50 Free Vulnerable Machines You Can Practice With Today – 7 Shocking Lessons I Learned After My First OSCP Failure
The night I failed my first OSCP attempt, it was 4:13 a.m. My last box was sitting there—half-rooted, half-demonic enigma—and my hands were trembling. Not from too much coffee, but from that slow, creeping dread: I had just transformed a four-figure exam fee into the world’s most expensive practice lab.
If you’re here looking for free vulnerable machines, I’m going to guess you’d like to avoid that particular rite of passage.
So, here’s the deal. I’m going to show you how to turn over 50 free, public vulnerable machines into a real, focused OSCP-style lab—one that’ll actually boost your chances next time around. No more scattershot pwning. No more burnout. No more staring at buffer overflows at 3 a.m. wondering where your life went sideways.
Inside this guide, you’ll get:
- The seven biggest lessons I learned from that soul-crushing first attempt
- A 60-second skill estimator you can use right now
- A roadmap that maps specific machines to specific OSCP exam skills—so you’re not just hacking randomly for fun (unless that’s your thing)
If you’re pressed for time, stressed out, and eyeing that exam fee like it’s your second rent check this month—this guide is for you.
Go ahead—skim the Table of Contents. Then come back and try the 60-second estimator before you touch another box today. It might just save you from another 4 a.m. heartbreak.
Table of Contents
Why I Failed My First OSCP (and How That Helps You)
On my first OSCP attempt, I walked in with the worst possible plan: “I’ll just pwn a ton of random boxes and somehow it’ll add up.” I had rooted plenty of free vulnerable machines, but my notes were a graveyard of half-documented exploits, broken screenshots, and commands I could no longer explain.
The exam did not care how many machines I had “owned.” It cared whether I could chain recon → exploitation → privilege escalation → documentation under time pressure. That’s where I broke.
Maybe you’re in a similar place: limited cash, limited weekends, and a vague stack of labs called “practice.” The good news is that you can re-use almost everything you have—your existing laptop, VirtualBox/VMware, and dozens of free machines—to create something far more exam-shaped than what I had.
Here’s the mindset shift that changed everything: free vulnerable machines are not trophies; they’re drills. Once you treat them like targeted practice, 50 machines becomes a structured curriculum instead of a guilt-inducing backlog.
- Treat every machine as a drill with a purpose.
- Track what you can repeat, not just what “worked once.”
- Time-box attempts to mirror OSCP exam pressure.
Apply in 60 seconds: Write down the last three boxes you did and, next to each, note one specific skill you can now repeat.
Show me the nerdy details
On my failed attempt, I had touched around 40–50 machines across different platforms, but fewer than 10 had full, end-to-end notes. I had almost zero documented local privilege escalation chains, no “standard operating procedure” for enumeration, and my timing strategy was just “stay awake and suffer.” When I rebuilt my lab, I centred it around repeatable checklists for recon, local enumeration, privilege escalation, and post-exploitation, using the same tools in the same way on multiple machines. That pattern is what translated into exam points.
How to Use 50 Free Vulnerable Machines Without Burning Out
If you’re working full-time, have a life, and maybe a family that would like to see you occasionally, “50 free vulnerable machines” can feel impossible. The trick is to connect them to a schedule you can actually survive.
Here’s the rule I wish I’d followed from day one: eligibility first, quotes second—you’ll save 20–30 minutes. In other words, check whether a box fits your current level and exam goals before you sink a Saturday into it.
Think in terms of “coverage tiers” of skills, not random difficulty ratings:
- Tier 1 – Basic web + Linux/Windows enumeration.
- Tier 2 – One or two-step exploitation with simple privilege escalation.
- Tier 3 – Multi-stage chains, AD elements, and realistic OSCP-style pain.
If you plan your free vulnerable machines as coverage tiers, you can hit 50 machines in 12–16 weeks with 6–8 focused hours per week instead of burning out in month two.
60-Second Lab Estimator: How Fast Can You Reach 50 Machines?
Use this mini calculator to estimate how long it will take you to work through 50 targets at your current pace.
Save this estimate and confirm the current fee on the provider’s official page.
- Pick a weekly machine quota you can sustain for 3+ months.
