The Ether: EvilScience (v1.0.1) - Walkthrough

Objective

Remotely attack the VM and find all 4 flags eventually leading you to full root access.

Source: [VulnHub.com]

Status: [Completed]

Appendix A: Vulnerability Detail and Mitigation

Weak passwords

Rating	High
Description	The password for WordPress admin account is the same as username (admin:admin)
Impact	These types of passwords are very easy to guess
Remediation	Enforce stronger password policies. A strong password should be at least 8 characters, should not contain any personal information, including user id, it should not contain any words spelled correctly and it should contain numbers, letters, and special characters.

Password Reuse

Rating	High
Description	User 'unclestinky" was found to reuse the same password between mysql and system logins.
Impact	Password reuse is a practice which should be highly discouraged and prevented to the extent possible as it potentially allows an increase in attack surface. In this case, the impact is amplified by the fact that an attacker who was able to extract user credentials from mysql database would be able to reuse said credentials to gain access to user's system account.
Remediation	Policies need to be put in place to enforce the use of unique passwords. The use of password managers should be encouraged to aid users in utilizing unique passwords across various systems.

Patch Management

Rating	High
Description	Website contains a number of plug-ins with known vulnerabilities.
Impact	A combination of unpatched components and weak authentication allows an attacker to upload arbitrary scripts and files to the system which can be then loaded via the website allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary commands to escalate access, exfil data, or otherwise damage the system.
Remediation	All assets should be kept current with latest patches and updates. This can be achieved with native tools (e.g. built-in auto-update functionality) or third party applications.

Access Escalation

Rating	High
Description	'sudo' is improperly configured for 'mrderp' account
Impact	An attacker who manages to compromise this account will be able to execute arbitrary commands with 'root' access.
Remediation	Do not allow executing commands as 'root' which are located in user home directory or any location where these can be modified by a non-root user.

Default Install Locations

Rating	Low
Description	PHPMyAdmin was discovered at the default install path
Impact	Using default path/locations makes it easier for attackers to locate components
Remediation	Use non-standard naming convention where possible.

If you have any questions feel free to hit me up on twitter @blaksec