Writeup

Got root. If anyone needs help, feel free to DM.
Great box to practice the fundamentals. Thanks @jkr

User was skid level easy. Root was easy, but so convoluted, and not to mention confusing since a lot of comments in this thread are misleading. Not a big fan of this machine, I feel it should have been worth more than 20pts since root requires more thinking than just knowing the fundamentals, you have to really think outside the box. Plus without the forum this machine would be a brainfuck on VIP labs. I’ll give this machine a 3/5. Probably better for someone who isn’t a total newbie, but still hones in the fundamentals while forcing you to think creatively and like a sys admin. Some tips:

USER:
Do your fundamental recon, take notes on the tech used, google for the correct exploit and remember stuffing is not only for turkeys, sometimes its for credentials as well

ROOT:
Whew, laddie. I don’ t know where to start with this one. @illuminatiguy (page 6) gave the best advice here so far for root. So just go back and read his comments, not much more I can add, except that you’ll need to use two terminals and login and out of one while monitoring with the other.

GL!

rooted

That box really put me in my place lol

rooted! :slight_smile:

Rooted. Bit overthink on privesc. Thank you @antim4g3 for nudge.

Could someone PM me for a nudge on root? i know what i need to do with P**H and i used the tool p****4 but i can’t seem to find a writable dir.

EDIT:
Nevermind i finally got it!!! pretty good machine, root was fun but easy to fall in rabbit holes.
I’ve made it without using remote shells or anything pretty easy actually, PM me if someone who got it wants to share different methods.

Finally pwned user and root today (my first box!).

Thanks for the largely non-spoilery tips here guys, learned a lot. Could someone PM me the way they enumerated for user? I wouldn’t have figured it out if someone didn’t give too much of a hint on enumeration

To echo others:

user: enumeration is the key to starting, and once you later find the exploit, READ IT CAREFULLY; it does more than you thing and it will make your last run for this flag much simpler

root:

ippsec-lazy. he takes the time to run a couple examples of a trick for simple privesc. you just have to find the right path

rooted . Anyone need help on root can dm me. its just in front of ur eyes. find the writable location.

rooted…thanks to @jkr and working the second half with @djdale3 it benefits us to work in pairs or even teams on some of these boxes, it makes a huge difference. I have no hints other than what’s allready been said on this forum.

Great Box, learned a lot.

Big Respect to @HEXE and @deafheaven for the help at the last PE part!

P.M me for hints if you need help :wink:

Type your comment> @AfricanHippo said:

Type your comment> @doates12 said:

For the exploit for user, should I be using the /w****** or the /w******/a**** path?

Focus on the /w****** path - find a tool that can help identify what the website is running (databases, language written in… etc…) then find which one of the services are vulnerable

if u check the source code of the /w******* page u actually dont need any tool for enumeration. though the tool may come handy in other machines :wink: … im too stuck on login page … searching the google got an exploit on /w*****/a**** but there also no luck. any help much appreciated

Rooted!! Thanks and respect to @Shad0wQu35t

I’ll leave my mark on Root as it was the most difficult part for me.
What you want to use is a process monitor, the one told here was the best (p**y).
Once you get it to work, you may need to interact with it, maybe doing what you used to get here
You have to follow the PATH, even it keeps changing, so you will have to see how to make it not change, you should look for it if you are as lost as I was. IppSec’s Lazy Machine explained it very well, and documentation of PATH comes in handy.

Once you’ve done all of that, creating a file (in a writeable) called as what you’ve been monitoring all time should get you the reverse shell!

I hope all of this works to the person struggling with the box!
Thanks to @jkr for this amazing box! I’ve learned a lot of privesc :blush:

Straightforward box, very reminiscent of the OSCP lab machines. User is fairly straightforward through cve. Privesc was pretty simple, but required a decent understanding of linux environment to pull off. PM for hints/nudge. If you’re fairly experienced with HTB/ctfs, this will be a quick 0 to root in about an hour or two.

If you are struggling on privesc, check out pspy. Some of the other comments on here made it seem like it was alr on the box, I had to upload it myself. checkout what runs on the box and how your current permissions can be used to “trick” these processes. There is another comment on here referencing an ippsec video, you should prob find that.

Ready!! i got root some days ago, if you need some hints could you send me a DM…

User: Use a CVE and make sure that url work it, after this it’s a piece of cake

Root: Be careful with the cleanear and use pspy with others users, permission are very important

Rooted!
My summary for this machine:

  1. Eumerate all
  2. Basic enumerate but in this case to a popular port
  3. The CVEs are really helpful
  4. Don’t forget the salt!
  5. Here we can use the phase one :smiley:

Hint: Some pages are disctracted.
Hint2: I am noob in this themes and do it with only read the first three pages o this discussion and I can did it you too!

After a couple weeks rooted! Thanks to @OruX , @albertojoser and @GibParadox . If anyone need a hint pm me.

Yaay finally rooted. the user was easy but the root was kind of tricky.
If anyone need hints PM

Hi, im having a lot of problems in using w*** in the machine in order to get pspy. I don’t know if it’s the VM i’m using (VirtualBox), but i spent the past 6 hours trying to figure out how to download pspy binary and it’s impossible. It’s starts downloading and after 1.31kbs it stops and doesn’t download anymore. From local i can use the server as a normal one and it works perfectly. Does anybody know what’s the problem? Is it my VM or something else?

Thanks in advance

@sudogetgud said:
Just got root! Protip: The ippsec LAZY video is most useful starting at 18 mins in!

you are the real MVP! Have been stuck on this for a couple of weeks, going back and forth and had all the details in the puzzle, but didn’t knew how to use them.