root@kali:~$ ls ./writeups/machines

HTB Machine Write-ups

Complete, evidence-backed attack paths for retired Hack The Box machines.

12 published Retired content only RSS feed

Knowledge base

Retired machine archive

From initial enumeration to foothold, privilege escalation and final technical takeaways.

12 write-ups

Hack The Box

Hack The Box — Timelapse

Timelapse exposes a guest-readable SMB backup; cracking its ZIP and PFX enables certificate WinRM, while PowerShell history and LAPS lead to Administrator.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Easy
OS
Windows
active-directorysmbpassword-crackingpfxcertificate-authentication
Read write-up
Hack The Box

Hack The Box — Knife

Knife exposes a backdoored PHP 8.1.0-dev runtime through HTTP; a crafted header gives a james shell, and sudo access to Chef knife leads to root.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Easy
OS
Linux
phpsupply-chainremote-code-executionreverse-shellsudo
Read write-up
Hack The Box

Hack The Box — Remote

Remote exposes an NFS backup with Umbraco credentials; authenticated CMS RCE yields an IIS shell, and TeamViewer password reuse leads to SYSTEM.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Easy
OS
Windows
nfsumbracopassword-crackingauthenticated-rcepowershell
Read write-up
Hack The Box

Hack The Box — MetaTwo

MetaTwo chains BookingPress SQL injection, WordPress Media Library XXE, exposed FTP and SSH credentials, and Passpie key cracking to reach root.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Easy
OS
Linux
wordpressbookingpresssql-injectionpassword-crackingxxe
Read write-up
Hack The Box

Hack The Box — CrossFitTwo

CrossFitTwo chains WebSocket SQL injection, DNS rebinding, CSWSH, Node.js module hijacking and YubiKey OTP forgery to achieve full OpenBSD root access.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Insane
OS
Other
openbsdwebsocket-sqliarbitrary-file-readunbounddns-rebinding
Read write-up
Hack The Box

Hack The Box — Mailroom

A practical Mailroom walkthrough chaining stored XSS, internal SSRF, MongoDB injection, container command injection, and KeePass keystroke capture.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Hard
OS
Linux
stored-xssssrfnosql-injectionmongodbsource-code-review
Read write-up
Hack The Box

Hack The Box — Caption

Caption chains Git history, Varnish cache poisoning, XSS, H2C smuggling, copyparty traversal and Apache Thrift command injection for root access.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Hard
OS
Linux
web-cache-poisoningweb-cache-deceptionxssrequest-smugglingh2c
Read write-up
Hack The Box

Hack The Box — Validation

Validation turns a stored SQL injection into MySQL FILE abuse, a PHP web shell, a www-data foothold, and root through reused database credentials.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Easy
OS
Linux
web-securitysql-injectionmysqlinformation-schemafile-privilege
Read write-up
Hack The Box

Hack The Box — Soccer

A practical Hack The Box Soccer walkthrough covering Tiny File Manager RCE, blind WebSocket SQL injection, SSH access, and doas/dstat privilege escalation.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Easy
OS
Linux
web-enumerationdefault-credentialsfile-uploadremote-code-executionwebsocket
Read write-up
Hack The Box

Hack The Box — Ghost

A hands-on Ghost lab journal: LDAP injection, Gitea source review, Linux and Kerberos pivots, Golden SAML, linked MSSQL, in-memory privilege escalation and forest compromise.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Insane
OS
Windows
active-directoryldap-injectionpath-traversalcommand-injectionkerberos
Read write-up
Hack The Box

Hack The Box — NodeBlog

Hack The Box NodeBlog walkthrough: JSON NoSQL injection, XXE source disclosure, node-serialize RCE, an admin shell, and sudo privilege escalation.

Type
machine
Difficulty
Easy
OS
Linux
nodejsexpressnosql-injectionmongodbxxe
Read write-up