source code review Archives

21 Mar, 2026

Hack The Box: Conversor Machine Walkhtrough – Easy Difficulity

Medium Machine Challenges, HackTheBox, john the ripper, Linux, needrestart, Penetration Testing, python3, source code review, sqlite3, xml, xslt

Successfully completed the Conversor machine on Hack The Box, focusing on web exploitation and privilege escalation techniques.

For the user flag, initial access was gained by exploiting an insecure XSLT file upload feature. By leveraging EXSLT, I was able to write and execute a malicious script on the server, resulting in a reverse shell as a low-privileged user. Further enumeration uncovered a SQLite database containing hashed credentials, which were cracked to obtain valid SSH access and retrieve the user flag.

For the root flag, privilege escalation was achieved through a misconfigured sudo permission allowing execution of needrestart. This was abused to run a crafted script that modified system binaries, ultimately granting root-level access via a SUID bash shell and completing the machine.

#HackTheBox #CyberSecurity #EthicalHacking #PenetrationTesting #WebSecurity #PrivilegeEscalation #RedTeam #InfoSec #CaptureTheFlag #CTF …

Learn MoreHack The Box: Conversor Machine Walkhtrough – Easy Difficulity

14 Mar, 2026

Hack The Box: Gavel Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficulity

Medium Machine BurpSuite, Challenges, curl, gavel-util, git-dumper, gobuster, HackTheBox, john, Linux, Penetration Testing, source code review, SQL Injection, ssh

Completed the Gavel (Medium) machine on Hack The Box. The initial foothold came from an exposed .git directory that leaked the application’s source code and bcrypt password hashes. After cracking the credentials with John the Ripper, I gained access and achieved a reverse shell through command injection in the admin rule field. Reusing the cracked credentials allowed privilege escalation to the application user and retrieval of the user flag.

Root access was obtained by abusing the gavel-util submission feature, which executed YAML rule fields using PHP system(). By overwriting the custom php.ini to remove restrictions and creating a SUID Bash binary, it was possible to spawn a root shell and capture the final flag.

#HackTheBox #HTB #CyberSecurity #EthicalHacking #PenetrationTesting #RedTeam #LinuxSecurity #WebSecurity #PrivilegeEscalation #CTF …

Learn MoreHack The Box: Gavel Machine Walkthrough – Medium Difficulity

5 Jul, 2025

Hack The Box: Cat Machine Walkthrough – Medium Diffculity

Medium Machine BurpSuite, Challenges, command injection, Cross Site Scripting, git-dumper, Gitea, gobuster, HackTheBox, hashcat, Linux, Penetration Testing, port forwarding, source code review, SQL, SQL Injection, sqlite3, ssh

Hack The Box Success: Cat Machine Write-Up Published!

I’ve just published my personal write-up for the Cat machine on Hack The Box. In this challenge, I gained the user flag by exploiting a Stored XSS vulnerability to capture the admin session cookie, followed by an SQL Injection to extract credentials and gain SSH access. For the root flag, I took advantage of a vulnerable image processing script owned by root, crafting a payload to gain a root shell and retrieve the flag. The full write-up dives into each step, the logic behind the attacks, and key takeaways.

#CyberSecurity #HackTheBox #PenetrationTesting #EthicalHacking #CTF #WriteUp #XSS #SQLi #PrivilegeEscalation #InfoSec #CTFWriteup …

Learn MoreHack The Box: Cat Machine Walkthrough – Medium Diffculity