HackTheBox
Found 24 related articles
Back to Tags- 2025-03-08
Dog - Active Machine Writeup (Content Withheld)
Content is currently withheld as per HackTheBox policy, since Chemistry is an active machine. This writeup details the full exploitation path from initial access to root, likely involving chemical-themed web application vulnerabilities, service enumeration, and local privilege escalation on a Linux target.
- 2025-03-02
EscapeTwo - Active Machine Writeup (Content Withheld)
Content is currently withheld as per HackTheBox policy, since Chemistry is an active machine. This writeup details the full exploitation path from initial access to root, likely involving chemical-themed web application vulnerabilities, service enumeration, and local privilege escalation on a Linux target.
- 2025-02-19
Titanic - Active Machine Writeup (Content Withheld)
Content is currently withheld as per HackTheBox policy, since Titanic is an active machine. This writeup details the full exploitation path from initial access to root, likely involving web vulnerabilities, service enumeration, and local privilege escalation.
- 2025-02-19
UnderPass - Active Machine Writeup (Content Withheld)
Content is currently withheld as per HackTheBox policy, since UnderPass is an active machine. This writeup details the full exploitation path from initial access to root, likely involving web vulnerabilities, service misconfigurations, and local privilege escalation.
- 2025-02-19
Instant - APK Decompilation, LFI via Swagger API, and Solar-PuTTY Backup Decryption
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Instant machine. Initial foothold is achieved through static analysis of a downloadable APK file, revealing subdomains and a hardcoded API key. This key is used to exploit a Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability within the authenticated Swagger API (via the logs reading function), leading to SSH key exfiltration and user access. Privilege escalation is achieved by locating, transferring, and decrypting an encrypted Solar-PuTTY sessions backup file, which yields the root password.
- 2025-01-30
UFO-1 - Sandworm Team (APT44) MITRE ATT&CK TTP Analysis
Research writeup focusing on the Sandworm Team (APT44), a highly aggressive Russian APT group, using the MITRE ATT&CK framework. Analysis covers their TTPs, critical infrastructure attacks (e.g., 2016 Ukraine power grid, 2022 SCADA attacks), key malware (e.g., Industroyer2, NotPetya, Exaramel), persistence methods, and specific tools used for code execution and data destruction.
- 2025-01-26
Noxious - LLMNR Poisoning and NTLMv2 Hash Cracking
Network forensics writeup detailing the analysis of an LLMNR poisoning attack. The process covers identifying the rogue device via LLMNR and DHCP traffic, locating the victim's credential leak (NTLMv2 hash) within SMB Session Setup packets, extracting NTLM Challenge/Response components, and performing hash cracking with Hashcat to recover the plaintext password, providing full context on the credential theft incident.
- 2024-12-04
Vaccine - FTP, PKZIP/MD5 Cracking, SQL Injection via SQLMap, and SUID vi Privesc
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Vaccine machine. Initial access is achieved by exploiting Anonymous FTP to retrieve a password-protected PKZIP file, cracking the PKZIP and subsequent MD5 hashes to gain web credentials. Authentication leads to exploiting a blind SQL Injection vulnerability via SQLMap, gaining an OS shell. Privilege escalation is completed by finding plaintext credentials for SSH access, then exploiting the SUID binary 'vi' with specific permissions via the ':shell' command to achieve a root shell.
- 2024-12-02
Oopsie - IDOR, Arbitrary File Upload, and SUID Path Hijacking
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Oopsie machine. Initial access involves exploiting an IDOR vulnerability to enumerate credentials, followed by cookie manipulation to gain access to an arbitrary file upload function for a PHP reverse shell. Privilege escalation is achieved by finding plaintext database credentials for SSH access, and finally, exploiting the SUID binary '/usr/bin/bugtracker' using a PATH hijacking technique to execute a root shell.
- 2024-11-28
Archetype - SMB Credential Disclosure, MSSQL xp_cmdshell RCE, and SYSTEM Privileges via psexec
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Archetype Windows machine. Initial foothold is achieved by exploiting Anonymous SMB access (445/tcp) to retrieve SQL credentials from a shared backup directory (prod.dtsConfig). These credentials are used to gain access to the MSSQL service (1433/tcp), where xp_cmdshell is activated to achieve RCE and establish a reverse shell. Privilege escalation to NT AUTHORITY sYSTEM is completed by hunting for credentials in the PowerShell history file and leveraging Impacket's psexec.py with the found administrator account.
- 2024-11-27
Alert - XSS to LFI, Hash Cracking, and Group Write Privilege Escalation
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Alert Linux machine. Initial access is gained by chaining a Stored XSS vulnerability in the Markdown viewer to a Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability in an internal /messages endpoint. LFI is used to exfiltrate an Apache MD5 hash from the .htpasswd file, which is then cracked via Hashcat to obtain SSH credentials for the 'albert' user. Privilege escalation is achieved by identifying a high-privileged PHP process running as root in a directory with group write permissions (management), which the 'albert' user belongs to. The configuration.php file is modified to set the SUID bit on /bin/bash, granting a root shell.
- 2024-11-23
Responder - LFI/RFI Chain to NTLMv2 Hash Capture and WinRM Access
Technical writeup detailing the initial compromise of the Responder machine. The attack chain involves exploiting a Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability in a PHP application, escalating it to an RFI-style attack by injecting a UNC path to force an SMB authentication attempt. The resulting NTLMv2 hash is captured using the Responder tool, cracked with Hashcat, and used to gain full remote access via Evil-WinRM on port 5985.
