Privilege Escalation

What are the two types of privilege escalation?

  • Vertical privilege - when a lower-level user executes at a higher privilege level than they should have access to

  • Horizontal privilege - simply executing code at the same user level but from a location that should be protected from access

  • Four ways to obtain root privileges

    1. Crack the password of an admin or root account (should be primary aim)

    2. Take advantage of a vulnerability found in the OS or in an application

    3. Use a tool that will provide you the access you need (Ex. Metasploit)

    4. Social Engineering - easiest method and probably most effective method

What is DLL Hijacking?

  • An attack where you replace DLLs in the same application directory with your own malicious version

  • It works because Windows applications don't bother with a full path when loading external DLLs

  • In a Mac use the DYLIB hijacking instead

Executing Applications

  • Simply starting things such as — keyloggers, spyware, back doors and crackers

  • Simply the idea that once you have access to the system, execute at or above your privilege level to accomplish what you need to do

Tools

  • RemoteExec

  • PDQ Deploy

  • Dameware Remote Support

References

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