# Pentesting Methodology ![](https://4153509160-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MaoGr_g3I50alM2whW0%2Fsync%2F5ce83d1ddb72ee008995be8f0dcec8b266a05fce.png?generation=1622227469386692\&alt=media) If you want to **know** about my **latest modifications**/**additions** or you have **any suggestion for HackTricks or PEASS**, **join the** [**💬**](https://emojipedia.org/speech-balloon/) [**PEASS & HackTricks telegram group here**](https://t.me/peass), or **follow me on Twitter** [🐦](https://emojipedia.org/bird/)[**@carlospolopm**](https://twitter.com/carlospolopm)**.**\ If you want to **share some tricks with the community** you can also submit **pull requests** to **\*\*\[**) **\*\*that will be reflected in this book.**\ **Don't forget to** give ⭐ on the github\*\* to motivate me to continue developing this book. ## 0- Physical Attacks Do you have **physical access** to the machine that you want to attack? You should read some [**tricks about physical attacks**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/physical-attacks/physical-attacks) and others about **\*\*\[**escaping from GUI applications\*\*]\(physical-attacks/escaping-from-gui-applications/). ## 1 - [Discovering hosts inside the network ](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/pentesting/pentesting-network#discovering-hosts)/ [Discovering Assets of the company](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/external-recon-methodology) **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). {% hint style="info" %} 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. {% endhint %} ## **2-** [**Having Fun with the network**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/pentesting/pentesting-network) **(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**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/pentesting/pentesting-network#sniffing). ## 3- [Port Scan - Service discovery](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/pentesting/pentesting-network#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**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/pentesting/pentesting-network#scanning-hosts). ## **4-** [Searching service version exploits](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/search-exploits) 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**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/pentesting/pentesting-web) **part (as it is the most extensive one).**\ Also, a small guide on how to[ **find known vulnerabilities in software**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/search-exploits) 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**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/brute-force)**.** ## 6- [Phishing](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/phishing-methodology) 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: {% content-ref url="phishing-methodology" %} [phishing-methodology](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/phishing-methodology) {% endcontent-ref %} ## **6-** [**Getting Shell**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/shells/shells) 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](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/shells/shells). Specially in Windows you could need some help to **avoid antiviruses**: **\*\*\[**Check this page**]\(windows/av-bypass.md)**.\*\* ## 7- Inside If you have troubles with the shell, you can find here a small **compilation of the most useful commands** for pentesters: * [**Linux**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/linux-unix/useful-linux-commands) * [**Windows (CMD)**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/basic-cmd-for-pentesters) * [**Winodows (PS)**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/basic-powershell-for-pentesters) ## **8 -** [**Exfiltration**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/exfiltration) 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**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/exfiltration)**.** ## **9- Privilege Escalation** ### **9.1- 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**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/linux-unix/privilege-escalation) **and in** [**Windows**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/windows-local-privilege-escalation)**.**\ You should also check this pages about how does **Windows work**: * [**Authentication, Credentials, Token privileges and UAC**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/authentication-credentials-uac-and-efs) * How does [**NTLM works**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/ntlm) * How to [**steal credentials**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/stealing-credentials) in Windows * Some tricks about [***Active Directory***](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/active-directory-methodology) **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) ### **9.2- Domain Privesc** Here you can find a [**methodology explaining the most common actions to enumerate, escalate privileges and persist on an Active Directory**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/active-directory-methodology). Even if this is just a subsection of a section, this process could be **extremely delicate** on a Pentesting/Red Team assignment. ## 10 - POST ### **10**.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://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/stealing-credentials). ### 10.2 - Persistence **Use 2 o 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**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/active-directory-methodology#persistence)**.** TODO: Complete persistence Post in Windows & Linux ## 11 - 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**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/tunneling-and-port-forwarding).\ You definitely should also check the post about [Active Directory pentesting Methodology](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/active-directory-methodology). There you will find cool tricks to move laterally, escalate privileges and dump credentials.\ Check also the page about [**NTLM**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/windows/ntlm), it could be very useful to pivot on Windows environments.. ## MORE ### [Android Applications](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/mobile-apps-pentesting/android-app-pentesting) ### **Exploiting** * [**Basic Linux Exploiting**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/exploiting/linux-exploiting-basic-esp) * [**Basic Windows Exploiting**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/exploiting/windows-exploiting-basic-guide-oscp-lvl) * [**Basic exploiting tools**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/exploiting/tools) ### [**Basic Python**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/misc/basic-python) ### **Crypto tricks** * [**ECB**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/crypto/electronic-code-book-ecb) * [**CBC-MAC**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/crypto/cipher-block-chaining-cbc-mac-priv) * [**Padding Oracle**](https://chinnidiwakar.gitbook.io/githubimport/crypto/padding-oracle-priv) ![](https://4153509160-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MaoGr_g3I50alM2whW0%2Fsync%2F4c4968b48f0ebf20a73e46cd07c9315dc629c00c.png?generation=1622227467459076\&alt=media) ​[**Buy me a coffee here**](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/carlospolop)