Passage

Hack The Box - Passage

This is my writeup and walkthrough for Pssage from Hack The Box.

Description

A vulnerable management system by remote code excute Through it I was able to enter the server and I found a file with words that I decrypted with a base64 , then I found that it had a hash sha2-256 type, then I decrypted it and found a password for User Paul that took his credintials on the server and was able to access his file and found its flag

Enumeration

1-Nmap

nmap -sV -sV  10.10.10.206
Starting Nmap 7.80 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2020-09-24 01:22 EET
Nmap scan report for Passage.htb (10.10.10.206)
Host is up (0.41s latency).
Not shown: 998 closed ports
PORT   STATE SERVICE VERSION
22/tcp open  ssh     OpenSSH 7.2p2 Ubuntu 4 (Ubuntu Linux; protocol 2.0)
80/tcp open  http    Apache httpd 2.4.18 ((Ubuntu))
Service Info: OS: Linux; CPE: cpe:/o:linux:linux_kernel

Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 43.56 seconds

2-User

we have port 22 and 80 so i visited http://passage.htb:80 .\

Note I added passage domain to machine ip to /etc/hosts first .\

I didn’t find useful thing , i tried to brute force directory but server down several times so i decided to find another way talk look again i discovered that this site powered by CuteNews

After using google i discovered that CuteNews is management system So I searched if CuteNews vulnerable or not
Finally i found that CuteNews vulnerable by Remote Code Execution.\

I downloaded from exploit-db website exploit and installed the exploit on metasploit. CuteNews 2.1.2 - ‘avatar’ Remote Code Execution . This exploit need account credential do after alter searching i found login screen i created an account

After running exploit from metasploit After enumerat the server i found file call lines in /var/www/html/CuteNews/cdata/users directory have important informations

