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

Sauna

15 Feb 2020 · 8 min read · root access
Sauna - maquina de Hack The Box

Executive summary — Sauna is an Easy Active Directory Windows box: employee profiles published on the website reveal the domain's username convention; fsmith has Kerberos pre-authentication disabled, so an AS-REP Roasting attack yields a hash that's crackable offline. Once inside, internal enumeration uncovers autologon credentials stored in the registry (svc_loanmgr), an account that also holds DCSync rights over the domain: with them we dump the Administrator NTLM hash and log in via pass-the-hash. A Web → AS-REP → WinRM → autologon → DCSync → DA path.

PlatformHack The Box
Operating systemWindows (AD)
DifficultyEasy
StatusRetired
Target IP10.129.4.62

Attack map

[80] web → employee profiles → username fsmith
   ▼
[AS-REP]  fsmith without Kerberos pre-auth → GetNPUsers → john → Thestrokes23
   ▼
[WINRM]  fsmith  (user.txt)
   │  internal enumeration → autologon in the registry (svc_loanmgr)
   │  svc_loanmgr has DCSync rights
   ▼
[DCSYNC]  secretsdump → Administrator NTLM hash → pass-the-hash → root.txt

1. Recon and environment setup

Since this is an Active Directory box, Kerberos needs to resolve both the hostname and the domain correctly, so we add both to /etc/hosts before touching anything else. HTB's target IP can change between sessions: always check the current one on the platform before starting.

echo "10.129.4.62 sauna.htb egotistical-bank.local" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts
ping -c 1 sauna.htb
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