In any crime investigation, it’s important to leave no stone unturned. The same holds true for cybercrime. That’s why our latest Capture the Flag: Attack Chain from Recon to Root challenge in Cisco U. helps you do just that. In this ethical hacking challenge, you’ll learn how to conduct a full-scale search for vulnerabilities—the weak links in the attack chain and the paths into your system.
So, what does ‘recon to root’ mean?
In cybersecurity, recon to root encapsulates the full attack lifecycle, from the initial information gathering phase (reconnaissance) to gaining complete administrative (root) access to a target system. The number of stages might vary, but the result remains the same. Attackers often search for and find vulnerabilities to gain full root access with dire consequences to the breached system.
Capture the Flag: Attack Chain from Recon to Root
In our latest Capture the Flag: Attack Chain from Recon to Root challenge, a critical internal web application has been identified as vulnerable and needs your help. To capture each flag, you’ll dive into the shadowy depths of insecure web applications, follow the recon-to-root process to simulate real-world attack scenarios, and identify the weak links in the attack chain so they can be removed to prevent attacks.
Your mission, if you choose: Conduct reconnaissance, exploit login vulnerabilities, inject malicious Structured Query Language (SQL) queries, and escalate privileges to take complete control of the target system.
To set the stage for your success, let’s take a closer look at each phase.
Web application reconnaissance
Web application reconnaissance is the preliminary phase where a hacker gathers as much information as possible about a target before launching an attack. It might involve collecting information from publicly available sources without direct interaction with the target systems. Examples include searching social media, analyzing public records, and looking up a domain’s WHOIS data. In more active recon, the hacker might directly engage with the target network, such as performing port scans to see which ports and services are open. The main goal is to understand and identify exposure points in web applications.
In this challenge, you must first gain access to the target environment to begin your reconnaissance. Next, you’ll identify vulnerabilities like open ports and running services. You’ll also document all findings, practicing precision and patience—essential traits that will ultimately define your success in uncovering vulnerabilities.
Exploiting authentication and access control
In this exploitation phase, the attacker exploits a vulnerability to gain an initial foothold on the system. So that you can eventually counteract this possibility in our challenge, you’ll need to do the same. More specifically, you’ll look for privileged user accounts within the application and gain access to the login interface. To uncover any passwords, just like your attacker, you must perform a brute-force attack on the login form and use thorough reconnaissance techniques to ensure the exact location of the login page.
Database exploitation and data extraction
With valid credentials in hand, your next task will be to find any clues that indicate vulnerabilities, exploit them, and uncover the data fields that can be queried or extracted. Although the description for this phase is short, this is where the real sleuthing takes place and where each stone must be unturned.
Privilege escalation and root access
Next, with your firmly established foothold, this phase is where you elevate your access and gain higher privileges—to root user—and complete dominance over the system. Mission accomplished!
Let the hunt begin
There’s no better time than the present. Take advantage of this recon to root opportunity and showcase your growing expertise in ethical hacking by successfully navigating each phase of the web exploitation attack chain. It’s a high-stakes mission with high-impact results for you and your cybersecurity career.
You can’t fight cybercrime or secure your systems until you first identify the potential attacker’s entry point.
Capture the Flag: Attack Chain from Recon to Root
Start the challenge in Cisco U.
Related posts:
Everything You Want to Know About Cisco U. Capture the Flag Challenges
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