Penetration Testing
A growing archive of my work in penetration testing — from lab environments to structured methodologies.
This is where I sharpen offensive skills to better understand real-world attack surfaces, privilege escalation, and exploitation logic.
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Breaking in before the VPN broke down - A Journey through Precious (HTB Writeup)
Posted on 9 mins
A full walkthrough of the Hack The Box machine “Precious” — from enumeration to exploitation, including a clever pdfkit command injection and Ruby YAML deserialization for root. With shell stabilisation and some VPN drama on the side.
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HTB Reset: From Log Poisoning to Root. Exploiting Tmux, Rexec and Misconfigured Sudo
Posted on 9 mins
A deep-dive into escalating from LFI to full root via log poisoning, named pipe reverse shell, misconfigured sudo permissions, and forgotten tmux sessions. Includes analysis of R-services (rexec, rlogin, rsh) and real-world command chaining.
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A Small Prep Session: PortSwigger Beginner Labs
Posted on 3 mins
A short and focused session working through some beginner-level labs from PortSwigger, revisiting the fundamentals of web vulnerabilities like XSS, SQLi, and authentication bypasses.
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Uni Exam Practice VM practice: more of LFI2RCE
Posted on 6 mins
In this university exam practice VM, I explored file upload handling, discovered a separate file inclusion point, and chained it with an uploaded webshell to gain remote command execution.
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Test Exam: Penetration Testing Playbook
Posted on 8 mins
My personal playbook for my penetration testing test exam, covering all key steps from access via port forwarding to grabbing ALL 8 flags.
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Interview Prep Series: Part Two – Technical Deep Dive & Groundwork
Posted on 20 mins
Digging into technical fundamentals and real interview questions to sharpen my baseline as a pentester. Inspired by Steflan Security’s interview cheat sheet & my 2nd Cirosec Interview
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Interview Prep Series: Part One – Core Concepts & Confidence
Posted on 11 mins
Kicking off my interview prep journey with key phases of pentests, handling tricky questions, and building confidence under pressure.
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[+] Final Part: Active Directory Journay Day Five: Building, Securing, and Managing a Domain
Posted on 10 mins
Day Five covers key AD admin tasks - user and group creation, GPO management, and domain joins—using PowerShell with a security-focused approach.![[+] Final Part: Active Directory Journay Day Five: Building, Securing, and Managing a Domain](/penetration-testing/active-directory-journay-day-five/ad_challenge_day_5_thumbnail_hu_a483c25cc0c01693.png)
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Active Directory Journey Day Four: Rights, Privileges, GPOs and a Whole Lot More
Posted on 20 mins
This post digs into Group Policy, Active Directory privileges, and built-in groups. I break down who has silent power, how attackers exploit User Rights, and what defenders can do to lock it down. Expect practical cheatsheets, tools, and battle-tested hardening tips.
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Active Directory Journey Day Three - All about Users & Groups
Posted on 13 mins
This post digs into Active Directory user accounts, local vs. domain context, and why SYSTEM access is a bigger deal than you think. You’ll learn where users live, how machines act like users, and how attackers use this to map, move, and mischief.