Penetration Testing Archives - Page 3 of 25

4 Oct, 2025

Hack The Box: Certificate Machine Walkthrough – Hard Difficulty

Hard Machine BloodHoundCE, Certipy, certutil, Challenges, ESC3, evil-winrm, HackTheBox, hashcat, kerberos, MySQL, Penetration Testing, python3, SeManageVolumePrivilege, Windows, Wireshark, zip slip

I recently completed the “Certificate” challenge on Hack The Box: after extracting and cracking a captured authentication hash I gained access to a user account (lion.sk) and retrieved the user flag, then progressed to full system compromise by responsibly exploiting weak certificate‑based authentication controls—obtaining and converting certificate material into elevated credentials to capture the root flag. The exercise reinforced how misconfigurations in certificate services and poor time synchronization can create powerful escalation paths, and highlighted the importance of least‑privilege, strict enrollment policies, and monitoring certificate issuance. Great hands‑on reminder that defensive hygiene around PKI and identity services matters.

#CyberSecurity #HTB #Infosec #ADCS #Certificates #PrivilegeEscalation #RedTeam #Pentesting …

Learn MoreHack The Box: Certificate Machine Walkthrough – Hard Difficulty

27 Sep, 2025

Hack The Box: Puppy Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficulty

Medium Machine BloodHoundCE, bloodyAD, Challenges, evil-winrm, HackTheBox, impacket, KDBX, ldapmodify, ldapsearch, Penetration Testing, rpcclient, smbclient, Windows

Crushed the Puppy machine on HTB with surgical precision! Unlocked the user flag by leveraging levi.james credentials to access the DEV share, cracking recovery.kdbx with “Liverpool,” and using ant.edwards:Antman2025! to reset ADAM.SILVER’s password, followed by a swift WinRM login to grab user.txt. For the root flag, extracted steph.cooper:ChefSteph2025! from C:\Backups, accessed a WinRM shell, and exfiltrated DPAPI keys via SMB. Impacket unveiled steph.cooper_adm:FivethChipOnItsWay2025!, opening the Administrator directory to claim root.txt.

#Cybersecurity #HackTheBox #CTF #Pentesting #PrivilegeEscalation …

Learn MoreHack The Box: Puppy Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficulty

20 Sep, 2025

Hack The Box: Fluffy Machine Walkthrough – Easy Difficulity

Easy Machine BloodHoundCE, bloodyAD, Certify, Challenges, CVE-2025-24071, ESC16, HackTheBox, hashcat, NetExec, Penetration Testing, python3, smbclient, Windows

6 Sep, 2025

Hack The Box: Environment Machine Walkthough-Medium Difficulty

Medium Machine BurpSuite, Challenges, cve-2024-21546, CVE-2024-52301, GnuPG key, gobuster, HackTheBox, lavarel, Linux, Penetration Testing, PHP, python3, ssh, systeminfo

Environment HTB: Full User & Root Flag Capture Through Exploitation

Captured both the user and root flags on the Environment HTB machine! We exploited Laravel 11.30.0 (PHP 8.2.28) vulnerabilities, including argument injection (CVE-2024-52301) and UniSharp Laravel Filemanager code injection. By bypassing authentication with `–env=preprod` and leveraging the profile upload feature, we executed a PHP reverse shell and retrieved the user flag via `cat user.txt`. For root access, we decrypted `keyvault.gpg` from the `.gnupg` directory to obtain credentials and exploited sudo with preserved BASH\_ENV by crafting a script that spawned a privileged shell, ultimately gaining full control of the system.

#CyberSecurity #HTB #PenTesting #EthicalHacking #LaravelExploits #PrivilegeEscalation #PHP #Infosec #BugBounty #RedTeam
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Learn MoreHack The Box: Environment Machine Walkthough-Medium Difficulty

30 Aug, 2025

Hack The Box: Eureka Machine Walkthrough – Hard Dificulty

Hard Machine actuator, Challenges, Cloud-Gateway, curl, feroxbuster, gobuster, HackTheBox, Linux, Penetration Testing, pspy64, springboot, springeureka

I enumerated Spring Boot Actuator endpoints, including /actuator/heapdump, which revealed plaintext credentials for oscar190. SSH login as oscar190 was successful, though the home directory was empty. Analysis of application.properties exposed Eureka credentials (EurekaSrvr:0scarPWDisTheB3st), granting access to the Eureka dashboard. By registering a malicious microservice, I retrieved miranda.wise credentials and captured the user flag. For privilege escalation, I identified a vulnerable log_analyse.sh script, performed command injection, and created a SUID bash shell in /tmp/bash. Executing this shell provided root access, allowing retrieval of the root flag and full control of the machine.