- Stack machines by skill tier, not platform.
- Book the exam only after your schedule works on paper.
Apply in 60 seconds: Run the estimator above and write your target “machines per week” on a sticky note next to your monitor.
Lesson 1 – Lab Mindset vs. Machine Bingo
Here’s the painful confession: before my first OSCP attempt, I treated vulnerable machines like a bingo card. I was proud of how many logos I could list—“Oh yeah, I’ve done that one, and that one…”—but I couldn’t explain why I got root on half of them.
Machine bingo feels productive. You’re rooting systems, taking screenshots, maybe posting a flex on social media. But OSCP doesn’t score your history; it scores your current, reproducible process.
Switching to a lab mindset means every machine has a job:
- “This box is for practicing manual SQL injection and custom wordlists.”
- “This one is for Linux privilege escalation via misconfigured services.”
- “This Windows box is for Active Directory enumeration and abuse.”
When I rebuilt my lab around “what skill does this machine teach me?” I suddenly knew whether a new box fit my roadmap or not. That alone probably saved me 5–10 hours every week.
Short Story: On a Sunday afternoon a few weeks after failing the exam, I opened my old notes and realized I had no idea how I’d rooted half the machines. So I forced myself to replay one specific box from scratch, pretending it was exam day. I wrote down every recon step, every privilege escalation attempt, and every dead end. By the time I got root again, I had a repeatable checklist that I could apply to the next three machines. The crazy part? My total time dropped by about 30–40% across that week, just because my brain wasn’t context-switching every five minutes. That’s when I stopped playing bingo and started building a lab.
- Assign one primary skill to every machine you touch.
- Write a one-sentence “lesson learned” in your notes.
- Stop starting new boxes until you can explain the last one.
Apply in 60 seconds: Open your lab notes and label each machine with one main skill (e.g., “Linux privesc via SUID”).
Show me the nerdy details
A lab mindset often includes pre-built recon scripts, standardized wordlists, and a fixed order of operations (port scan → service fingerprinting → web content discovery → credential hunting → local enumeration). The goal is to reduce cognitive load so that you’re not reinventing your workflow on every machine. This also makes your “fee schedule” in time more predictable: you know roughly how many hours a Tier 2 box will cost you before you start.
Lesson 2 – The Actual 50+ Free Vulnerable Machines Map
Let’s answer the big question: where do the 50 free vulnerable machines actually come from?
Instead of giving you a random mega-list, I’ll group free targets into clusters that together give you well over 50 distinct machines and apps. Some are classic full VMs; others are intentionally vulnerable web applications. I count both, because each one lets you practice the full chain from recon to proof-of-concept.
Cluster A – Kioptrix and Friends (classic OSCP-style VMs)
- Kioptrix series (multiple levels) – Old-school but still brilliant for service enumeration, web exploitation, and Linux privilege escalation.
- Similar boot2root-style VMs you can import into VirtualBox or VMware and isolate in your home lab.
These are great Tier 1 and Tier 2 targets: realistic, but not so complex that you lose an entire weekend to one obscure trick.
Cluster B – Metasploitable and All-in-One Targets
- Metasploitable-style VMs – A single virtual machine containing many vulnerable services and misconfigurations.
- Windows-based intentionally vulnerable servers you can snapshot and ruin repeatedly.
Here you focus less on “one flag per box” and more on enumeration discipline. How many services can you safely identify, categorize, and attack without missing low-hanging fruit?
Cluster C – OWASP and Vulnerable Web Apps
- DVWA, bWAPP, Juice Shop, Mutillidae, and other well-known intentionally vulnerable web applications.
- Bundles containing dozens of web apps installed on one VM, giving you 20–30+ actionable targets out of a single installation.
If the OSCP exam hands you a web-heavy environment, these apps pay for themselves in hours saved, especially for SQL injection, XSS, and auth logic practice.
Cluster D – Free “Proving Grounds”-style Machines
- Free tiers on popular platforms that offer a rotating set of vulnerable machines.
- Community challenges and seasonal events with time-limited boxes you can still download afterward.
Think of these as Tier 2.5 or Tier 3: more modern, often with realistic misconfigurations, and closer to what you’ll see in a real penetration testing engagement where clients care about coverage tiers and reporting.