<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjU6ImVtYWlsIjthOjE6e3M6MTY6InBhdWxAcGFzc2FnZS5odGIiO3M6MTA6InBhdWwtY29sZXMiO319
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjI6ImlkIjthOjE6e2k6MTU5ODgyOTgzMztzOjY6ImVncmU1NSI7fX0=
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjU6ImVtYWlsIjthOjE6e3M6MTU6ImVncmU1NUB0ZXN0LmNvbSI7czo2OiJlZ3JlNTUiO319
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjQ6Im5hbWUiO2E6MTp7czo1OiJhZG1pbiI7YTo4OntzOjI6ImlkIjtzOjEwOiIxNTkyNDgzMDQ3IjtzOjQ6Im5hbWUiO3M6NToiYWRtaW4iO3M6MzoiYWNsIjtzOjE6IjEiO3M6NToiZW1haWwiO3M6MTc6Im5hZGF2QHBhc3NhZ2UuaHRiIjtzOjQ6InBhc3MiO3M6NjQ6IjcxNDRhOGI1MzFjMjdhNjBiNTFkODFhZTE2YmUzYTgxY2VmNzIyZTExYjQzYTI2ZmRlMGNhOTdmOWUxNDg1ZTEiO3M6MzoibHRzIjtzOjEwOiIxNTkyNDg3OTg4IjtzOjM6ImJhbiI7czoxOiIwIjtzOjM6ImNudCI7czoxOiIyIjt9fX0=
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjI6ImlkIjthOjE6e2k6MTU5MjQ4MzI4MTtzOjk6InNpZC1tZWllciI7fX0=
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjU6ImVtYWlsIjthOjE6e3M6MTc6Im5hZGF2QHBhc3NhZ2UuaHRiIjtzOjU6ImFkbWluIjt9fQ==
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjU6ImVtYWlsIjthOjE6e3M6MTU6ImtpbUBleGFtcGxlLmNvbSI7czo5OiJraW0tc3dpZnQiO319
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjI6ImlkIjthOjE6e2k6MTU5MjQ4MzIzNjtzOjEwOiJwYXVsLWNvbGVzIjt9fQ==
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjQ6Im5hbWUiO2E6MTp7czo5OiJzaWQtbWVpZXIiO2E6OTp7czoyOiJpZCI7czoxMDoiMTU5MjQ4MzI4MSI7czo0OiJuYW1lIjtzOjk6InNpZC1tZWllciI7czozOiJhY2wiO3M6MToiMyI7czo1OiJlbWFpbCI7czoxNToic2lkQGV4YW1wbGUuY29tIjtzOjQ6Im5pY2siO3M6OToiU2lkIE1laWVyIjtzOjQ6InBhc3MiO3M6NjQ6IjRiZGQwYTBiYjQ3ZmM5ZjY2Y2JmMWE4OTgyZmQyZDM0NGQyYWVjMjgzZDFhZmFlYmI0NjUzZWMzOTU0ZGZmODgiO3M6MzoibHRzIjtzOjEwOiIxNTkyNDg1NjQ1IjtzOjM6ImJhbiI7czoxOiIwIjtzOjM6ImNudCI7czoxOiIyIjt9fX0=
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjI6ImlkIjthOjE6e2k6MTU5MjQ4MzA0NztzOjU6ImFkbWluIjt9fQ==
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjU6ImVtYWlsIjthOjE6e3M6MTU6InNpZEBleGFtcGxlLmNvbSI7czo5OiJzaWQtbWVpZXIiO319
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjQ6Im5hbWUiO2E6MTp7czoxMDoicGF1bC1jb2xlcyI7YTo5OntzOjI6ImlkIjtzOjEwOiIxNTkyNDgzMjM2IjtzOjQ6Im5hbWUiO3M6MTA6InBhdWwtY29sZXMiO3M6MzoiYWNsIjtzOjE6IjIiO3M6NToiZW1haWwiO3M6MTY6InBhdWxAcGFzc2FnZS5odGIiO3M6NDoibmljayI7czoxMDoiUGF1bCBDb2xlcyI7czo0OiJwYXNzIjtzOjY0OiJlMjZmM2U4NmQxZjgxMDgxMjA3MjNlYmU2OTBlNWQzZDYxNjI4ZjQxMzAwNzZlYzZjYjQzZjE2ZjQ5NzI3M2NkIjtzOjM6Imx0cyI7czoxMDoiMTU5MjQ4NTU1NiI7czozOiJiYW4iO3M6MToiMCI7czozOiJjbnQiO3M6MToiMiI7fX19
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjQ6Im5hbWUiO2E6MTp7czo5OiJraW0tc3dpZnQiO2E6OTp7czoyOiJpZCI7czoxMDoiMTU5MjQ4MzMwOSI7czo0OiJuYW1lIjtzOjk6ImtpbS1zd2lmdCI7czozOiJhY2wiO3M6MToiMyI7czo1OiJlbWFpbCI7czoxNToia2ltQGV4YW1wbGUuY29tIjtzOjQ6Im5pY2siO3M6OToiS2ltIFN3aWZ0IjtzOjQ6InBhc3MiO3M6NjQ6ImY2NjlhNmY2OTFmOThhYjA1NjIzNTZjMGNkNWQ1ZTdkY2RjMjBhMDc5NDFjODZhZGNmY2U5YWYzMDg1ZmJlY2EiO3M6MzoibHRzIjtzOjEwOiIxNTkyNDg3MDk2IjtzOjM6ImJhbiI7czoxOiIwIjtzOjM6ImNudCI7czoxOiIzIjt9fX0=
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
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
<?php die('Direct call - access denied'); ?>
YToxOntzOjI6ImlkIjthOjE6e2k6MTU5MjQ4MzMwOTtzOjk6ImtpbS1zd2lmdCI7fX0=

I decoded this lines to base64 and i found hash this . I got to know the type of encryption used SHA2-256 and then I decrypt it online and it was the password

now i have paul credential In paul file there is a file for ssh ,And I had ssh private and public key ,so i copied ssh private key and used port 22 to login by paul private key

I have successfully logged in and gained user flag

3-Root

At this stage it took a lot of time, but I remembered that I have another user and therefore it may be useful, but I cannot see the content of the file I decided to turn off the laptop And watch a movie.
I started over The first, after some thought, I decided to see the processes that happened on the machines using ` ps -auwx` command.

I found Paul used the same ssh private to log into the nadav account

I tried to see the processes created by nadav ps -auwx And I noticed dbus-daemon - Message bus daemon
D-Bus as its inter-process communications (IPC) mediator

In these moments a time and a stage began to learn more about the dbas system. After the search, I found an exploitation of a security vulnerability , and therefore I decided to review the conference file to find out if he was injured from the site or system side\

you can read more about dbus-daemon from herer dbus-daemon . After researching, I found that there was indeed a security issue in USBCreator D-Bus Privilege Escalation in Ubuntu Desktop. USBCreator D-Bus Privilege Escalation

The explanation of the exploitation is that I can copy the content of a file or modify it to a file without obtaining permission from the owner of that file
The idea is that I created a test.txt file in tmp directory and copied the contents of the root/root.txt to tmp/test.txt by gdbus commnad that i found in the USBCreator D-Bus exploit.