My Notes Hub
  • 📍Introduction Page
  • ⭐Learning Process
    • 🧠Learning Mindset
    • 🖇️Learning Dependencies
    • 🧮Learning Process
  • 🔠Fundamentals
    • 🛜Networking
    • 🐧Linux Fundamentals
      • Introduction
    • 🪟Windows Fundamentals
    • 🕵️Active Directory
    • 🕸️Introduction to Web Applications
  • 🧰Tools
    • Nmap
    • ✅Nessus
    • Metasploit
    • ExploitDB
    • ✅Ffuf
    • ✅Hydra
    • ✅John The Ripper
  • ✍️Write Ups
    • 🗃️Hack The Box Machines
      • ✅Irked
      • ✅Nibbles
      • ✅Brainfuck
      • Lame
  • 📋Cheat Sheets
    • Penetration Testing Cheat Sheet
  • 🪪Certificates
    • Penetration Tester (HTB CPTS)
      • Penetration Testing Process
      • Reconnaissance, Enumeration & Attack Planning
        • Network Enumeration with Nmap (Continue Here)
        • Footprinting (Continue Here)
        • Vulnerability Scanning
        • File Transfers (Continue Here)
        • Using the Metasploit Framework
        • Web Information Gathering
      • Web Exploitation
        • Using Web Proxies
        • Attacking Web Applications With Ffuf
        • Login Bruteforcing
        • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
        • Command Injection
        • SQL Injection
        • File Upload Attacks
        • File Inclusion
      • Post-Exploitation
        • Linux Privilege Escalation
  • 🗄️Archive/Backup/Bin
    • Sysmon Usecases (IBM)
    • 🐧Linux Fundamentals (TryHackMe)
      • Introduction
      • Basic Commands
      • Wildcards & Operators
      • Permissions
      • Common Directories
      • Terminal Text Editors
      • General/Useful Utilities
      • Processes101
      • Maintaining Your System
    • 🪟Windows Fundamentals (TryHackMe)
      • Introduction
      • The File System
      • User Accounts
      • Settings & Control Panel & Task Manager
      • System Configuration
    • Active Directory (TryHackMe)
      • Breaching Active Directory
      • Enumerating Active Directory
      • Lateral Movement and Pivoting
      • Exploiting Active Directory
      • Presisting Active Directory
      • Credientials Harvesting
    • FOR508: Advanced Incident Response, Threat Hunting, and Digital Forensics
      • Book 2 - Intrusion Analysis
        • Credential Theft
        • Advanced Evidence of Execution
        • Event Log Analysis for Responders and Hunters
    • Certified Threat Hunting Professional (eCTHPv2)
      • Introduction to Threat Hunting
      • Threat Hunting: Hunting the Network & Network Analysis
      • Threat Hunting: Hunting the Endpoint & Endpoint Analysis
        • Event IDs, Logging, & SIEMs
    • OSCP
      • Report Writing
      • ✅Passive Information Gathering
      • ✅Active Information Gathering
      • ✅Vulnerability Scanning
      • Introduction to Web Application Attacks
      • Common Web Application Attacks
        • ✅Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
        • ✅Directory Traversal
        • ✅File Inclusion
        • ✅File Upload Vulnerabilities
        • Command Injection
        • SQL Injection Attacks
        • Client Side Attacks
      • ✅Locating Public Exploits
      • ✅Exploiting Walkthrough
      • Fixing Exploits
      • ✅Antivirus Evasion
      • Password Attacks
      • Windows Privilege Escalation
      • Linux Privilege Escalation
      • Port Redirection and SSH Tunneling
      • Tunneling Through Deep Packet Inspection
      • The Metasploit Framework
      • Active Directory Introduction & Enumeration
      • Attacking Active Directory Authentication
      • Lateral Movement in Active Directory
      • Assembling the Pieces
      • Other General Information
    • My Pentesting Cheatsheet
      • Methodology
      • Information Gathering
      • Vulnerability Assesment
      • Exploitation
      • Post-Exploitation
    • ⚡Port Swigger (Web Penetration Testing)
      • ✅Information Disclosure
      • ✅Path Traversal (Directory Traversal)
      • ✅OS Command Injection
      • Business Logic Vulnerabilities
      • ✅Authentication
      • ✅Access Control
    • Certified Bug Bounty Hunter (CBBH)
      • Web Requests
        • HTTP Fundamentals
    • Getting Started
      • Introduction
      • Pentesting Basics
    • Certified Penetration Testing Specialist (CPTS)
      • Introduction
        • ✅Penetration Testing Process
          • Penetration Testing Overview
          • Laws & Regulations
          • Penetration Testing Process
          • Pre-Engagement
          • Information Gathering
          • Vulnerability Assessment
          • Exploitation
          • Post-Exploitation
          • Lateral Movement
          • Proof-of-Concept
          • Post-Engagement
          • Practice
          • Academy Module Layout
        • Getting Started with Hack The Box (HTB)
      • Reconnaissance, Enumeration & Attack Planning
        • ✅Network Enumeration with Nmap
          • Enumeration & Introduction to Nmap
          • Host Discovery
          • Host and Port Scanning
          • Saving The Results
          • Service Enumeration
          • Nmap Scripting Engine
          • Scanning Performance
          • Firewall and IDS/IPS Evasion
        • Footprinting
        • ✅Information Gathering - Web Edition
          • Introduction
          • Passive Information Gathering
          • Active Information Gathering
        • Vulnerability Assessment
        • File Transfers
        • Shells & Payloads
        • Using the Metasploit Framework
      • Exploitation & Lateral Movement
        • Password Attacks
        • Attacking Common Services
        • Pivoting, Tunneling, and Port Forwarding
        • Active Directory Enumeration & Attacks
      • Web Exploitation
        • Using Web Proxies
        • ✅Attacking Web Applications with Ffuf
        • ✅Login Brute Forcing
        • SQL Injection Fundamentals
        • SQLMap Essentials
        • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
        • File Inclusion
        • File Upload Attacks
        • Command Injections
        • Web Attacks
        • Attacking Common Applications
      • Post-Exploitation
        • Linux Privilege Escalation
        • Windows Privilege Escalation
      • Reporting & Capstone
        • Documentation & Reporting
        • Attacking Enterprise Networks
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  1. Certificates
  2. Penetration Tester (HTB CPTS)
  3. Post-Exploitation

