Hey guys! Today, we're diving deep into a tricky box known as BrokenSC, often encountered in OSCP-like environments and even popping up in discussions around SEI (Security Engineering Institute) training. This box is notorious for being a bit poorly configured, hence the name, and we'll be tackling it as if it were located in sunny Plant City (just kidding, it's digital!). So, grab your favorite hacking beverage, fire up your VMs, and let's get started on this OSCP-style adventure!

Initial Reconnaissance: Laying the Groundwork

Reconnaissance, or recon, is absolutely crucial. It's the process of gathering as much information as possible about our target before launching any actual attacks. Think of it like scouting ahead before sending in the troops. We need to understand the landscape, identify potential weaknesses, and plan our approach. Start with an nmap scan. Nmap is our best friend in these scenarios, allowing us to discover open ports, running services, and even attempt to guess the operating system. A basic scan like nmap -sV -sC -oN initial.nmap <target_ip> will give us a good starting point. The -sV flag probes for service versions, -sC runs default scripts, and -oN saves the output to a file named initial.nmap. Analyze the nmap output carefully. Look for anything unusual or unexpected. Are there any services running on non-standard ports? Are there any outdated versions of software that might be vulnerable to known exploits? Also, don't forget about UDP ports! Sometimes, juicy information can be found there. A UDP scan can be performed with nmap -sU -oN udp.nmap <target_ip>. Recon also involves things like checking for publicly available information about the target. Are there any exposed Git repositories? Any misconfigured cloud storage buckets? Google dorking can be surprisingly effective in uncovering this type of information. Remember, the more information we gather during the reconnaissance phase, the better equipped we'll be to exploit the system later on.

Enumeration: Digging Deeper into the Services

After our initial scan, it's time to enumerate. Enumeration means diving deeper into each identified service to understand how it works and look for potential vulnerabilities. Let's say our nmap scan reveals an SSH service running on port 22, a web server on port 80, and a custom application on port 9000. We need to investigate each of these. For the web server, we'll use tools like gobuster or dirb to discover hidden directories and files. Command gobuster dir -u http://<target_ip> -w /usr/share/wordlists/dirbuster/directory-list-2.3-medium.txt -t 50 can help to find some hidden paths. Look for common files like robots.txt, sitemap.xml, and .htaccess, as well as administration panels or login pages. We'll also use Burp Suite to intercept and analyze the web traffic, looking for vulnerabilities like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), or command injection. For the custom application on port 9000, we might try to connect to it using netcat (nc <target_ip> 9000) and see if it reveals any information about its functionality. We could also try to reverse engineer the application if we have access to its code. The key to successful enumeration is to be thorough and methodical. Don't just skim the surface; really dig deep and try to understand how each service works. The more you understand, the more likely you are to find a vulnerability.

Exploitation: From Vulnerability to Shell

Alright, we've done our recon and enumeration, and hopefully, we've identified a vulnerability. Now comes the fun part: exploitation! Exploitation is the process of using that vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to the system. Let's say we found a SQL injection vulnerability in the web application. We can use tools like sqlmap to automate the exploitation process. Sqlmap can automatically identify and exploit various types of SQL injection vulnerabilities, allowing us to dump the database, read files, or even execute commands on the server. The command sqlmap -u "http://<target_ip>/vulnerable.php?id=1" --dbs --batch can help you to enumerate the databases without confirm all the time. Another common exploitation technique is to leverage known vulnerabilities in outdated software. If our nmap scan revealed that the server is running an old version of Apache, we can search for known exploits on Exploit-DB or Metasploit. Metasploit is a powerful framework that contains a vast library of exploits and payloads. We can use Metasploit to easily exploit many common vulnerabilities. The key to successful exploitation is to be patient and persistent. Not every exploit will work on the first try. You may need to adjust your payload, modify your attack strategy, or even chain multiple vulnerabilities together to achieve your goal. And remember, always be careful when running exploits. Make sure you understand what the exploit is doing and what the potential consequences are.

Privilege Escalation: From User to Root

Congrats! You've got a shell. But you're probably just a low-privileged user. Now it's time for privilege escalation, the process of escalating your privileges to gain root access. This often involves exploiting vulnerabilities in the kernel, misconfigured services, or weak file permissions. One common technique is to look for SUID binaries. SUID binaries are programs that run with the privileges of the owner, regardless of who executes them. If a SUID binary is owned by root and is vulnerable to a buffer overflow or other exploit, we can use it to gain root access. The command find / -perm -4000 2>/dev/null can help you to locate SUID binaries. Another common technique is to exploit vulnerabilities in the kernel. There are many public exploits available for different kernel versions. We can download a kernel exploit, compile it on the target system, and run it to gain root access. However, be careful when running kernel exploits, as they can sometimes crash the system. We can also check for misconfigured services or weak file permissions. For example, if a service is running as root but has a configuration file that is writable by a low-privileged user, we can modify the configuration file to gain root access. The key to successful privilege escalation is to be thorough and think outside the box. Look for unusual configurations, hidden files, and anything else that might give you an advantage. And remember, always clean up after yourself. Remove any files you created, and restore any configurations you modified.

Cleaning Up: Leaving No Trace

Once you've popped the box and achieved root, it's crucial to clean up. This means removing any traces of your presence, such as log entries, temporary files, and modified configurations. Why is this important? Well, in a real-world penetration testing scenario, you want to avoid alerting the system administrators to your presence. And in an OSCP exam, leaving behind a mess can cost you points. So, how do we clean up? First, we need to clear our shell history. This can be done by running the command history -c and then exiting the shell. Next, we need to remove any temporary files we created, such as downloaded exploits or compiled binaries. We can use the find command to locate these files and then use the rm command to delete them. We also need to restore any configurations we modified. This is especially important if we modified system files to gain root access. Finally, we need to remove any log entries that might reveal our presence. This can be a bit tricky, as log files are often protected. However, we can sometimes use tools like sed or awk to edit the log files and remove the relevant entries. Cleaning up is a tedious but important part of the penetration testing process. It helps to ensure that we don't get caught and that we leave the system in a stable state.

Final Thoughts: Lessons Learned from Plant City

So, there you have it! A complete walkthrough of exploiting the BrokenSC box in Plant City. Hopefully, you've learned a few new techniques and gained a better understanding of the penetration testing process. Remember, the key to success is to be patient, persistent, and always keep learning. The world of cybersecurity is constantly evolving, so it's important to stay up-to-date on the latest vulnerabilities and exploits. And don't be afraid to experiment and try new things. The best way to learn is by doing. Keep practicing, keep hacking, and keep learning. You'll be popping boxes like a pro in no time! Good luck, and happy hacking!