Summary

  • The TryHackMe boot-to-root challenge, Securi-Tay 2020, requires learners to investigate a range of security issues on a compromised server.
  • The server is running unusual services on unconventional ports, which may be a security issue.
  • It is necessary to bypass Firefox restrictions to access the strange SSH running on HTTP port 80.
  • A base64-encoded string on the login page contains a encrypted URL which requires decryption using ROT13 to reach the Wikipedia page for Stegosauria.
  • A steganographic technique needs to be employed to reveal the CMS credentials “j_____”: and “T_____“.
  • A PHP command injection vulnerability is then exploited to gain remote code execution, enabling a reverse shell to be established.
  • A password list is discovered and SSH credentials are brute forced, granting access as the user “j___“.
  • The user flag is retrieved from an image file, and it is discovered that a binary with the SUID bit set allows root access.
  • The flags for this challenge are “securi{}” for the user flag and “securi{}” for the root flag.

By CySec Sensei

Original Article