Linux Privilege Escalation

Introduction

  • In Linux, root is the highest privilege level. Gaining root access is the goal in privilege escalation attacks. After gaining initial access to a system, the following things are typically explored to identify potential vulnerabilities for privilege escalation:

    • OS Version: Identifying the specific OS version can help in searching for public exploits targeting that version.

    • Kernel Version: Similar to the OS version, the kernel version allows for checking known kernel vulnerabilities.

    • Running Services: Outdated or misconfigured services can provide a way to escalate privileges.

    • Installed Packages and Versions: Check for outdated or vulnerable packages.

    • Logged-in Users: Information about other logged-in users can offer ideas for lateral movement.

    • User Home Directories: Home directories often contain valuable information, such as scripts, SSH keys, or sensitive files.

    • User Bash History: Bash history files can reveal sensitive information, like passwords if passed as command-line arguments.

    • Sudo Privileges: If a user has sudo privileges with the NOPASSWD option, they can run the specified commands as root without a password.

    • Configuration Files: Files ending with .conf or .config usually have sensitive data, such as usernames and passwords.

    • Readable Shadow Files: If the shadow file is readable, it provides access to the hashed passwords for all system users which can be cracked offline.

    • Password Hashes: The /etc/passwd file, should be readable by all users, might contain password hashes that can be cracked offline.

    • Cron Jobs: Misconfigured cron jobs (e.g., those with weak permissions or insecure paths) can be exploited to execute code as root.

    • Unmounted File Systems and Additional Drives: These might contain sensitive data. Mounting them could expose information.

    • SETUID and SETGID Permissions: These permissions allow a user to run a command as root.

    • Writeable Directories: These can be used to download tools to the target system.

    • Writeable Files: Scripts executed by cron as root can be modified to execute commands and do privilege escalation.

  • Commands:

ps aux | grep root # List current processes run by root

history # Shows bash history

sudo -l # Lists user sudo privileges 

find / -path /proc -prune -o -type d -perm -o+w 2>/dev/null # Find writable directories

find / -path /proc -prune -o -type f -perm -o+w 2>/dev/null # Find writable files
PreviousPost-ExploitationNextArchive/Backup/Bin

Last updated 4 months ago

🪪