- 2024-11-21
Three - S3 Bucket Misconfiguration and Remote Code Execution via AWS CLI
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Three machine. The methodology involves identifying an exposed subdomain (s3.thetoppers.htb) pointing to an AWS S3 bucket. Exploitation is achieved by leveraging a misconfigured access policy via the AWS CLI to perform an arbitrary file upload of a PHP webshell. Remote Code Execution (RCE) is then established using the webshell, leading to full system access as the www-data user.
- 2024-11-20
Crocodile - FTP Anonymous Login and Credential Disclosure
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Crocodile machine. Initial access is achieved by exploiting the Anonymous FTP login vulnerability on the vsFTPd 3.0.3 service (21/tcp) to disclose files containing credentials (allowed.userlist and allowed.userlist.passwd). Web enumeration via Gobuster reveals a hidden '/login.php' endpoint. The disclosed 'admin' credentials are used to access the web panel and retrieve the flag, completing the box.
- 2024-11-19
Sequel - Exploiting Unauthenticated MariaDB Access (A07:2021)
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Sequel machine. The methodology focuses on Nmap scanning to identify the exposed MariaDB service (version 10.3) on port 3306. The system is exploited due to a critical Identification and Authentication Failure (OWASP A07:2021) allowing unauthenticated root login. The process concludes with database enumeration (SHOW DATABASES, USE htb, SELECT * FROM config) to retrieve the flag.
- 2024-11-18
Appointment - Authentication Bypass via SQL Injection (SQLi)
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Appointment machine. The primary vulnerability is an Authentication Bypass via SQL Injection (SQLi) affecting the web application's login form. By injecting the payload 'admin'#' into the username field, the SQL query is manipulated to bypass the password check, allowing unauthenticated access as the admin user to retrieve the flag.
- 2024-10-21
Chemistry - Pymatgen RCE (CVE-2024-23346), SSH Port Forwarding, and aiohttp LFI (CVE-2024-23334)
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Chemistry machine. Initial access (RCE) is gained by exploiting CVE-2024-23346, an arbitrary code execution vulnerability in the pymatgen library via a malicious .CIF file upload, leading to a low-privileged shell. Privilege escalation is achieved by locating hidden credentials in a SQLite database, gaining SSH access, and then using SSH Port Forwarding to access an internal web service. The final step involves exploiting CVE-2024-23334, a critical path traversal vulnerability in aiohttp/3.9.1, to perform Local File Inclusion (LFI) and read the /etc/shadow file for root access.
- 2024-10-20
TwoMillion - API Enumeration, Information Disclosure, and Kernel Privilege Escalation (CVE-2023-0386)
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the TwoMillion machine. Initial access involves decoding ROT13-encrypted data from JavaScript to find an API endpoint, followed by manipulating API parameters to gain administrator privileges via Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR), leading to a reverse shell injection. Local Privilege Escalation is achieved by disclosing plaintext credentials from a '.env' file for SSH access, and finally, exploiting the unpatched Linux Kernel vulnerability, CVE-2023-0386 (OverlayFS/FUSE), to gain root privileges.
- 2024-10-20
Cap - PCAP Analysis, FTP Credential Disclosure, and cap_setuid Privilege Escalation
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Cap machine. Initial access is achieved by enumerating a web application that provides downloadable .PCAP network capture files. Tshark analysis of a specific PCAP file reveals FTP credentials in plaintext. These credentials are used to gain SSH access as the 'nathan' user. Privilege escalation to root is achieved by exploiting the 'cap_setuid' capability set on the /usr/bin/python3.8 binary, allowing arbitrary user ID change to 0 (root).
- 2024-10-16
EvilCUPS - CUPS Vulnerability Chaining (CVEs) and Local Credential Compromise
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the EvilCUPS machine. Initial access is achieved by exploiting a chain of CUPS vulnerabilities (including CVE-2024-47176, CVE-2024-47076, CVE-2024-47175, CVE-2024-47177) to gain Remote Code Execution (RCE) as the 'lp' user. Local privilege escalation is then performed by manually enumerating the CUPS spool directory (/var/spool/cups) to extract cleartext credentials for the root user.
- 2024-09-05
Dancing - Exploiting Unauthenticated SMB Shares
Technical writeup detailing the initial compromise of the Dancing machine. The methodology focuses on thorough Nmap scanning to identify exposed SMB services (ports 139, 445), leveraging the 'smbclient' tool to enumerate and gain unauthorized access to publicly accessible network shares (WorkShares), and retrieving sensitive data (flags/notes) due to weak share permissions.
- 2024-09-05
Redeemer - Exploiting Unauthenticated Redis Access
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Redeemer machine. The methodology focuses on Nmap scanning to identify the exposed Redis service on port 6379, exploiting the lack of required authentication to connect directly using 'redis-cli', enumerating the key-value store with INFO and KEYS *, and retrieving the flag.
- 2024-09-04
Fawn - Exploiting Anonymous FTP Login
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Fawn machine. The methodology focuses on Nmap scanning to identify the exposed FTP service (vsftpd 3.0.3) on port 21, exploiting the 'Anonymous FTP Login Allowed' setting to gain unauthenticated access, and retrieving the flag via standard FTP file transfer protocols.
- 2024-09-03
Meow - Exploiting Weak Credentials via Telnet (Port 23)
Technical writeup detailing the compromise of the Meow machine. The methodology involves Nmap scanning to identify the exposed Telnet service on port 23 and exploiting weak, unauthenticated credentials (root access with no password) to gain immediate root control and retrieve the flag.