No SMB anonymous login. No null session on LDAP… yet. But Kerberos is a talkative protocol. You note the hostname: FOREST.htb.local . You add the domain to your /etc/hosts :
bloodhound-python -d htb.local -u svc-alfresco -p s3rvice -ns 10.10.10.161 -c All You import the JSON into BloodHound. The graph shows a clear path: svc-alfresco is a member of group, which has GenericAll over a user called sebastian . And sebastian is a member of Domain Admins . Phase 5: The Abusable Trust GenericAll on a user means you can reset their password without knowing the old one. You use net rpc or smbpasswd (with the right tools). Impacket to the rescue: forest hackthebox walkthrough
evil-winrm -i 10.10.10.161 -u sebastian -p 'P@ssw0rd123!' And you’re in. A Windows PowerShell console on FOREST . The user flag is waiting in C:\Users\sebastian\Desktop\user.txt . From here, you need domain admin. sebastian isn’t one yet, but he has interesting group memberships. You run whoami /groups and see he is in Remote Management Users (so WinRM works) and Account Operators . No SMB anonymous login
ldapsearch -H ldap://10.10.10.161 -x -s base namingcontexts It works. The server hands you the root DSE: DC=htb,DC=local . Now you dig. You note the hostname: FOREST
evil-winrm -i 10.10.10.161 -u hacker -p 'Hacker123!' And you’re at C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\root.txt . The final flag. You log out, clear your hashes, and take a breath. The Forest machine wasn't about kernel exploits or buffer overflows. It was about patience—listening to LDAP, cracking a service account, climbing the group hierarchy, and resetting a single password to reach the crown.
john --wordlist=/usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt svc-alfresco.hash Seconds later—a crack. The password: s3rvice .