index.php\/faq\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T19:58:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:58:29","slug":"faq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.corelan-certified.com\/index.php\/faq\/","title":{"rendered":"FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n
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Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n
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\n What are the requirements to take the CCED Exam?<\/span><\/use><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/a>\n
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The CCED exam covers all of\nWindows User Land, both Stack & Heap based Memory Corruptions. 
This obviously means that you'll need to take\nboth Corelan \"Stack<\/a>\" and\nCorelan \"Heap<\/a>\"\ncourses first. 
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If you have\nnot taken both courses yet, check out the training\nschedules<\/a> for public classes or contact me directly if you are a group of people and prefer to set up a private\nclass instead.
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Taking the exam will require time, effort and dedication.  It's a significant investment
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As soon as you have signed up, you'll get a week<\/span> to complete the first phase, and then 2 months and a half <\/span>to complete the next 3 phases in the exam.
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In the fifth and last phase, providing that you were able to complete all previous phases, you'll need to do a one-on-one interview (video ca)) with Peter Van Eeckhoutte. 
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This call may take multiple hours, and will be scheduled based on availability.\n <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

\n How do I sign up?<\/span><\/use><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/a>\n
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\ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffc You can sign up (providing that you meet the requirements) here<\/a> \ud83d\udc48\ud83c\udffc
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\ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f Before signing up, please take the time to prepare a letter of motivation, detailing:
\u2754 why the title of CCED is important to you
\u2754 why you're motivated to doing the work to achieve this certificate
\u2754 what you are going to do in order to keep your knowledge up-to-date in the future
\u2754 what tangible actions you are going to implement in order to hold yourself accountable for actually taking these actions in the future.
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The CCED Exam is a significant investment of your and my resources.  Your motivation letter should reflect and respect this, so please make it convincing and personal. (No AI tools please \ud83d\ude09 - you're the one taking the exam, not AI )
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This is what the actual sign-up process looks like:
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 1\ufe0f\u20e3 Submit the motivation letter together with a copy of your picture ID, requesting to sign up for the certification exam.  
The signup page<\/a> will show the exact email address you can use.  The number of registrations per month is limited. 
 2\ufe0f\u20e3 If your letter was convincing enough, you'll receive the exam agreement.   Send back a signed copy
 3\ufe0f\u20e3 Execute the full payment (You can find payment options here<\/a>)
 4\ufe0f\u20e3 When the full payment has been received, details will be shared on how to get started.  This is the moment the exam formally begins.
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\n How much does the CCED Exam cost?<\/span><\/use><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/a>\n
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The exam fee is \u20ac799 + 21% VAT.  You can find more details here<\/a> on whether VAT applies to you or not, and how you can execute the payment.
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This includes one opportunity to retake the relevant parts of the exam if you do not pass on your first attempt.
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\n What does the CCED Exam look like?<\/span><\/use><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/a>\n
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The CCED Exam consists of five phases:
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1. Theory <\/span>\n
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In this initial phase, you must demonstrate a solid theoretical understanding of the key mechanisms, techniques, terminology, and concepts related to exploit development in the Windows Userland environment. 
\u2705 A minimum score of 70<\/span>% is required to advance to the next phase. 
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2. Exploit Development<\/span>\n
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After passing the theory phase, you will be required to demonstrate practical skills by developing exploits for both stack- and heap-based memory corruption vulnerabilities. 
Additional challenges may be included to further assess your capabilities. 
You must also submit detailed documentation (text, screenshots, etc) of your exploit development process, including step-by-step explanations and the corresponding code, for evaluation. 
This phase will be graded based on the following criteria:
\u2705 Functionality: Does your code\/solution work reliably, does it demonstrate a thorough understanding of the techniques used?
\u2705 Code quality: Readability, structure, and maintainability of the code.
\u2705 Documentation: Clarity and completeness of the supporting documentation.
\u2705 Effort: Overall dedication and thoroughness demonstrated in your work.
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In order to allow you to work on the challenges without relying too much on external factors, you will need to set up your own virtual machines and run the challenges locally.  You will receive VM Lab Setup instructions<\/span> as soon as Phase 1 begins.
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3. Research 1 (Whitepaper) <\/span>\n
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In this phase, you will receive a whitepaper to study and analyze. 
Your objective is to understand the presented techniques and complete technical challenges that demonstrate your comprehension and ability to apply them. 
This phase evaluates your capacity to independently learn and implement new exploit development concepts. 
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4. Research 2 (Public Resources) <\/span>\n
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Here, you will independently research an advanced exploit development topic using publicly available resources.\nYou are expected to thoroughly explore the subject, synthesize your findings, and produce a concise, well-structured paper. 
You may also be asked to include supporting code or tools to demonstrate your applied understanding of the topic. 
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5. One-on-One Interview <\/span>\n
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In the final phase, Peter Van Eeckhoutte will personally verify that all submitted work is your own. 
He will assess your understanding of the concepts, research, techniques, and decisions made throughout the exam process. 
During this live video interview, you may be asked to explain your reasoning, the choices you have made, answer in-depth technical questions, and\/or even reproduce certain steps inside a debugger in real time. 
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Timeline & Completion <\/span>\n
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Phases 1 through 4 must be completed within two months of completing the sign-up process. 
After submitting all required deliverables, a date and time will be scheduled for the one-on-one interview with Peter Van Eeckhoutte. 
You will be awarded the CCED title upon successful completion of all five phases.\n <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

\n How do I prepare for the Exam?<\/span><\/use><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/a>\n
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Letter of Motivation <\/span>\n
Start by writing your motivation letter. This will help you get into the right mindset.
Details about what the letter should contain are available on the sign-up page<\/a> as well as in the FAQ section called \"How do I sign up\" above.
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Prerequisites<\/span> 
You must have completed both the Corelan Stack and Corelan Heap classes.
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Skills & Practice <\/span>\n
\u2611\ufe0f Redo the Stack class exercises, with special focus on building DEP bypasses. Try creating your own ROP chains from scratch.
\u2611\ufe0f Work through the Heap class exercises thoroughly as well (especially the homework exercises).
\u2611\ufe0f Revisit the internals of BEA and FEA on Windows 11.
\u2611\ufe0f Be prepared to perform your own research, even on topics not explicitly covered in class. Some exam challenges may require applying concepts to new environments.
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Resources <\/span>\n
All exam challenges are doable, but they require creativity, persistence, and adaptability.
Over time, successful candidates may share their own study guides online. Keep an eye out for these resources.
Of course, if you decide to share your own study guide, please remember to respect the rules outlined in the Exam Agreement \ud83d\ude09 
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 \ud83d\udca1 Final note: <\/span>\n
Approach preparation with curiosity and determination. The more you practice, the better equipped you\u2019ll be to succeed. Good luck!\n <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

\n How do you grade the exam?<\/span><\/use><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/a>\n
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The goal of the CCED exam is to validate expertise in Windows Userland exploit development, covering both Stack and Heap exploitation.\u200b  It attempts to measure current skill, as well as potential.<\/p>\n