Checklist - Linux Privilege Escalation

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Best tool to look for Linux local privilege escalation vectors: LinPEAS​
​System Information​
Get OS information
Check the PATH, any writable folder?
Check env variables, any sensitive detail?
Search for kernel exploits using scripts (DirtyCow?)
Check if the sudo version is vulnerable​
​Dmesg signature verification failed error?
More system enum (date, system stats, cpu info, printers)
​Enumerate more defenses​
​Drives​
List mounted drives
Any unmounted drive?
Any creds in fstab?
​Installed Software​
Check for useful software installed
Check for vulnerable software installed
​Processes​
Is  any unknown software running?
Is any software with more privileges that it should have running?
Search for exploits for running processes (specially if running of versions)
Can you modify the binary of any running process?
Monitor processes and check if any interesting process is running frequently
Can you read some interesting process memory (where passwords could be saved)?
​Scheduled/Cron jobs?​
Is the PATH being modified by some cron and you can write in it?
Any wildcard in a cron job?
Some modifiable script is being executed or is inside modifiable folder?
Have you detected that some script could be being executed very frequently? (every 1, 2 or 5 minutes)
​Services​
Any writable .service file?
Any writable binary executed by a service?
Any writable folder in systemd PATH?
​Timers​
Any writable timer?
​Sockets​
Any writable .socket file?
Can you communicate with any socket?
HTTP sockets with interesting info?
​D-Bus​
Can you communicate with any D-Bus?
​Network​
Enumerate the network to know where you are
Open ports you couldn't access before getting a shell inside the machine?
Can you sniff traffic using tcpdump?
​Users​
Generic users/groups enumeration
Do you have a very big UID? Is the machine vulnerable?
Can you escalate privileges thanks to a group you belong to?
Clipboard data?
Password Policy?
Try to use every known password that you have discovered previously to login with each possible user. Try to login also without password.
​Writable PATH​
If you have write privileges over some folder in PATH you may be able to escalate privileges
​SUDO and SUID commands​
Can you execute any comand with sudo? Can you use it to READ, WRITE or EXECUTE anything as root? (GTFOBins)
Is any exploitable suid binary? (GTFOBins)
Are sudo commands limited by path? can you bypass the restrictions?
​Sudo/SUID binary without path indicated?
​SUID binary specifying path? Bypass
​LD_PRELOAD vuln​
​Lack of .so library in SUID binary from a writable folder?
​SUDO tokens available? Can you create a SUDO token?
Can you read or modify sudoers files?
Can you modify /etc/ld.so.conf.d/?
​OpenBSD DOAS command
​Capabilities​
Has any binary any unexpected capability?
​ACLs​
Has any file any unexpected ACL?
​Open Shell sessions​
screen?
tmux?
​SSH​
Debian OpenSSL Predictable PRNG - CVE-2008-0166​
​SSH Interesting configuration values​
​Interesting Files​
Profile files - Read sensitive data? Write to privesc?
passwd/shadow files - Read sensitive data? Write to privesc?
Check commonly interesting folders for sensitive data
Weird Localtion/Owned files, you may have access or alter executable files
Modified in last mins
Sqlite DB files
Hidden files
Script/Binaries in PATH
Web files (passwords?)
Backups?
Known files that contains passwords: Use Linpeas and LaZagne
Generic search
​Writable Files​
Modify python library to execute arbitrary commands?
Can you modify log files? Logtotten exploit
Can you modify /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/? Centos/Redhat exploit
Can you write in ini, int.d, systemd or rc.d files?
​Other tricks​
Can you abuse NFS to escalate privileges?
Do you need to escape from a restrictive shell?
If you want to know about my latest modifications/additions or you have any suggestion for HackTricks or PEASS, join the 💬 PEASS & HackTricks telegram group here, or follow me on Twitter 🐦​@carlospolopm.
If you want to share some tricks with the community you can also submit pull requests to https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks that will be reflected in this book.
Don't forget to give ⭐ on the github to motivate me to continue developing this book.
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Next - Linux/Unix

Linux Privilege Escalation

Last modified 7mo ago

Best tool to look for Linux local privilege escalation vectors: LinPEAS​

​System Information​

​Drives​

​Installed Software​

​Processes​

​Scheduled/Cron jobs?​

​Services​

​Timers​

​Sockets​

​D-Bus​

​Network​

​Users​

​Writable PATH​

​SUDO and SUID commands​

​Capabilities​

​ACLs​

​Open Shell sessions​

​SSH​

​Interesting Files​

​Writable Files​

​Other tricks​

Best tool to look for Linux local privilege escalation vectors: LinPEAS

System Information

Drives

Installed Software

Processes

Scheduled/Cron jobs?

Services

Timers

Sockets

D-Bus

Network

Users

Writable PATH

SUDO and SUID commands

Capabilities

ACLs

Open Shell sessions

SSH

Interesting Files

Writable Files

Other tricks