OpenAdmin

I am in as J****a and can see that permissions allows a text editor. I cannot get the root flag - it just doesn’t seem to exist… any ideas? Thank you.

Edit: got it, for whatever reason it did not work. The machine stopped and when I started it again it worked… perhaps the root.txt was missing?!

ROOTED , thx

@thedemon said:

I have a problem in submitting the root flag.
First I have submitted the user flag hash on hack the box and then tried to submit the root one. So, is it like we can submit the flag once only whether it will be user or root?

You can only submit a flag once, why would you repeatedly submit one?

You can submit User and then submit Root though. They are different flags.

I don’t think Open Admin has moved to dynamic flags yet, but it might have.

@Youngie1337 said:

I am in as J****a and can see that permissions allows a text editor. I cannot get the root flag - it just doesn’t seem to exist… any ideas? Thank you.

Edit: got it, for whatever reason it did not work. The machine stopped and when I started it again it worked… perhaps the root.txt was missing?!

I am a bit confused here - did you use the text editor to read the flag or escalate privs? If the former, it shouldn’t work on this box.

Type your comment> @TazWake said:

@Youngie1337 said:

I am in as J****a and can see that permissions allows a text editor. I cannot get the root flag - it just doesn’t seem to exist… any ideas? Thank you.

Edit: got it, for whatever reason it did not work. The machine stopped and when I started it again it worked… perhaps the root.txt was missing?!

I am a bit confused here - did you use the text editor to read the flag or escalate privs? If the former, it shouldn’t work on this box.

Due to permissions it was possible to read the root flag, for whatever reason it just wouldn’t open the root.txt - managed to get it working following the box starting back up.

I got flag without actually being root from the p**v file. Does that make sense? Submitted my flag which is valid, but I still don’t get how is this root… would love some guidance

I really struggled with this box for some reason. The jump from the first pseudoshell to the first full user was painful and I was taring my hair out. It turns out, I had all the pieces of the puzzle in front of me, but I just wasn’t putting them together, instead I was staring at them. (I created my own rabbit hole trying to do all sorts of things)

can someone PM me with how they got the USER1 to USER2 to work? I found and cracked the hash and retrieved the key, but wasn’t able to log in at all, falling at the last hurdle.

Also, what was the cURL method? I gave up on that pretty quickly.

I found a different ways around, but am curious to know other ways for future reference.
thanks all <3

@omerxx said:

I got flag without actually being root from the p**v file. Does that make sense? Submitted my flag which is valid, but I still don’t get how is this root… would love some guidance

Someone broke the box before you attacked it because they didn’t understand how the box works.

@giantruby said:

I really struggled with this box for some reason. The jump from the first pseudoshell to the first full user was painful and I was taring my hair out. It turns out, I had all the pieces of the puzzle in front of me, but I just wasn’t putting them together, instead I was staring at them. (I created my own rabbit hole trying to do all sorts of things)

This has happened to lots of people.

can someone PM me with how they got the USER1 to USER2 to work? I found and cracked the hash and retrieved the key, but wasn’t able to log in at all, falling at the last hurdle.

Happy to discuss this but it’s likely to be down to not using the key properly. Or, given how much people mess with this box, someone changed the key so you didn’t get a valid one.

Also, what was the cURL method? I gave up on that pretty quickly.

How did you get the key?

I found a different ways around, but am curious to know other ways for future reference.
thanks all <3

Type your comment> @TazWake said:

@omerxx said:

I got flag without actually being root from the p**v file. Does that make sense? Submitted my flag which is valid, but I still don’t get how is this root… would love some guidance

Someone broke the box before you attacked it because they didn’t understand how the box works.

Thank you! Went back and did it the right way.

Rooted! I did it my second machine!
Very recommendable for beginners like me.
Thanks to the author and all the people who give hints.

If someone needs help just ask me whatever you want :slight_smile:

@giantruby said:

I really struggled with this box for some reason. The jump from the first pseudoshell to the first full user was painful and I was taring my hair out. It turns out, I had all the pieces of the puzzle in front of me, but I just wasn’t putting them together, instead I was staring at them. (I created my own rabbit hole trying to do all sorts of things)

can someone PM me with how they got the USER1 to USER2 to work? I found and cracked the hash and retrieved the key, but wasn’t able to log in at all, falling at the last hurdle.

