Ok! Owned it. Must say that I learned something new too.
Bit of a strange feeling compared to being stuck on forest for days (and counting).
Easy machine? Can’t say, but more in line with my current skills.
DM for nudges if you are stuck, because there’s good karma in that and I will need it in the future here.
(Even though it is a bit early to say that you are really stuck already now. )
Nice machine !
For USER: Read the basic cheat sheets on the service you want to exploit, then fix your script. Then move “lateral” to the other user.
ROOT: As said, you know are able to use an exploit that you couldn’t use before.
Foothold: Look up high, find a guiding red star and exploit it semi-manually. By which I mean don’t blindly rely on exploit scripts (they won’t work).
User: Lateral movement + standard enumeration
Root: Go back to the start and find another way in.
Rooted it yesterday - dunno what to tell you its basically a worthless machine - didn’t learn anything.
Followed a CVE and then enumerated it to get root - that’s it.
I also think its the best hint i can give you without spoiling