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Microsoft

GH-500 Real Exam Questions

GitHub Advanced Security. Everything you need to prepare, practice, and pass.

123

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14

Exam Domains

Included

Explanations

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Certification Overview

This exam focuses on the three pillars of GitHub Advanced Security: Code Scanning (using CodeQL to find vulnerabilities), Secret Scanning (detecting leaked credentials), and Dependency Management (via Dependabot and Dependency Review). You'll need hands-on knowledge of configuring these tools, interpreting results, remediating findings, and deploying them at enterprise scale.

What This Certification Proves

The GH-500 certification validates your ability to implement and manage GitHub's Advanced Security features to protect code, dependencies, and secrets throughout the development lifecycle. This credential demonstrates proficiency with GHAS tools like CodeQL, Dependabot, and Secret Scanning—increasingly essential capabilities for organizations prioritizing supply chain and application security.

Who Should Take This Exam

Developers and DevOps engineers with 1-3 years of experience who work with GitHub and need to secure their development pipelines. Also suitable for developers transitioning to security-focused roles or teams newly implementing GHAS across their organization. The low difficulty (1.6/5) makes it accessible to those with basic GitHub knowledge seeking foundational security expertise.

Topic Breakdown

14 domains covering 117 questions

DomainQuestionsWeight
Configure And Use Dependabot And Dependency Review2925%
Configure And Use Code Scanning With Codeql2118%
Configure And Use Secret Scanning1614%
Secret Scanning119%
Code Scanning98%
Describe The Ghas Security Features And Functionality65%
Best Practices And Remediation54%
Implement And Manage Secret Scanning54%
Implement And Manage Codeql43%
Implement And Manage Dependabot43%
Dependency Management43%
Implement And Manage Github Advanced Security At Scale11%
Introduction To Github Advanced Security11%
Github Advanced Security Features11%

Study Plans

Choose a study plan that matches your schedule and experience level

30 Days

Intensive Sprint

Week 1-2

  • Master fundamentals: Configure And Use Dependabot And Dependency Review
  • Read Microsoft official documentation
  • Complete 5 questions daily

Week 3

  • Deep dive: Configure And Use Code Scanning With Codeql
  • Review weak areas from results
  • Take 2 full-length exams

Week 4

  • Review all flagged questions
  • Timed exams to build stamina
  • Final revision of key concepts

60 Days

Balanced Approach

Week 1-2

  • Survey all exam domains
  • Set up study environment
  • Begin with foundational topics

Week 3-4

  • Focus: Configure And Use Dependabot And Dependency Review
  • Focus: Configure And Use Code Scanning With Codeql
  • 3 questions daily

Week 5-6

  • Focus: Configure And Use Secret Scanning
  • Hands-on labs if applicable
  • Review explanations for wrong answers

Week 7-8

  • Complete all 123 questions
  • Identify and eliminate weak areas
  • Take 3 full-length timed tests

90 Days

Comprehensive Study

Month 1

  • Learn all exam domains at a comfortable pace
  • Build strong foundational knowledge
  • 2 questions daily

Month 2

  • Deep dive into each domain
  • Hands-on practice and labs
  • Take weekly timed exams

Month 3

  • Work through all 123 questions
  • Identify and eliminate weak areas
  • Take 3 full-length timed exams

GH-500-Specific Tips

  • Set up Dependabot alerts in a real or test repository—understand how to triage, dismiss, and auto-remediate findings rather than just reading about them
  • Enable secret scanning and CodeQL code scanning in your own repos to see detection patterns firsthand; review what triggers false positives
  • Study Dependabot and Dependency Review workflows side-by-side; know when each tool applies and how they complement each other
  • Practice remediating CodeQL findings—focus on understanding *why* CodeQL flags code patterns, not memorizing rule names
  • Deep-dive into Secret Scanning patterns and understand enterprise secret storage vs. leaked credentials; know remediation steps when secrets are exposed
  • Review GitHub's official GHAS best practices documentation and enterprise deployment guides for scale implementation context
  • Work through a GHAS rollout scenario mentally—how would you enable features, set policies, train teams, and measure security improvements?

Relevant Career Roles

Software Developer (security-conscious track)DevOps EngineerSecurity Engineer / Application Security EngineerGitHub / Platform EngineerDeveloper Relations Engineer (focusing on security)

Sample Questions

Try 5 free questions from the GH-500 question bank

Q1Describe the GHAS security features and functionality

Which of the following features can be used to enforce passing status checks for code scanning and dependency review workflows?

Q2Best Practices and Remediation

What is a security policy?

Q3Code Scanning

You are managing code scanning alerts for your repository. You receive an alert highlighting a problem with data flow. What do you click for additional context on the alert?

Q4Secret Scanning

Assuming that no custom patterns are configured, what type of secret is detected by secret scanning?

Q5Implement and manage secret scanning

A secret scanning alert should be closed as "used in tests" when a secret is:

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