Postman

First machine and finally got root! Lessons learned and i thought it was a fun box !

I just rooted the box and have some questions about the initial foothold. The way that r**s is set up on the box, is that a normal setup? I was surprised how my attack actually worked.

Was able to decrypt the i*****.**k , although always getting “Connection closed by 10.10.10.160” , looking into the sshd config i can see that the user is actually denied to login via ssh, is this expected?

@tekkenpc said:
Was able to decrypt the i*****.**k , although always getting “Connection closed by 10.10.10.160” , looking into the sshd config i can see that the user is actually denied to login via ssh, is this expected?

I’ve been having a ton of overall issues connecting to the box lately so i don’t think you’re alone. not sure if anything has changed, but some others have been saying “keep trying til it works” :confused:

Type your comment> @nob0dy73 said:

I just rooted the box and have some questions about the initial foothold. The way that r**s is set up on the box, is that a normal setup? I was surprised how my attack actually worked.

There are more than one configuration items which bears the imprint of a CTF-like implementation. One of them is applying the DenyUser option in sshd_config, and an other one is using the command rename option in the r***s configuration file.

Purpose of these settings are exclusion of alternative solutions.

Type your comment> @passkwall said:

@tekkenpc said:
Was able to decrypt the i*****.**k , although always getting “Connection closed by 10.10.10.160” , looking into the sshd config i can see that the user is actually denied to login via ssh, is this expected?

I’ve been having a ton of overall issues connecting to the box lately so i don’t think you’re alone. not sure if anything has changed, but some others have been saying “keep trying til it works” :confused:

Let’s just say, if you’re already in one of the house’s rooms, don’t just walk out and ring the doorbell again.

Nice box, learned something new and yes, there are already more than enough hints in the previous comments. Special thanks to @TheCyberGeek

Type your comment> @bumika said:

Type your comment> @nob0dy73 said:

I just rooted the box and have some questions about the initial foothold. The way that r**s is set up on the box, is that a normal setup? I was surprised how my attack actually worked.

There are more than one configuration items which bears the imprint of a CTF-like implementation. One of them is applying the DenyUser option in sshd_config, and an other one is using the command rename option in the r***s configuration file.

Purpose of these settings are exclusion of alternative solutions.

So this would be atypical of how a default r**s would be setup? From my understanding of how the accounts for services should be setup, even in a testing environment, is that none of my attacks should have worked. I’m just curious if this is something you actually see in the wild.

Man I’m at a wall and I know it is going to be something stupid got user M*** and I know people are saying to go to the beginning but I must have missed something enumerating… Please PM! Great so far haha

Type your comment> @nob0dy73 said:

Type your comment> @bumika said:

Type your comment> @nob0dy73 said:

I just rooted the box and have some questions about the initial foothold. The way that r**s is set up on the box, is that a normal setup? I was surprised how my attack actually worked.

There are more than one configuration items which bears the imprint of a CTF-like implementation. One of them is applying the DenyUser option in sshd_config, and an other one is using the command rename option in the r***s configuration file.

Purpose of these settings are exclusion of alternative solutions.

So this would be atypical of how a default r**s would be setup? From my understanding of how the accounts for services should be setup, even in a testing environment, is that none of my attacks should have worked. I’m just curious if this is something you actually see in the wild.

I think several r***s services run as root and accessible without authentication in the wild. In that case all mentioned attacks can be successful.

Someone can PM me a hint to get root? i have the user M*** and im in with his shell

Edit: rooted

Very nice, I think this was my first root.

All the hints are pretty straightforward. I would suggest a clean restart of the box before you get started; there are some pretty tempting configurations that can be changed, which will throw you off quite a bit.

As a side note, for those that have completed it, I wrote a script for the r* part, but it doesn’t work – but when I run a few other commands (that are in the script) it lets me in. Anyone else seeing that?

Got user a few days ago, but it is very frustrating that people reset the box every time they think an exploit for the initial shell is not working, while it can easily be solved by a few simple commands to that could be sent to r***s that will solve the error message people get…

STOP RESETTING WHEN THE SERVICE IS IN READONLY MODE, BUT JUST SEND THE CORRECT COMMANDS THAT FIX IT!!!

Anyways:

root@Postman:~# hostname; id; date
Postman
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)
Mon Nov 11 19:19:46 GMT 2019
root@Postman:~# 

Root was way to easy… the hardest part was fighting the resets…

Rooted. Thanks @Chantal2019 for the nudge. PM for hints.

Just finalised path to root, very cool box and my first one in HTB !

Thanks @cycl0ps for the tip you gave me :slight_smile:

Rooted.
Thanks @FoX01

Hi guys, Can anyone give me a nudge, I’ve looked through the previous hints regarding r*s but all the scripts I’ve found seem not to be working :frowning: , because of access denied, or because "unknown command 'mdle’". cheers :slight_smile:

Hi Guys, Any one willing to nudge me on how to deal with the i*****.b** file? Happy to give reps, etc. :slight_smile:

I have low priv access but having problems with the above (barely mentioned) file. :slight_smile:

Type your comment> @MrCadimas said:

Hi guys, Can anyone give me a nudge, I’ve looked through the previous hints regarding r*s but all the scripts I’ve found seem not to be working :frowning: , because of access denied, or because "unknown command 'mdle’". cheers :slight_smile:
Perhaps you shouldn’t use existing scripts, but rather do things manually?

Type your comment> @ShredX said:

Hi Guys, Any one willing to nudge me on how to deal with the i*****.b** file? Happy to give reps, etc. :slight_smile:

I have low priv access but having problems with the above (barely mentioned) file. :slight_smile:

Same here. Converted with ssh2john, and can’t crack it, send some help plz :smiley: