Identifying Key Vulnerabilities

To tackle LinkVortex effectively, focus on identifying key vulnerabilities. Analyze network traffic, explore the web app for injection points, and check the operating system for weak configurations. Use tools like Shodan, Censys, Nmap, and Dirb for enumeration to uncover exposed services, hidden paths, and misconfigurations. Review web page source code for sensitive data and exploit issues like SQL injection or XSS to find weaknesses. Understanding these vulnerabilities is vital for a successful penetration test.

Starting off by using NMAP

We usually start off with an nmap scan. But that is after adding the IP address of the target machine to our host config file. You can do that either directly using nano editor or typing in the console the following command .

echo ” linkvortex.htb 10.xxx.xxx.xxx” | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

We can then proceed with the Nmap scan. A very indispendable tool for us as this will provide us with valuable information on the target machine. This is usually my choice of switches in my Nmap scan.

nmap -sC -sV -oN linkvortex.htb 10.xxx.xxx.xxx

This will save the scan results to a file named linvortex.htb which you can reference later on.

The Nmap scan results

Below is a snapshot of the nmap results.

As you will see from the results the following ports are open:

Port 80 http ; port 22 SSH. We know very well that SSH would not be our first go to port for exploitation. The next logical step for us to do would be to open and view the web page at port 80.

Webpage at PORT 80

Use a browser to open the webpage at port 80. Doing so reveals the following:

It is an ecommerce web store selling computer parts. What else can we find out about the website. Enumeration and enumeration is the key to this. What is our end goal, what tools do we need.

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