Compromising a domain controller involves more than just finding a known vulnerability, stealing user credentials, or identifying an error in the security policy settings. The above 'achievements' grant only the minimum access level that may be insufficient…
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Lateral movement in Active Directory. Offensive techniques used to attack…
Imagine that you have successfully retrieved users' accounts in a network with an Active Directory domain controller and escalated your privileges. But what if you control not the entire network, but just a small segment of it?…
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Hacker’s toolbox 2020. Pentesting devices you should have at hand
HackMag selected fifteen devices enabling you to pentest everything: from mechanisms to contactless cards. This list does not include trivial tools, like screwdrivers and soldering irons, because everybody chooses them individually. Hopefully, this toolkit would be useful…
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Cyberdolphin. The story of Flipper — hacker’s Swiss Army knife
Hacking and pentesting are normally associated with hours-long sitting at your computer, but this is not quite so: many devices and wireless networks can be accessed only personally. In such situations, you need a hacking multitool -…
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Wi-Fi total PWN. Mastering actual Wi-Fi pentesting techniques from scratch
The best way to check the network's security is by trying to hack it. In the past, HackMag had published materials about auditing Wi-Fi networks. Unfortunately, such guides quickly become obsolete. Today, I will share some practical…
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Bug hunt. Spying devices and how to detect them
One might think that bugs from spy movies got obsolete nowadays. Who needs this stuff if microphones and cameras are everywhere - in laptops, smartphones, and zillions of other devices? However, in most cases, it is more…
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The beginning of Nginx. Igor Sysoev tells the story of…
On December 12, 2019, a surprise search was conducted in the Moscow office of Nginx, Inc. Igor Ippolitov, an engineer at Nginx, was the first to inform the public of it in his Twitter. The original tweet…
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The great mischief. Working your way to the root flag…
In this article, I will explain how to gain superuser privileges on Mischief VM available on [Hack The Box](https://www.hackthebox.eu/) training grounds. During this journey, you will acquire some SNMP skills, understand the IPv6 routing principles, and learn…
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Secrets of the treasurer’s laptop: digital forensic analysis helps solve…
"Where's the money?" Or, rather, "Where did the money go?" The user of a company-owned Windows 10 laptop fell victim of a cyberfraud attack. Or maybe the employee faked it and stole the money while pointing fingers…
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No tracking, no bookmarks. How to assemble your own cellphone
What does your phone know about you? How secure is your information, and who can access it? Do you know that you can build and flash your own, 100% secure cellphone in just a few days? Today,…
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Universal interception. How to bypass SSL Pinning and monitor traffic…
In many cases, the research of an app's internal structure can be narrowed down to monitoring its traffic. Just a few years ago, a major share of the traffic was transmitted via the plain, easily interceptable HTTP…
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Protecting microcontrollers. Implementing Firmware Hardening and Secure Boot on STM32
The intensity of attacks targeting IoT devices increases with year over year. New threats require a complex approach; as a result, security became the top priority for both software developers and hardware manufacturers. This article addresses the…
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Where to study pentesting? An overview of training grounds for…
Today, I will give a brief overview of some of the best pentesting portals recognized by security experts. These training grounds enable ethical hackers to polish their skills while preserving 'ethicality' and exploit newly-discovered vulnerabilities while staying…
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Poisoned documents. How to exploit dangerous Microsoft Office bugs
This article addresses several critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office programs. They aren't new and had caused a great stir a while back. Metasploit Framework modules have already been developed for these bugs, and plenty of related projects…
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Epic pivoting. Polishing traffic routing skills on HackTheBox virtual machines
A good knowledge of pivoting (a technique used to route traffic to the victim and back through interim hosts) is essential for any ethical hacker. Furthermore, this skill is absolutely mandatory for corporate network pentesting. In this…
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Hacked IP camera. Searching for vulnerabilities in smart gadgets
The security of home gadgets is a burning topic. Botnet attacks such as [Mirai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirai_(malware)) affect millions of devices and inflict huge damages. Ethical hackers continue discovering vulnerabilities in popular gadgets, which manufacturers don't rush fixing. In this…
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Boost your Nmap! Empowering iconic network scanner with NSE scripts
Nmap is an iconic scanner broadly used by hackers, and many of them are wondering how to expand its capacity. In most cases, Nmap is used in combination with other software tools. In this article, I'll explain…
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The taming of Kerberos. Seizing control over Active Directory on…
In this article, I am going to show how to escalate from an unprivileged user to the administrator of the Active Directory domain controller. The demonstration will be performed on a virtual PC available for hacking on…
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A brief guide to programmable logic controllers. Searching for vulnerabilities…
Many users believe that controllers installed in buildings and factories are protected better than home gadgets. They are wrong. Today, I will show you how to hack programmable logic controllers using a Linux-based computer. A Linx-150 automation…
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Hide-and-Seek with Windows 10. Testing spyware and privacy protection tools
Over four years have passed since the release of Windows 10, and throughout this entire period, user data have been 'leaking' to Microsoft servers. The problem has been further exacerbated by Microsoft repeatedly forcing a reset of…
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