Scavenger

Finally rooted, got stuck twice and could not see the way forward due to biases, @ompamo luckily provided nudges that helped me move on or confirmed I was on the good path . This is only my second hard box and loved every part of it as it seemed realistic . Box requires many different enumeration skills but involves no guessing which I appreciated most. Thank you @ompamo

Open for nudges if anyone needs them , please state what has been tried so far.

Wow. What a box! Definitely couldn’t have gotten root.txt without help from @bumika, @Chr0x6eOs and @SirVival. I learned so much from each of you, and of course @ompamo for the box.

Great box! Went the extra step and got full reverse shell as root. really enjoyed it!

Rooted cool box if you need hints pm me on discord icoNic#0097

Kudos to @ompamo !! this box tested the old grey matter, my enum procs and sometimes my sanity. I can’t add any more hints other than @bumika hints are a great guide. As many have said “enumerate, enumerate” yes you sometimes have to go down a rabbit hole or two or three or more… to make sure nothing’s missed. And yep! a full TTY is not required. This was truly “magic”.

Rooted.

Missing that magic word. Think I missed an important file while enumerating.

Edit: Got root thanks to nudges from @wxadvisor and @m4ng0n3l

Almost at the finish line. Trying to figure out how to utilize magic word using web shell. Can anyone give a nudge?

Type your comment> @olsv said:

Almost at the finish line. Trying to figure out how to utilize magic word using web shell. Can anyone give a nudge?

Are you sure that you know the magic word?

Rooted. Kudos to @bumika

Rooted! really nice box
Good job @ompamo!

– User:

  • Try something common i websites logins but in other place
  • Looks like i was already pwn
    – Root
  • Remember that it was pwn

Underrated box.
Just wish that the admin interface wasn’t so slow!

Hints:
User: write a python script to interact with the w*******, it will save you time
The metasploit module works, just need to set timeout in advanced options and to use a GENERAL type payload …

Root: exfiltrate and analyse

Wow!!! Finally rooted! Ffuuuuuhhh. Thanks to @bumika and @wxadvisor . I’ve learned a lot! Thank you @ompamo for such nice box!

I’m so close to root now, I can’t find the ko file.
I used grep and find with the 2 users I can launch commands…
It’s crazy because I see it loaded with the l***d command.

EDIT : Rooted. To find the ko file : Look closely ! Don’t go too far.
Thanks to @bumika for the help and @ompamo for this epic box :slight_smile:

Finally finished this box. It has been the most difficult (and elaborate) so far, really a lot of work went into this. Thanks to the maker for giving us the opportunity to improve our skills. I learned a lot, getting a little deeper with msf, honing enum skills. I really appreciated the sl vuln in the w**s service. That was a flavor I hadn’t come across yet. Also, finished strong with old school disassembly.

I’ve kept notes of how I solved it, so if anyone needs some nudges, let me know.

OK!
I got User, found the KO, got everything I need from the “incidents”, did they change the magic word? I can see it clearly there, why is it not working? :sad:
Please a nudge

Type your comment> @gu4r15m0 said:

OK!
I got User, found the KO, got everything I need from the “incidents”, did they change the magic word? I can see it clearly there, why is it not working? :sad:
Please a nudge

  1. Reverse engineering the binary OR
  2. “Advanced” strings analysis

If you want to learn something (simple Intel assembly) use the first method. If you want to get points swiftly use the second method.

This machine is brutal at some point.

Foothold :

  • Enumerate everything. Think about the purpose of the server you are trying to break.
  • Dont forget to check everything, really !
    For user :
  • Scrap everything, some user can have left some infos ?
  • is people can communicate thru this server ? Look at what you have at the foothold step
    For root :
  • What happend to the server ?
  • You can do a bit a forensic here to get more infos
  • Use the tools you get installed on the server

Overall excellent VM even if they made me crazy.
Learned a lot.

Note : You don’t need any rev shell at any point ! Everything is doable without this !!!

Hope i dont spoil to much :slight_smile:

Type your comment> @bumika said:

  1. “Advanced” strings analysis

Trying this method but can’t seem to get the correct strings, maybe there are special characters between words?

Type your comment> @gu4r15m0 said:

Type your comment> @bumika said:

(Quote)
Trying this method but can’t seem to get the correct strings, maybe there are special characters between words?

Did you play with the minimum length limit?

No. More precisely: did you find all elements of the magic? It is easy to concatenate them based on the default value.