Cracked a password-protected Excel on an SMB share to recover service-account credentials, used Kerberos to access a user account and capture user.txt, then leveraged AD write permissions to restore a deleted admin, decrypt DPAPI artefacts for high‑priv creds, and access the DC to grab root.txt.
#HackTheBox #ADSecurity #Kerberos #DPAPI #RedTeam #CTF
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
Introduction to Fluffy: In this write-up, we will explore the “Fluffy” machine from Hack The Box, categorised as an easy difficulty challenge. This walkthrough will… Read More »Hack The Box: Fluffy Machine Walkthrough – Easy Difficulity
🔒 My Write-Up for the EscapeTwo Machine on Hack The Box 🔍
I’m excited to share my detailed write-up for solving the beginner-friendly “EscapeTwo” machine on Hack The Box, showcasing skills in network enumeration and privilege escalation. First, to capture the user flag, I scanned for open ports, accessed SMB shares, uncovered a password, and leveraged the Ryan account’s elevated permissions to retrieve the flag remotely. Next, for the root flag, I escalated privileges by exploiting an Active Directory misconfiguration. Then, using the Ryan account, I employed tools to identify and modify permissions, thereby gaining control over a privileged account. With this control, I acquired a certificate, subsequently authenticated as an administrator, and finally captured the root flag. This challenge strengthened my expertise in Active Directory security and penetration testing. Check out the full write-up for a deep dive!
#Cybersecurity #HackTheBox #EthicalHacking #PenetrationTesting #ActiveDirectory
Recently completed an Active Directory penetration test where I obtained both the user and root flags through a series of Kerberos and privilege escalation attacks. I first exploited a weak password on a legacy computer account (fs01$) to retrieve a Kerberos TGT and extract the gMSA password. After reactivating a disabled service account (svc_sql), making it ASREPRoastable, and cracking its hash, I gained credentials for another domain user and authenticated via Evil-WinRM to capture the user flag. For the root flag, I decrypted DPAPI-protected secrets to access a higher-privileged account (c.neri_adm), added a compromised service account to a privileged group, assigned an SPN, and performed a Kerberos delegation attack to impersonate a domain admin, ultimately achieving SYSTEM-level access and capturing the root flag. Great experience applying Kerberos exploitation techniques and privilege escalation strategies in a real-world scenario!
hashtag#ActiveDirectory hashtag#PenetrationTesting hashtag#Kerberos hashtag#OffensiveSecurity hashtag#RedTeam hashtag#CyberSecurity hashtag#ASREPRoasting hashtag#DPAPI hashtag#PrivilegeEscalation hashtag#HackTheBox hashtag#Infosec hashtag#HacktheBox
Introduction on Cicada: In this write-up, we will explore the “Cicada” machine from Hack The Box, categorized as an easy difficulty challenge. This walkthrough will… Read More »Hack The Box: Cicada Machine Walkthrough – Easy Difficulty
Introduction to Solarlab: This write-up will explore the “Solarlab” machine from Hack The Box, categorized as an Medium difficulty challenge. This walkthrough will cover the… Read More »Hack The Box: SolarLab Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficulty
In this post, I would like to share a walkthrough of the Office Machine from Hack the Box This room will be considered a Hard machine on Hack the Box… Read More »Hack The Box: Office Machine Walkthrough – Hard Difficulty
In this post, I would like to share a walkthrough of the Coder Machine from Hack the Box This room will be considered an Insane machine… Read More »Hack The Box: Coder Machine Walkthrough – Insane Difficulty
In this post, I would like to share a walkthrough of the Authority Machine from Hack the Box This room will be considered a Medium machine… Read More »Hack The Box: Authority Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficulty