# Pentesting Methodology {{#include ../banners/hacktricks-training.md}} ## Pentesting Methodology
_Hacktricks logos designed by_ [_@ppieranacho_](https://www.instagram.com/ppieranacho/)_._ ### **0- Physical Attacks** Do you have **physical access** to the machine that you want to attack? You should read some [**tricks about physical attacks**](../hardware-physical-access/physical-attacks.md) and others about [**escaping from GUI applications**](../hardware-physical-access/escaping-from-gui-applications.md). ### 1- [Discovering hosts inside the network](pentesting-network/index.html#discovering-hosts)/ [Discovering Assets of the company](external-recon-methodology/index.html) **Depending** if the **test** you are perform is an **internal or external test** you may be interested on finding **hosts inside the company network** (internal test) or **finding assets of the company on the internet** (external test). > [!TIP] > Note that if you are performing an external test, once you manage to obtain access to the internal network of the company you should re-start this guide. ### **2-** [**Having Fun with the network**](pentesting-network/index.html) **(Internal)** **This section only applies if you are performing an internal test.**\ Before attacking a host maybe you prefer to **steal some credentials** **from the network** or **sniff** some **data** to learn **passively/actively(MitM)** what can you find inside the network. You can read [**Pentesting Network**](pentesting-network/index.html#sniffing). ### **3-** [**Port Scan - Service discovery**](pentesting-network/index.html#scanning-hosts) The first thing to do when **looking for vulnerabilities in a host** is to know which **services are running** in which ports. Let's see the[ **basic tools to scan ports of hosts**](pentesting-network/index.html#scanning-hosts). ### **4-** [Searching service version exploits](../generic-hacking/search-exploits.md) Once you know which services are running, and maybe their version, you have to **search for known vulnerabilities**. Maybe you get lucky and there is a exploit to give you a shell... ### **5-** Pentesting Services If there isn't any fancy exploit for any running service, you should look for **common misconfigurations in each service running.** **Inside this book you will find a guide to pentest the most common services** (and others that aren't so common)**. Please, search in the left index the** _**PENTESTING**_ **section** (the services are ordered by their default ports). **I want to make a special mention of the** [**Pentesting Web**](../network-services-pentesting/pentesting-web/index.html) **part (as it is the most extensive one).**\ Also, a small guide on how to[ **find known vulnerabilities in software**](../generic-hacking/search-exploits.md) can be found here. **If your service is not inside the index, search in Google** for other tutorials and **let me know if you want me to add it.** If you **can't find anything** in Google, perform your **own blind pentesting**, you could start by **connecting to the service, fuzzing it and reading the responses** (if any). #### 5.1 Automatic Tools There are also several tools that can perform **automatic vulnerabilities assessments**. **I would recommend you to try** [**Legion**](https://github.com/carlospolop/legion)**, which is the tool that I have created and it's based on the notes about pentesting services that you can find in this book.** #### **5.2 Brute-Forcing services** In some scenarios a **Brute-Force** could be useful to **compromise** a **service**. [**Find here a CheatSheet of different services brute forcing**](../generic-hacking/brute-force.md)**.** ### 6- [Phishing](phishing-methodology/index.html) If at this point you haven't found any interesting vulnerability you **may need to try some phishing** in order to get inside the network. You can read my phishing methodology [here](phishing-methodology/index.html): ### **7-** [**Getting Shell**](../generic-hacking/reverse-shells/index.html) Somehow you should have found **some way to execute code** in the victim. Then, [a list of possible tools inside the system that you can use to get a reverse shell would be very useful](../generic-hacking/reverse-shells/index.html). Specially in Windows you could need some help to **avoid antiviruses**: [**Check this page**](../windows-hardening/av-bypass.md)**.** ### 8- Inside If you have troubles with the shell, you can find here a small **compilation of the most useful commands** for pentesters: - [**Linux**](../linux-hardening/useful-linux-commands.md) - [**Windows (CMD)**](../windows-hardening/basic-cmd-for-pentesters.md) - [**Windows (PS)**](../windows-hardening/basic-powershell-for-pentesters/index.html) ### **9-** [**Exfiltration**](../generic-hacking/exfiltration.md) You will probably need to **extract some data from the victim** or even **introduce something** (like privilege escalation scripts). **Here you have a** [**post about common tools that you can use with these purposes**](../generic-hacking/exfiltration.md)**.** ### **10- Privilege Escalation** #### **10.1- Local Privesc** If you are **not root/Administrator** inside the box, you should find a way to **escalate privileges.**\ Here you can find a **guide to escalate privileges locally in** [**Linux**](../linux-hardening/privilege-escalation/index.html) **and in** [**Windows**](../windows-hardening/windows-local-privilege-escalation/index.html)**.**\ You should also check this pages about how does **Windows work**: - [**Authentication, Credentials, Token privileges and UAC**](../windows-hardening/authentication-credentials-uac-and-efs/index.html) - How does [**NTLM works**](../windows-hardening/ntlm/index.html) - How to [**steal credentials**](https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks/blob/master/generic-methodologies-and-resources/broken-reference/README.md) in Windows - Some tricks about [_**Active Directory**_](../windows-hardening/active-directory-methodology/index.html) **Don't forget to checkout the best tools to enumerate Windows and Linux local Privilege Escalation paths:** [**Suite PEAS**](https://github.com/carlospolop/privilege-escalation-awesome-scripts-suite) #### **10.2- Domain Privesc** Here you can find a [**methodology explaining the most common actions to enumerate, escalate privileges and persist on an Active Directory**](../windows-hardening/active-directory-methodology/index.html). Even if this is just a subsection of a section, this process could be **extremely delicate** on a Pentesting/Red Team assignment. ### 11 - POST #### **11**.1 - Looting Check if you can find more **passwords** inside the host or if you have **access to other machines** with the **privileges** of your **user**.\ Find here different ways to [**dump passwords in Windows**](https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks/blob/master/generic-methodologies-and-resources/broken-reference/README.md). #### 11.2 - Persistence **Use 2 or 3 different types of persistence mechanism so you won't need to exploit the system again.**\ **Here you can find some** [**persistence tricks on active directory**](../windows-hardening/active-directory-methodology/index.html#persistence)**.** TODO: Complete persistence Post in Windows & Linux ### 12 - Pivoting With the **gathered credentials** you could have access to other machines, or maybe you need to **discover and scan new hosts** (start the Pentesting Methodology again) inside new networks where your victim is connected.\ In this case tunnelling could be necessary. Here you can find [**a post talking about tunnelling**](../generic-hacking/tunneling-and-port-forwarding.md).\ You definitely should also check the post about [Active Directory pentesting Methodology](../windows-hardening/active-directory-methodology/index.html). There you will find cool tricks to move laterally, escalate privileges and dump credentials.\ Check also the page about [**NTLM**](../windows-hardening/ntlm/index.html), it could be very useful to pivot on Windows environments.. ### MORE #### [Android Applications](../mobile-pentesting/android-app-pentesting/index.html) #### **Exploiting** - [**Basic Linux Exploiting**](broken-reference/index.html) - [**Basic Windows Exploiting**](../binary-exploitation/windows-exploiting-basic-guide-oscp-lvl.md) - [**Basic exploiting tools**](../binary-exploitation/basic-stack-binary-exploitation-methodology/tools/index.html) #### [**Basic Python**](python/index.html) #### **Crypto tricks** - [**ECB**](../crypto-and-stego/electronic-code-book-ecb.md) - [**CBC-MAC**](../crypto-and-stego/cipher-block-chaining-cbc-mac-priv.md) - [**Padding Oracle**](../crypto-and-stego/padding-oracle-priv.md) {{#include ../banners/hacktricks-training.md}}