In this article, I will show how Python scripts can be used to transmit messages between two computers connected to the web. You may need to perform such an operation while developing an app, pentesting a corporate network, or participating in a CTF challenge. After penetrating into the target machine, you need a mechanism enabling you to give commands to it. This is where a reverse shell comes into play. Let’s write it together.
Searches for vulnerabilities require special knowledge, extensive experience, and a sixth sense. But what about novice security researchers? They have no experience and cannot gain it because don’t know where to start from. This is where automated vulnerability scanners come into play. In this article, I will present the main types of such programs and explain how to use them.
Today, I will explain how to hack the CTF virtual machine available on Hack The Box training grounds. For the purposes of this article, the abbreviation “CTF” refers to Compressed Token Format, not Capture the Flag. This VM is vulnerable to various types of LDAP injections, while its authentication mechanism is based on stoken, a generator of one-time passwords. In addition, the target machine uses a loose Bash script, and I will exploit it to fool the 7z archiver and gain root access.
This article addresses a vulnerability in Apache Tomcat that enables the attacker to read files on the server and, under certain conditions, execute arbitrary code. The problem lies in the implementation of the AJP protocol used to communicate with a Tomcat server. Most importantly, the attacker does not need any rights in the target system to exploit this vulnerability.
Web security is a very broad term. It includes bugs in old protocols, usage of dangerous techniques, trivial human errors made by developers, and more. It is difficult to test products in such a broad area without a plan. The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) made the life of pentesters easier by producing the OWASP Testing Guide.
As you are aware, any penetration test starts from information collection. You have to find out what operating system is running on the remote host, and only then you can start looking for vulnerabilities in it. This article presents seven useful tools used inter alia for OS detection and explains their operation principles.
A critical vulnerability resulting in a denial-of-service error has been recently discovered in ModSecurity, a popular web application firewall (WAF) for Apache, IIS, and Nginx. The bug is truly severe: not only does the library stop working, but applications using it as well. Let’s see what was the mistake of the ModSecurity developers and how we, ethical hackers, can exploit this vulnerability in our penetration tests.
