Sws101_ctf8

Topic : Hydra

Overview

The goal is to retrieve two flags by effectively leveraging Hydra’s capabilities to automate the password-guessing process.

Hydra Overview

Hydra is a versatile and efficient network login cracker. It can perform brute-force attacks against a variety of protocols, such as SSH, FTP, HTTP(S) forms, and more. Hydra automates the process of attempting multiple username and password combinations to gain unauthorized access to systems.

Brute-Forcing Web Form Password

When brute-forcing a web form password, Hydra is configured to send numerous POST requests with different credentials until the correct combination is identified. Key components of the command include:

• The target URL of the login form.
• Parameters for the username and password fields.
• A string indicating a failed login attempt.

Brute-Forcing SSH Password

For SSH brute-forcing, Hydra attempts different username and password combinations over the SSH protocol. Important command elements include:

• The target IP address.
• The username to be tested.
• A wordlist containing potential passwords.
• The number of parallel threads to speed up the process.

Steps and Execution

Step 1: Brute-Force Web Form Password

1. Identify Target: The web login page is located at /login on the target IP address.
2. Command Construction:

    hydra -l molly -P rockyou.txt 10.10.123.73 http-post-form "/login:username=^USER^&password=^PASS^:F=incorrect" -V
   

3. Run Hydra: Execute the command and monitor the output for successful login credentials.
4. Retrieve Flag 1: Log in to the web application using the discovered password and capture the flag.

Step 2: Brute-Force SSH Password

1. Re-use Username: The username molly is assumed to be the same for SSH.
2. Command Construction:

    hydra -l molly -P rockyou.txt 10.10.123.73 -t 4 ssh -V
   

3. Run Hydra: Execute the command and observe the output for successful SSH login credentials.
4. Retrieve Flag 2: SSH into the target machine using the discovered password and capture the flag.

Summary

Through the use of Hydra, I successfully brute-forced Molly’s web and SSH passwords, demonstrating the tool’s efficiency in automated password cracking. This exercise emphasized the importance of strong, unique passwords to protect against such attacks.