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

Orion

23 Jun 2026 · 8 min read · user access
Orion - maquina de Hack The Box

Executive summary — Orion is an Easy Linux box serving the "Orion Telecom" corporate site on Craft CMS 2.0.51. The foothold is a pre-authentication RCE (CVE-2025-32432) that lands a www-data shell; from there we read the application's .env, which stores cleartext MySQL credentials. Inside the database we steal the admin's bcrypt hash, crack it with hashcat and rockyou, and reuse that same password to log in over SSH as the system user adam. Escalation to root exploits an authentication flaw more than a decade old in the local Telnet service from GNU Inetutils (CVE-2026-24061). Path: Craft RCE -> .env -> MySQL -> hashcat -> SSH -> local Telnet -> root.

PlatformHack The Box
Operating systemLinux (Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS)
DifficultyEasy
StatusRetired
Target IP10.129.244.146

Attack map

[80] Craft CMS 2.0.51 -> CVE-2025-32432 (pre-auth RCE) -> www-data shell
   |  .env in /html/craft with cleartext MySQL credentials
   v
[MySQL]  users table -> admin bcrypt hash -> hashcat + rockyou -> darkangel
   |  password reuse with user adam
   v
[SSH]  adam  (user.txt)
   |  ss -tulnp -> Telnet only on 127.0.0.1:23 -> CVE-2026-24061
   v
[ROOT]  (root.txt)

1. Reconnaissance

Host discovery and a full port scan, UDP included:

netdiscover -i tun0 -P
arp-scan -I tun0 --localnet
nmap -p- --min-rate=2000 -T4 -Pn 10.129.244.146
nmap -sC -sV -p 22,80 -Pn 10.129.244.146
nmap -sU --top-ports 100 -T4 -Pn 10.129.244.146
PortServiceVersion
22/tcpSSHOpenSSH 8.9p1 Ubuntu 3ubuntu0.15
80/tcpHTTPnginx 1.18.0 (Ubuntu)

No open UDP ports show up in the top 100. Web enumeration:

whatweb -a 3 http://10.129.244.146
nikto -h http://10.129.244.146
feroxbuster -u http://10.129.244.146 -w /usr/share/wordlists/dirb/common.txt

whatweb returns a 302 to http://orion.htb/: the real site is served by vhost name, not by the bare IP. First hint not to write off a site just because the IP alone looks empty.

echo "10.129.244.146 orion.htb" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

Browsing to orion.htb shows the "Orion Telecom" site, with a contact form (Name, Email, Message).

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