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GitHub GH-500 Guide: GitHub Advanced Security

GitHub GH-500 exam guide covering code scanning, secret detection, policy, and security.

This GitHub Advanced Security guide helps GH-500 candidates focus on what the exam tests, where close answers usually split, and which review page to use next.

Use the study plan to group permissions, workflow, and security choices, the cheat sheet for workflow recall, the sample questions for explanation-heavy practice, the FAQ for scope checks, the resources page for GitHub exam references, and the glossary when feature names blur together.

At a glance

Item Guide value
Vendor GitHub
Exam or credential GitHub Advanced Security
Code or shorthand GH-500
Study level GitHub security
IT Mastery page GH-500 exam page
Guide shape Start-here page, study plan, cheat sheet, sample questions, FAQ, resources, and glossary.

Scope map

Lane What to master Common weak answer
Code scanning Understand alerts, SARIF, CodeQL, custom queries, severity, and triage. Treating every finding as equally urgent without reachability or context.
Secret scanning Detect exposed tokens, push protection, alert routing, and remediation. Removing a secret from history without revoking and rotating it.
Dependency security Use Dependabot alerts, updates, dependency review, SBOM concepts, and vulnerability triage. Updating blindly without compatibility or exploitability review.
Policy and permissions Apply organization settings, repository rules, branch protection, security roles, and audit logs. Leaving security controls at repository defaults for regulated work.
Workflow security Secure Actions permissions, third-party actions, OIDC, environment protection, and PR trust boundaries. Letting workflows become a privileged backdoor.

How to use this guide

  1. Start with the study plan if you need a short path through the exam scope.
  2. Use the cheat sheet before a mixed practice set and again when you want a fast workflow review.
  3. Work through the sample questions to practice security-triage, scanning, dependency, and workflow-risk prompts with full explanations.
  4. Check the FAQ when you are deciding whether this exam is the right IT Mastery lane.
  5. Use the resources page for official references and current exam details.
  6. Use the glossary when two services, controls, roles, or terms feel interchangeable.

Exam decision habit

Advanced Security questions ask what to detect, how to prevent it, who owns remediation, and how to prove risk was reduced.

Source status

Use the current GitHub exam page for live exam details, including name, status, pricing, duration, delivery method, languages, retirement or beta changes, and domain weights where applicable.

In this section

Revised on Sunday, May 10, 2026