Posts

Difficulty: Medium OS: Windows Date Completed: 2026-10-26 Write-up Authored by: Ian Simons Lab Created by: Ian Simons Core Competencies: Defense in Depth Least Privilege Active Directory Hardening Group Policy Hardening Overview Recently I created an Active Directory lab where I successfully went from a low privileged user to a Domain Admin using attacks such as Kerberoasting and Pass-the-Hash (previous lab can be found here). This week I thought it would be a good exercise to take that lab and harden it as best I can to prevent this attack from succeeding again. I really enjoyed it. There is something special about attacking and then defending your own machine which is hard to put into words. ...

Difficulty: Easy OS: Windows Date Completed: 2026-10-19 Write-up Authored by: Ian Simons Lab Created by: Ian Simons Core Competencies: Active Directory Enumeration LDAP Enumeration Kerberos Authentication Password Cracking Pass the Hash Overview Recently I completed a Hack the Box lab called Active. This Box was a lot of fun and showed me that Active Directory is not some overly complex inherently hardened system. After that I decided that I wanted to learn more about attacking Active Directory on my own. I set up this lab to better understand and learn to run the Pass-the-Hash attack. There was a lot of learning involved, but I came away with a solid lab, and a much better understanding of the technique. ...

Difficulty: Easy OS: Windows Date Completed: 2026-10-13 Write-up Authored by: Ian Simons Challenge Created by: eks & mrb3n8132 Core Competencies: Active Directory Enumeration LDAP Enumeration Kerberos Authentication Password Cracking Overview This machine was discovered completely by accident. I had originally planned to complete a different box but accidentally scanned the wrong IP. After spending longer than I would care to admit attacking a web server I was convinced was an Active Directory Domain Controller, I decided to do Active instead. I am really glad I did. It helped break down the perceived complexity I had associated with Active Directory Machines, and demonstrated that successful domain compromise often results from methodical enumeration and chaining of realistic misconfigurations rather than highly complex exploitation techniques. ...

Difficulty: Easy OS: Linux Date Completed: 2026-09-25 Write-up Authored by: Ian Simons Challenge Created by: Arrexel Core Competencies: Web application enumeration Post-exploitation Enumeration Linux Privilege Escalation Overview This Machine was completed as a complement to my training in the Hack The Box Academy Penetration Tester Job-Role Path. This box was chosen to further improve my manual enumeration and exploitation skills, and build confidence in my existing skill set. Note: Flags documented in Appendix B. ...

Difficulty: Easy OS: Linux Date Completed: 2026-09-19 Write-up Authored by: Ian Simons Challenge Created by: InfoSecJack Core Competencies: Network Reconnaissance and Service Enumeration Web Application Enumeration Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) Identification and Exploitation Packet Analysis Linux System Enumeration Linux Capability Abuse Overview This machine was completed as part of my training in the Hack The Box Academy Penetration Tester Job-Role Path. While not a required module, I selected this target to gain additional practice with manual exploitation. Note: Flags documented in Appendix B ...

Introduction Recently I made a python tool to automate my write-up templates, start filling out some simple sections (ie nmap output, open ports etc), and perform a few additional Web Enumeration tasks such as grabbing html comments and the robots.txt file if it exists. I built it because I wanted to learn basic nmap output parsing, and save time during my weekly write-ups.This tool should save me time creating a skeleton of the write-up. It should also prevent accidentally leaving old data in new write-ups, and standardize my formatting for every write-up. ...

Difficulty: Easy OS: Linux Date Completed: 2026-09-02 Write-up Authored by: Ian Simons Challenge Created by: mrb3n8132 Core Competencies: Network Enumeration with Nmap Manual Web Enumeration Web Enumeration with Gobuster Vulnerability Research Initial Access with Metasploit Privilege Enumeration Privilege Escalation Overview This Box was completed as part of the Hack the Box Academy Job Role Path “Penetration Tester” in the “Getting Started” Module. The purpose of completing this box is to build familiarity with the Hack the Box platform. While the Academy module walks the user through this Box, I opted to complete it on my own using my existing, albeit limited, skillset. Additionally, this was another opportunity to sharpen my Metasploit fundamentals. Note: Flags documented in Appendix B ...

Difficulty: Easy OS: Windows Date Completed: 2026-08-30 Write-up Authored by: Ian Simons Challenge Created by: mrh4sh Core Competencies: Network Enumeration with Nmap Vulnerability Research Brute Forcing with Metasploit Exploitation with Metasploit Web Enumeration with gobuster Overview This box was recommended by the Hack the Box Academy Job Role Path “Penetration Tester” in the “Getting Started” Module. The purpose of completing this box is to build familiarity with Metasploit. As we will see, it did just that. Note: Flags documented in Appendix B ...

Difficulty: Easy OS: Windows Date Completed: 2026-08-27 Write-up Authored by: Ian Simons Challenge Created by: ch4p Core Competencies: Network Enumeration with Nmap Vulnerability Research Initial Access with Metasploit Vulnerability Scanning with Metasploit Privilege Escalation with Metasploit Overview This Box was recommended by the Hack the Box Academy Job Role Path “Penetration Tester” in the “Getting Started” Module. The purpose of completing this box is to build familiarity with Metasploit. As we will see it did just that. Note: Flags documented in Appendix B ...