Also, what was the cURL method? I gave up on that pretty quickly.

I found a different ways around, but am curious to know other ways for future reference.
thanks all <3

Hey, good work! The cURL is probably just accessing it using HTTP via command line by specifying the path on the server. Keep in mind you have to be allowed to access it or maybe it is accessible using a different port nudge. It sounds like you are on the brink of getting the user flag. Keep in mind that the pass phrase you cracked is most likely not the SSH key; I would really look at what the hash is and how people usually authenticate using that. After doing so, then you can use that phrase that you cracked to get into the second user.

Hi, I have a pretty dumb problem. So, I got the exploit working so I now have RCE, but I am to dumb to spawn a reverse shell. One Liners doesn’t work, so I tried to make a new file and edit one with v** or n***, but that didn’t work. I also tried it with e***, but that doesn’t do anything. So I tried to download the file with w*** and c***, but that doesn’t give any response either. I’m running out of Ideas, could someone please help me? Thanks.

@Gaiaphage said:

Hi, I have a pretty dumb problem. So, I got the exploit working so I now have RCE, but I am to dumb to spawn a reverse shell. One Liners doesn’t work, so I tried to make a new file and edit one with v** or n***, but that didn’t work. I also tried it with e***, but that doesn’t do anything. So I tried to download the file with w*** and c***, but that doesn’t give any response either. I’m running out of Ideas, could someone please help me? Thanks.

You really don’t need a reverse shell. You can do all the enumeration you need via the RCe then you get a proper foothold.

Spending time and effort to get a reverse shell at this stage is largely unnecessary (however you will see that loads of people are uploading attempts but it just makes everything harder for everyone).

Type your comment> @TazWake said:

@Gaiaphage said:

Hi, I have a pretty dumb problem. So, I got the exploit working so I now have RCE, but I am to dumb to spawn a reverse shell. One Liners doesn’t work, so I tried to make a new file and edit one with v** or n***, but that didn’t work. I also tried it with e***, but that doesn’t do anything. So I tried to download the file with w*** and c***, but that doesn’t give any response either. I’m running out of Ideas, could someone please help me? Thanks.

You really don’t need a reverse shell. You can do all the enumeration you need via the RCe then you get a proper foothold.

Spending time and effort to get a reverse shell at this stage is largely unnecessary (however you will see that loads of people are uploading attempts but it just makes everything harder for everyone).

Thank you:) Will focus on further enumeration now

Type your comment> @berd said:

Keep in mind that the pass phrase you cracked is most likely not the SSH key; I would really look at what the hash is and how people usually authenticate using that. After doing so, then you can use that phrase that you cracked to get into the second user.

that was my issue. the original hash I cracked i never ended up using, because i did something “differently”, so i didnt need it. trying to figure that one out now.

Thanks to @TazWake for helping me sort out why what i thought USER2’s password was, actually wasnt, and a whole different tool was needed with what the original cracked hash would have revealed

Total noob with a total noob question: found the exploitable thing, found the exploit, pointed it (I think) in the right direction - tried a few different variations - but I’m not even able to enumerate. No response to any commands. Any nudge on what I might be doing wrong?

@gx3636wp said:

Total noob with a total noob question: found the exploitable thing, found the exploit, pointed it (I think) in the right direction - tried a few different variations - but I’m not even able to enumerate. No response to any commands. Any nudge on what I might be doing wrong?

If you are using the correct exploit and pointing it an address which is definitely vulnerable, you shouldn’t see much different from when you get it wrong.

However, if you are getting no response to any command, chances are it isn’t being used correctly.

The single most common error is the address it points to. If this is not vulnerable, you just get a prompt over and over.

Type your comment> @gx3636wp said:

Total noob with a total noob question: found the exploitable thing, found the exploit, pointed it (I think) in the right direction - tried a few different variations - but I’m not even able to enumerate. No response to any commands. Any nudge on what I might be doing wrong?

Try, instead of “exploit.sh 10.10.10.171” something like “exploit.sh 10.10.10.172/o*a”, this worked for me

Finally got it after a few days beating my head against it. Like everyone is saying it seems trivial after you understand what you need to do. Making my mind think that way was the hard part.

Feel free to DM me for hints if you are stuck.