HackTheBox - Escape

Escape is a medium-difficulty Windows machine on Hack The Box that revolves around Active Directory. The initial foothold is gained by finding credentials in a PDF file on an open SMB share. This access is then leveraged to connect to an MSSQL service, from which we capture and crack the NTLM hash of a service account. Lateral movement is achieved by discovering another user’s credentials in a log file. Finally, privilege escalation to Administrator is accomplished by exploiting a misconfiguration in Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS), specifically the ESC1 vulnerability.

July 6, 2025 · 12 min · Aditya Telange
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