nitesh@gupta
Proving Grounds Active Directory

Vault

Full walkthrough — enumeration, foothold and privilege escalation.

Nmap output

Nmap scan report for 192.168.217.172
Host is up (0.058s latency).
Not shown: 65516 filtered tcp ports (no-response)
Some closed ports may be reported as filtered due to --defeat-rst-ratelimit
PORT      STATE SERVICE       VERSION
53/tcp    open  domain        Simple DNS Plus
88/tcp    open  kerberos-sec  Microsoft Windows Kerberos (server time: 2025-10-24 08:37:39Z)
135/tcp   open  msrpc         Microsoft Windows RPC
139/tcp   open  netbios-ssn   Microsoft Windows netbios-ssn
389/tcp   open  ldap          Microsoft Windows Active Directory LDAP (Domain: vault.offsec0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name)
445/tcp   open  microsoft-ds?
464/tcp   open  kpasswd5?
593/tcp   open  ncacn_http    Microsoft Windows RPC over HTTP 1.0
636/tcp   open  tcpwrapped
3268/tcp  open  ldap          Microsoft Windows Active Directory LDAP (Domain: vault.offsec0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name)
3269/tcp  open  tcpwrapped
3389/tcp  open  ms-wbt-server Microsoft Terminal Services
| rdp-ntlm-info: 
|   Target_Name: VAULT
|   NetBIOS_Domain_Name: VAULT
|   NetBIOS_Computer_Name: DC
|   DNS_Domain_Name: vault.offsec
|   DNS_Computer_Name: DC.vault.offsec
|   DNS_Tree_Name: vault.offsec
|   Product_Version: 10.0.17763
|_  System_Time: 2025-10-24T08:38:28+00:00
|_ssl-date: 2025-10-24T08:39:08+00:00; 0s from scanner time.
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=DC.vault.offsec
| Issuer: commonName=DC.vault.offsec
| Public Key type: rsa
| Public Key bits: 2048
| Signature Algorithm: sha256WithRSAEncryption
| Not valid before: 2025-10-23T08:35:22
| Not valid after:  2026-04-24T08:35:22
| MD5:   0cfd:483d:d5bf:2944:ab70:834c:beed:ac47
|_SHA-1: b0cf:6d11:58e1:3cb8:f274:5aa8:9bb9:55c6:550d:ba00
5985/tcp  open  http          Microsoft HTTPAPI httpd 2.0 (SSDP/UPnP)
|_http-server-header: Microsoft-HTTPAPI/2.0
|_http-title: Not Found
9389/tcp  open  mc-nmf        .NET Message Framing
49668/tcp open  msrpc         Microsoft Windows RPC
49673/tcp open  ncacn_http    Microsoft Windows RPC over HTTP 1.0
49674/tcp open  msrpc         Microsoft Windows RPC
49679/tcp open  msrpc         Microsoft Windows RPC
49703/tcp open  msrpc         Microsoft Windows RPC
Service Info: Host: DC; OS: Windows; CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows

We have guest login on smbshare and see a DocumentsShare share

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 1
Vault, step 1

We created a malicious lnk

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 2
Vault, step 2

Uploaded the file to smbshare

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 3
Vault, step 3

Started smbshare and got hash

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 4
Vault, step 4

Cracked hash and got passwd

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 5
Vault, step 5

We can use the creds to winrm

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 6
Vault, step 6

Got in as anirudh user

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 7
Vault, step 7

Got local.txt (b27b0bab291c2fdd9129e5a28feec024)

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 8
Vault, step 8

We have Sebackup & restore privilege

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 9
Vault, step 9

Creating vss.dsh file

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 10
Vault, step 10

Uploaded file to server

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 11
Vault, step 11

This didn’t worked so we uploaded SeRestoreAbuse.exe & ran it with reverse.exe

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 12
Vault, step 12

Got access as NT

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 13
Vault, step 13

Got proof.txt (6302f5f03691a12f1c05f3035e5da8b0)

Vault walkthrough, Nmap output, screenshot 14
Vault, step 14

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