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PenTest+ PT0-003: What Changed From PT0-002, and What Comes Next

The PenTest+ changes dated 2025 were PT0-003's launch and PT0-002's retirement. How the outline was rebuilt, what it added, and what is announced for 2027.

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Rachel Brown
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PenTest+ PT0-003: What Changed From PT0-002, and What Comes Next

What people call the 2025 PenTest+ update happened on two dates: CompTIA launched PT0-003 on December 17, 2024 and retired PT0-002 on June 17, 2025. Nothing has been announced since. As of October 2026, PT0-003 is the only PenTest+ exam, and CompTIA estimates it will retire in 2027 without having named a date or a successor.

How the outline was rebuilt

CompTIA's February 2025 post on the new exam put the two domain lists side by side. PT0-002 had Planning and Scoping (14%), Information Gathering and Vulnerability Scanning (22%), Attacks and Exploits (30%), Reporting and Communication (18%) and Tools and Code Analysis (16%). PT0-003 has Engagement Management (13%), Reconnaissance and Enumeration (21%), Vulnerability Discovery and Analysis (17%), Attacks and Exploits (35%) and Post-exploitation and Lateral Movement (14%).

The order now follows a test from start to finish. Reporting moved to the front, folded into engagement management with scoping and rules of engagement. Information gathering split into two domains. The separate tools and code domain is gone, its tools spread through the objectives where they're used, and post-exploitation, a single objective in PT0-002, became a domain of four. The maximum question count rose from 85 to 90. The outline grew from 21 objectives to 26, and the share written as "Given a scenario" from 13 to 18.

One discrepancy to know about: the February 2025 post gives Post-exploitation and Lateral Movement 11%. The PT0-003 objectives PDF and the exam page both say 14%, which is the figure that makes the five weights add up to 100.

What PT0-003 added to the attacks

Attacks and Exploits went from seven objectives to ten. Authentication attacks and host-based attacks each got their own objective, as did prioritizing and preparing attacks from scan output (4.1) and scripting to automate them (4.10).

The tool names show where the exam moved. PT0-002 already listed BloodHound, Impacket, Responder, Mimikatz and CrackMapExec for Active Directory work; PT0-003 adds Rubeus and Certify, and names Kerberos attacks. Cloud attacks add kube-hunter alongside Pacu. Objective 4.10 adds breach and attack simulation platforms (Caldera, Infection Monkey, Atomic Red Team) along with PowerView and PowerUpSQL.

Objective 4.9, on specialized systems, is where the newest material sits. It names AI attacks, specifically prompt injection and model manipulation, and operational technology attacks including CAN bus and Modbus. AI also shows up in the reporting objective (1.4) as a reporting consideration, next to legal and ethical ones.

Scripting, narrowed

PT0-002 asked you to analyze code in Bash, PowerShell, Python, Ruby, Perl and JavaScript. PT0-003 drops the last three. Objective 2.3 asks you to modify Bash, Python and PowerShell scripts for reconnaissance and enumeration, and 4.10 to automate attacks in the same three. PT0-002's verb was "analyze"; PT0-003's is "modify".

What carried over

The format is still a mix of multiple-choice and performance-based questions. CompTIA says PT0-003 is approved for the same US Department of Defense 8140.03M work roles as PT0-002. The current exam runs 165 minutes with a 750 pass mark on a 100 to 900 scale, and CompTIA lists the voucher at $439.

What to expect in 2027

CompTIA says PenTest+ content is updated every three years, and its exam page gives "estimated 2027" for PT0-003's retirement. CompTIA hasn't published a date, draft objectives or a successor name. Recent CompTIA changeovers have overlapped the old and new versions for about six months: PT0-002 ran until six months after PT0-003 launched, and CySA+ CS0-003 retires six months after CS0-004 arrived. CompTIA hasn't said it will repeat that.

If you plan to sit PenTest+ before mid-2027, study PT0-003 and check the exam page when you book. If a new version is announced first, compare its objectives with what you've covered before choosing. The PenTest+ study guide has a lab-heavy plan for the current exam, and PenTest+ vs OSCP covers whether a practical exam suits you better. Other CompTIA retirements are on our tracker.

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