root@thehacksparrow:~/writeups$ SYSTEM ONLINE
root@sparrow:~/writeups$ cat devarea.md
// writeups

DevArea

28 Mar 2026 · 21 min read · root access
DevArea - maquina de Hack The Box

Executive summary — DevArea chains four separate services, each opening the door to the next. A Java .jar pulled over anonymous FTP turns out to be a SOAP service vulnerable to CVE-2022-46364 (Apache CXF), giving unauthenticated arbitrary file read. That leaks Hoverfly credentials, whose "middleware" system runs a local command for every request passing through its proxy — trivial RCE once inside. The final escalation is subtler: an internal Flask GUI whose session is forged with a leaked SECRET_KEY, vulnerable to command injection, which ultimately abuses a symlink chain to bypass a sudo-enabled script's anti-symlink filter.

PlatformHack The Box
Operating systemLinux
DifficultyMedium
StatusRetired
Target IP10.129.244.208

Attack map

[21] Anonymous FTP — employee-service.jar (Apache CXF/SOAP)
   │  CVE-2022-46364 — XXE/MTOM (xop:Include) → arbitrary file read
   │  leaks /etc/systemd/system/hoverfly.service → admin:O7IJ27MyyXiU
   ▼
[8888] Hoverfly (middleware RCE, runs as dev_ryan)
   │  plants an SSH key → dev_ryan (user.txt)
   ▼
[SSH]  dev_ryan
   │  sudo NOPASSWD /opt/syswatch/syswatch.sh (denylist web-stop/web-restart)
   │  /etc/syswatch.env leaks the Flask SECRET_KEY
   ▼
[GUI] SysWatch (Flask, 127.0.0.1:7777, user syswatch)
   │  session cookie forged with the leaked SECRET_KEY
   │  command injection in /service-status (weak regex + shell=True)
   ▼
[RCE]  syswatch
   │  symlink chain in "logs" bypasses syswatch.sh's anti-symlink filter
   ▼
[ROOT]  sudo syswatch.sh logs → arbitrary read as root → root.txt

1. Reconnaissance

nmap -sT -p- --min-rate 3000 -T4 -Pn -oN m4_allports.txt 10.129.244.208
nmap -sT -sCV -p21,22,80,8080,8888 -Pn -oN m4_services.txt 10.129.244.208
21/tcp   open  ftp     vsftpd 3.0.5           (Anonymous FTP login allowed; dir 'pub')
22/tcp   open  ssh     OpenSSH 9.6p1 Ubuntu 3ubuntu13.15
80/tcp   open  http    Apache httpd 2.4.58    (redirect -> http://devarea.htb/)
8080/tcp open  http    Jetty 9.4.27.v20200227 (404 at /)
8888/tcp open  http    Golang net/http        (Hoverfly Dashboard)

Key services to explore: anonymous FTP, Jetty (8080, a Java app) and Hoverfly (8888, a legitimate API-mocking tool with its own dashboard).

curl -s "ftp://anonymous:anon@10.129.244.208/pub/"
# -rw-r--r-- 1 ftp ftp 6445030 Sep 22 2025 employee-service.jar
curl -s -o employee-service.jar "ftp://anonymous:anon@10.129.244.208/pub/employee-service.jar"
curl -s http://10.129.244.208:8888/api/health          # 200
curl -s http://10.129.244.208:8888/api/v2/hoverfly      # 401  (requires auth)

Hoverfly's v2 API requires authentication → credentials are needed, presumably from the downloaded .jar or some other file on the system.

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