To solve Querier, we find an Excel spreadsheet that contains a VBA macro then use Responder to capture NTLM hashes from the server by forcing it to connect back to our machine with xp_dirtree. After cracking the hash, we gain RCE on the server by using the standard xp_cmdshell command. The Administator credentials are found in a Group Policy Preference file.
windows hardcoded credentials mssql gpp winrm impacket responderFlujab was without a doubt one of the toughest HTB box. It’s got a ton of vhosts that force you to enumerate a lot of things and make sure you don’t get distracted by the quantity of decoys and trolls left around. The key on this box is to stay ‘in scope’ as the box author hinted at before the box was released, so that means enumerating two specific domains without getting distracted by all the other stuff on the box.
smtp sqli enumeration screen exploit waf tamper script weak ssh keysHelp showed that a small programming mistake in a web application can introduce a critical security vulnerability. In this case, the PHP application errors out when uploading invalid extensions such as PHP files but it doesn’t delete the file. Combined with a predictable filename generated based on MD5 of original file + epoch, we can get RCE.
linux php apache kernel exploit helpdeskzSizzle was an amazing box that requires using some Windows and Active Directory exploitation techniques such as Kerberoasting to get encrypted hashes from Service Principal Names accounts. The privesc involves adding a computer to domain then using DCsync to obtain the NTLM hashes from the domain controller and then log on as Administrator to the server using the Pass-The-Hash technique.
windows scf pass-the-hash meterpreter port forwarding winrm kerberoasting responderChaos starts with some enumeration to find a hidden wordpress site that contains a set of credentials for a webmail site. There’s some simple crypto we have to do to decrypt an attachment and find a hidden link on the site. We then exploit the PDF creation website which uses LaTeX and gain RCE. After getting a reverse shell, we do some digging into the user’s folders and find the webmin root credentials stored in the Firefox user profile.
wordpress weak credentials pdf LaTeX firefox saved credentialsConceal uses IPSec to secure connectivity to the server and nothing is exposed by default except SNMP and IPSec. After finding the preshared key by enumerating with SNMP, we connect to the server, upload an ASP payload to gain RCE then privesc to SYSTEM using RottenPotato. Not a bad box overall, but the initial part of figuring out the IPSec configuration parameters took me a while to figure out/guess.
asp ipsec vpn rotten tomatoLightweight was a fun box that uses Linux capabilities set on tcpdump so we can capture packets on the loopback interface and find credentials in an LDAP session. We then find more credentials in the source code of the web application and finally priv esc to root by abusing a copy of the openssl program that all has Linux caps set on it.
john ldap caps tcpdump password crackingBighead was an extremely difficult box by 3mrgnc3 that starts with website enumeration to find two sub-domains and determine there is a custom webserver software running behind an Nginx proxy. We then need to exploit a buffer overflow in the HEAD requests by creating a custom exploit. After getting a shell, there’s some pivoting involved to access a limited SSH server, then an LFI to finally get a shell as SYSTEM. For the final stretch there is an NTFS alternate data stream with a Keepass file that contains the final flag.
exploit development egghunter asm nginx php keepass lfi ntfs ads enumeration insane windowsIrked is an easy box running a backdoored UnrealIRC installation. I used a Metasploit module to get a shell then ran steghide to obtain the SSH credentials for the low privileged user then got root by exploiting a vulnerable SUID binary.
ctf stego cve metasploit suidTeacher uses the Moodle Open Source Learning platform and contains a vulnerability in the math formula that gives us RCE. The credentials for the Moodle application are found in a .png file that contains text instead of an actual image. After getting a shell with the math formula, we find the low privilege user credentials in the MySQL database. We then escalate to root by abusing a backup script running from a cronjob as root.
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