Cluster E – Networking and Active Directory Labs
- Small, free Active Directory environments you can spin up locally.
- Networking-focused labs for pivoting, routing, and attacking internal services once you’ve got a foothold.
Even 2–3 AD-style labs can easily give you a dozen realistic “mini machines” when you count each host and service as a separate line of practice.
Add these clusters together and you’re sitting on far more than 50 meaningful targets. The difference is that now you know how to weave them into your OSCP prep instead of drowning in choice.
- Start with classic VMs for basics.
- Add vulnerable web apps for depth.
- Finish with a few AD and modern boxes for realism.
Apply in 60 seconds: List 3–5 platforms you already have access to and assign each to a cluster (A–E) so you can see your coverage.
Lesson 3 – Building a Safe Home Lab in 2025
My first OSCP home lab looked impressive on paper and terrifying on my router logs. I had forwarded more ports than I could remember and mixed “lab only” networks with real devices. Do not be me.
A modern OSCP home lab in 2025 can be simple:
- One decent laptop or desktop.
- VirtualBox, VMware, or Proxmox to host everything.
- A dedicated internal network segment with no route to the internet.
Whether you choose VirtualBox, VMware, or Proxmox is more about comfort and stability than magic performance. What matters is that you can snapshot machines, roll back experiments, and isolate traffic so your vulnerable services never touch production systems.
Money Block – Virtualization Decision Card (Time vs. “Lab Cost”)
Use this quick comparison before you rebuild your lab. Think of it as your personal “fee schedule” in time and attention.
| Option | Setup time | Typical lab size | Pros / Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| VirtualBox | ~1–2 hours | 3–6 machines | Free, simple UI, occasional quirks with networking. |
| VMware Workstation / Fusion | ~1–3 hours | 5–10 machines | Polished experience, good snapshots, license cost. |
| Proxmox / Hypervisor | ~3–6 hours | 10+ machines | Great for bigger labs, more complex networking, higher learning curve. |
Choose the option that minimizes your friction to starting. The best platform is the one you’ll actually use every week.
Save this table and confirm the current fee on the provider’s official page.
- Use an internal-only network for all vulnerable machines.
- Standardize snapshots and naming conventions.
- Plan for growth: leave headroom for new targets.
Apply in 60 seconds: Sketch your current lab on paper and circle any place where vulnerable VMs can reach real devices or the public internet.
Show me the nerdy details
In a home lab, you can simulate client segregation by running multiple internal networks and controlling which Kali instance can see which segment. This models how real clients isolate environments and helps you practice routing and VPN-like access. Keeping a written “coverage tier map” of which machines live on which segment also helps when you later tackle real penetration testing cost calculations based on environment size and complexity.
Lesson 4 – Free Labs vs. Paid Proving Grounds and Penetration Testing Cost
At some point, you’ll wonder: “Do I really need to pay for Proving Grounds, Hack The Box, or other platforms if there are so many free vulnerable machines?” I asked the same question, mostly while staring at my bank account.
Here’s the honest answer: free labs can get you dangerously close to ready, but paid platforms often give you better pacing, modern vulnerabilities, and curated exam-like experiences. Think of them like the difference between free YouTube workouts and a structured gym program.
Because the OSCP exam fee and lab bundles feel like a serious premium, it helps to frame this in terms of time and risk. An extra month of a good practice platform might be cheaper than failing the exam once and paying the full fee again.
Money Block – Free vs. Paid Lab Strategy (High-Level “Rate” Comparison)
This is not a strict price list—platforms change their pricing—but a way to think about your own “rate calculator” for study time.
| Path | Out-of-pocket | Strength | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Only free vulnerable machines | $0, extra time | Huge variety, flexible pacing. | Gaps in modern attack paths; easy to miss AD and real-world chains. |
| Free + 1–2 months paid lab | Moderate | Good coverage, curated difficulty curve. | Needs discipline to justify the recurring charge. |
| Heavy paid lab usage | Higher, ongoing | Many machines, live support, fresh content. | Can crowd out time for your own structured OSCP roadmap. |
Compare this to your own situation. If one OSCP retake is more painful than a couple of months of structured practice, a short paid push after your free-machine phase can be worth it.