#CyberSecurity #EthicalHacking #HackTheBox #PenTesting #PrivilegeEscalation #WebSecurity #SpringBoot #CTF #BugHunting #InfoSec #RedTeam #OffensiveSecurity …

Learn MoreHack The Box: Eureka Machine Walkthrough – Hard Dificulty

23 Aug, 2025

Hack The Box: TheFrizz Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficulity

Medium Machine BloodHoundCE, BurpSuite, Challenges, CVE-2023-34598, faketime, Gibbon, HackTheBox, hashcat, impacket, Local Fle Inclusion, Penetration Testing, python3, SharpGPOAbuse, sqlite3, ssh, Windows

I successfully captured both user and root flags by exploiting a file upload vulnerability to gain a web shell, extracting database credentials from config.php, and cracking the user hash to reveal the password Jenni_Luvs_Magic23. Using these credentials, I accessed the web application, discovered an SSH migration hint, and leveraged a Kerberos ticket (f.frizzle.ccache) to gain SSH access and retrieve the user flag with type user.txt. For the root flag, I escalated privileges using M.SchoolBus and SharpGPOAbuse to manipulate SleepGPO, applied changes with gpupdate.exe /force, extracted credentials with secretdump, and used wmiexec to secure a root-level shell, ultimately reading the root flag with type root.txt.

#Cybersecurity #CTF #EthicalHacking #PenetrationTesting …

Learn MoreHack The Box: TheFrizz Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficulity

9 Aug, 2025

Hack The Box: University Machine Walkthrough – Insane Walkthrough

Insane Machine Bloodhound, BurpSuite, Challenges, CVE-2023-33733, evil-winrm, HackTheBox, LocalPotato, Penetration Testing, python3, ssh, SSH key, Windows

Compromised university.htb by exploiting ReportLab RCE (CVE-2023-33733) to gain initial access as wao. Forged a professor certificate to impersonate george, then uploaded a malicious lecture to compromise Martin.T.

Escalated privileges by exploiting a scheduled task with a malicious .url file, used LocalPotato (CVE-2023-21746) for elevation on WS-3, and abused SeBackupPrivilege to extract NTDS.dit, ultimately retrieving Domain Admin credentials.

🔍 A great hands-on challenge combining web exploitation, privilege escalation, and Active Directory abuse.

#CyberSecurity #RedTeam #CTF #PrivilegeEscalation #HTB #InfoSec #WindowsExploitation #PenetrationTesting #EthicalHacking #HackTheBox …

Learn MoreHack The Box: University Machine Walkthrough – Insane Walkthrough

2 Aug, 2025

Hack The Box: Code Machine Walkthrough – Easy Difficulity

Easy Machine BurpSuite, Challenges, HackTheBox, hashtag, json, Linux, Penetration Testing, python3, sqliite3, ssh

Successfully exploited a code execution vulnerability in a web application by bypassing keyword restrictions through Python class enumeration, leading to a reverse shell as the app-production user and retrieval of the user.txt flag. Leveraged access to a SQLite database to crack credentials for the martin user and escalate privileges. Identified a backup script running with root privileges, crafted a malicious JSON payload to include the root directory in backups, and ultimately obtained the root.txt flag.

This engagement highlights the importance of secure input validation, credential management, and careful privilege delegation in application security.

#Cybersecurity #HackTheBox #CTF #PenetrationTesting #PrivilegeEscalation #ApplicationSecurity …

Learn MoreHack The Box: Code Machine Walkthrough – Easy Difficulity

26 Jul, 2025

Hack The Box: Cypher Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficultyy

Medium Machine bbot, BurpSuite, Challenges, Cypher Injection, gobuster, HackTheBox, jadx-gui, jar, Linux, neo4j, Penetration Testing, python3

19 Jul, 2025

Hack The Box: Scepter Machine Walkthrough – Hard Difficulty

Hard Machine ADCS, Bloodhound, bloodyAD, Certipy, Challenges, ESC14, ESC9, evil-winrm, HackTheBox, hashcat, ldapsearch, nfs, openssl, Penetration Testing, showmount, Windows

I conquered the “Scepter” machine on Hack The Box, a challenging Active Directory exploit! Initially, I cracked weak .pfx certificate passwords using pfx2john and rockyou.txt. After syncing time, I extracted D.BAKER’s NTLM hash via Certipy and used BloodHound to reveal A.CARTER’s password reset privileges, exploiting ESC9 to capture the user flag. Subsequently, H.BROWN’s access to P.ADAMS’s altSecurityIdentities enabled an ESC14 attack, forging a certificate for passwordless authentication. Consequently, P.ADAMS’s DCSync rights allowed domain hash extraction, securing the root flag via Evil-WinRM.

#Cybersecurity #HackTheBox #ActiveDirectory #PrivilegeEscalation #CTF #EthicalHacking …

Learn MoreHack The Box: Scepter Machine Walkthrough – Hard Difficulty

Threatninja.net

Threatninja.net

Hack The Box: Certificate Machine Walkthrough – Hard Difficulty

Hack The Box: Puppy Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficulty

Hack The Box: Fluffy Machine Walkthrough – Easy Difficulity

Hack The Box: Environment Machine Walkthough-Medium Difficulty

Hack The Box: TheFrizz Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficulity

Hack The Box: University Machine Walkthrough – Insane Walkthrough

Hack The Box: Code Machine Walkthrough – Easy Difficulity

Hack The Box: Cypher Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficultyy

Hack The Box: Scepter Machine Walkthrough – Hard Difficulty

Threatninja.net

Threatninja.net

Tag Archives: Penetration Testing