Htb Faith Finance
Hack The Box's Faith Finance is a challenging retired machine designed to test penetration testing skills against a simulated financial application environment. It's primarily a Windows box, and its difficulty stems from requiring a nuanced understanding of Active Directory vulnerabilities, specifically Kerberoasting and resource-based constrained delegation (RBCD), combined with the ability to exploit custom applications and misconfigurations.
The initial foothold typically involves exploiting a vulnerability within the custom web application used by Faith Finance. This often involves finding a way to inject commands or execute arbitrary code through poorly sanitized user inputs. This could be anything from SQL injection that allows access to the database containing sensitive information, to exploiting a file upload function to plant a web shell. Once a foothold is established, the focus shifts to privilege escalation.
The privilege escalation path on Faith Finance is where the real complexity lies. This usually involves leveraging Kerberoasting to crack service account passwords, gaining access to accounts with elevated privileges. Kerberoasting exploits the fact that service principal names (SPNs) are publicly available, allowing attackers to request Kerberos tickets for these services offline and attempt to crack the associated passwords.
However, Kerberoasting is often just the first step. The next stage typically involves exploiting Resource-Based Constrained Delegation (RBCD). RBCD allows a service to impersonate users when accessing resources. If misconfigured, it can be abused to escalate privileges and ultimately gain domain administrator access. This often involves finding a service account with RBCD permissions over the domain controller, allowing the attacker to authenticate as the domain administrator to the compromised service and then leverage that access.
Faith Finance highlights the importance of several key security principles: input validation, proper configuration of Active Directory delegation, and strong password policies for service accounts. Failure to adequately address these aspects creates opportunities for attackers to compromise systems and escalate privileges.
The box also emphasizes the value of reconnaissance. Thorough enumeration of the target environment is crucial for identifying potential vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. This includes scanning for open ports, identifying running services, and examining the Active Directory structure. Tools like `BloodHound` are often invaluable for mapping out the Active Directory environment and identifying potential attack paths involving Kerberoasting and RBCD.
Ultimately, Faith Finance is a valuable learning experience for aspiring penetration testers. It provides a realistic scenario for practicing advanced Active Directory exploitation techniques and reinforces the importance of a comprehensive understanding of Windows security concepts.