Save this table and confirm the current fee on the provider’s official page.
- Finish a core set of 30–40 free targets first.
- Then use paid labs strategically for modern chains.
- Treat exam fees like a structured settlement: protect them with smart prep.
Apply in 60 seconds: Decide today whether your next month is “free-only” or “free + one paid platform,” and write that choice in your calendar.
Lesson 5 – Note-Taking and Reporting: The Quiet OSCP Multiplier
The most underrated part of OSCP prep is not a specific exploit. It’s note-taking. My first attempt died not just because I missed privesc, but because my documentation was a mess.
When you train with 50+ free vulnerable machines, your notes become your personal “exam report template” and “OSCP command cheat sheet.” Over time, they turn into a custom fee schedule of effort: you know roughly how long each attack path takes because you’ve seen it multiple times.
One evening, I rebuilt my note-taking from scratch: standardized headings (Recon, Exploitation, Privilege Escalation, Loot, Fix), one page per machine, and a short summary paragraph as if I were writing for a client. Overnight, my confidence went up because I could actually navigate my own brain.
- Use consistent sections for every machine.
- Store commands, outputs, and screenshots together.
- Summarize impact and remediation in 3–5 sentences.
Apply in 60 seconds: Pick one recent machine and rewrite its notes as if you were sending them to a non-technical manager.
Show me the nerdy details
A robust note-taking system often combines Markdown, screenshots, and searchable tags. Many OSCP candidates keep a dedicated “OSCP exam commands” section where they collect one-liners for enumeration, privilege escalation, and file transfer. Over 50 machines, this gradually turns into your own practical encyclopedia of techniques; it’s more useful than any generic cheat sheet because you know exactly where each command worked and why.
Infographic – From Free Labs to OSCP Exam in 4 Stages
Stage 1 – Foundations
Kioptrix-style labs, Metasploitable, basic web apps. Goal: consistent recon and simple privesc.
Stage 2 – Web & Scripting
OWASP apps and scriptable exploits. Goal: build and adapt one or two custom scripts per week.
Stage 3 – AD & Networks
Small AD labs and pivoting scenarios. Goal: internal recon, credentials reuse, route management.
Stage 4 – Exam Simulation
24-hour mock runs across mixed targets. Goal: score tracking, reporting, stamina and timing.
Lesson 6 – Simulating the 24-Hour OSCP Exam Before You Pay Again
One of my biggest mistakes was never running a full 24-hour simulation before booking the real exam. I treated each free vulnerable machine as a separate mini-game instead of a piece of a longer match.
The fix was simple but uncomfortable: I scheduled a full day off, warned friends and family, and built a mixed environment out of free targets. A few classic VMs, some web apps, maybe a small AD lab. Then I ran it like a real OSCP attempt: strict timing, scheduled breaks, and a full report at the end.
By hour 16 I learned more about my mental stamina, snack strategy, and note-taking gaps than I had in months. I also realized how dangerous it is to underestimate how reporting eats into your time budget.
Money Block – 7-Point Eligibility Checklist Before Booking (Mock Exam Edition)
If you can’t answer “yes” to most of these, consider running one or two more 24-hour simulations before paying another exam fee.
- Have you fully rooted at least 30 distinct machines, with notes?
- Have you completed at least 10 local privilege escalation chains on Linux and 5 on Windows?
- Can you write a short, client-style report for a machine in under 45 minutes?
- Have you practiced a mixed-lab day of at least 12–16 hours?
- Do you have a repeatable recon and enumeration checklist?
- Do you know your own “coverage tiers” of skills and weak spots?
- Have you budgeted for one retake mentally, but are preparing as if you won’t need it?
If you’re mostly in the “yes” column, your chance of turning the next exam fee into a pass goes up significantly.
Save this list and confirm the current fee on the provider’s official page.
- Simulate timing, breaks, and reporting exactly once as a rehearsal.
- Track your “score” and where you lost points.
- Adjust your study plan based on evidence, not vibes.
Apply in 60 seconds: Open your calendar and block one full day in the next 30 days for a serious OSCP-style mock exam.
Lesson 7 – How to Avoid My Second OSCP Failure
The second time I booked OSCP, I promised myself one thing: “If I fail again, it won’t be for the same reasons.” That meant changing how I used free vulnerable machines, not just doing more of them.
Here’s the structure I followed for the final 6–8 weeks before my successful attempt:
- 2–3 evenings per week: one targeted machine each evening, focused on a weak area (e.g., Windows privesc).
- Weekend block: 6–8 hours on a small “mini-exam” of 2–3 machines chained together.
- Weekly review: honest look at what I still couldn’t do under time pressure.
I also made a small but important change: I wrote down a simple, region-aware plan. I’m in a time zone where the exam window can easily destroy sleep if you pick the wrong start time, so I chose an exam slot that let me front-load my best hours into the hardest machines. If you’re in a different country, tweak your plan accordingly—your brain’s prime time matters.
- Document why your last attempt (or mock) would have failed.
- Connect each free machine to a specific weak point.
- Align the exam start time with your real-life energy curve.
Apply in 60 seconds: Write a short “If I failed today, it would be because…” paragraph, then pick one machine that attacks that weakness.
FAQ
How many free vulnerable machines do I really need before I book OSCP?
There’s no magic number, but using around 30–40 well-chosen free targets plus a handful of mock-exam days is a strong baseline. The important part is diversity: include Linux, Windows, web, and at least some Active Directory-style scenarios. 60-second action: Count how many distinct machines you’ve rooted with full notes and plan your next 10 based on missing categories.
Are free vulnerable machines enough, or do I need paid platforms too?
Free machines can absolutely carry you a long way, especially if you use them intentionally. Paid platforms become most useful once you’ve covered the basics and want curated, modern, exam-like paths. 60-second action: Decide whether the next 4–6 weeks are “free only” or “free + one paid platform,” and align your budget accordingly.
How do I avoid turning practice into accidental real-world hacking?
Always run vulnerable machines in an isolated lab network with no route to the public internet. Never scan or attack systems you don’t own or have explicit permission to test. Treat your lab like a sandbox: your goal is to learn safely, not to “see what happens” on random targets. 60-second action: Confirm your lab network settings and ensure your attack box and vulnerable machines are on an internal-only segment.
What’s the best way to track progress across 50 machines?
Use a simple tracker: machine name, platform, main skill, date started, date rooted, and status of notes/report. This turns your prep into a visible “coverage map” and makes it easier to see when you’re repeating the same comfortable boxes instead of pushing into new skills. 60-second action: Create a small spreadsheet or Markdown table and add your last five machines to it.
How close should my mock exams be to the real OSCP exam format?
They don’t have to be perfect, but they should approximate the stress: multiple machines, a fixed time window, and a report at the end. If you always stop when stuck and never work through fatigue or frustration, the real exam will feel harsher than your lab. 60-second action: Schedule one 12–16 hour mock session and plan which machines you’ll use in advance.
What if I’ve already failed OSCP once and feel burned out?
Take a short, deliberate break and then return with a narrower focus. Instead of trying to “redo everything,” pick the three categories where you lost the most points—often privilege escalation, reporting, or time management—and use free machines specifically to heal those gaps. 60-second action: Write down three painful moments from your last attempt and assign one machine or lab session to each.
Conclusion – Your Next 15 Minutes
When I look back at my first OSCP failure, it’s not the exam timer I remember—it’s the moment afterward, staring at the screen and realizing I’d paid premium price for lessons I could have learned with free vulnerable machines at home.
The difference now is that you have a map: 50+ free targets organized into clusters, a realistic schedule, Money Blocks to think about your own time and “lab cost,” and a checklist for when you’re truly ready to pay again. You don’t need to chase every box on the internet; you just need enough machines to cover your skill tiers and rehearse the exam experience.
In the next 15 minutes, you can:
- Run the 60-second estimator and set a weekly machine target.
- Pick one cluster (A–E) to focus on this week.
- Schedule your first or next mock exam day in your calendar.
Your first OSCP failure—real or hypothetical—doesn’t define you. What matters is how deliberately you use the next 50 machines.
Last reviewed: 2025-12; sources: public OSCP exam information, common training lab platforms, and personal lab experience.
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