HackTheBox DarkZero Writeup
A walkthrough of the HackTheBox 'DarkZero' machine. This write-up covers initial access, privilege escalation, and post-exploitation techniques.
As is common in real life Windows pentests, you will start the Fluffy box with credentials for the following account:
john.w / RFulUtONCOL!
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┌──(dollarboysushil㉿kali)-[~/Documents/HTB_BOXES/Darkzero]
└─$ nmap -sC -sV 10.129.25.35
Starting Nmap 7.95 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2025-10-04 15:21 EDT
Stats: 0:00:00 elapsed; 0 hosts completed (0 up), 1 undergoing Ping Scan
Parallel DNS resolution of 1 host. Timing: About 0.00% done
Stats: 0:00:34 elapsed; 0 hosts completed (1 up), 1 undergoing SYN Stealth Scan
SYN Stealth Scan Timing: About 66.20% done; ETC: 15:22 (0:00:17 remaining)
Stats: 0:01:34 elapsed; 0 hosts completed (1 up), 1 undergoing Service Scan
Service scan Timing: About 92.86% done; ETC: 15:23 (0:00:04 remaining)
Nmap scan report for 10.129.25.35
Host is up (0.28s latency).
Not shown: 986 filtered tcp ports (no-response)
PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION
53/tcp open domain Simple DNS Plus
88/tcp open kerberos-sec Microsoft Windows Kerberos (server time: 2025-10-05 02:22:24Z)
135/tcp open msrpc Microsoft Windows RPC
139/tcp open netbios-ssn Microsoft Windows netbios-ssn
389/tcp open ldap Microsoft Windows Active Directory LDAP (Domain: darkzero.htb0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name)
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=DC01.darkzero.htb
| Subject Alternative Name: othername: 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.25.1:<unsupported>, DNS:DC01.darkzero.htb
| Not valid before: 2025-07-29T11:40:00
|_Not valid after: 2026-07-29T11:40:00
|_ssl-date: TLS randomness does not represent time
445/tcp open microsoft-ds?
464/tcp open kpasswd5?
593/tcp open ncacn_http Microsoft Windows RPC over HTTP 1.0
636/tcp open ssl/ldap Microsoft Windows Active Directory LDAP (Domain: darkzero.htb0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name)
|_ssl-date: TLS randomness does not represent time
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=DC01.darkzero.htb
| Subject Alternative Name: othername: 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.25.1:<unsupported>, DNS:DC01.darkzero.htb
| Not valid before: 2025-07-29T11:40:00
|_Not valid after: 2026-07-29T11:40:00
1433/tcp open ms-sql-s Microsoft SQL Server 2022 16.00.1000.00; RTM
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=SSL_Self_Signed_Fallback
| Not valid before: 2025-10-05T02:06:01
|_Not valid after: 2055-10-05T02:06:01
| ms-sql-ntlm-info:
| 10.129.25.35:1433:
| Target_Name: darkzero
| NetBIOS_Domain_Name: darkzero
| NetBIOS_Computer_Name: DC01
| DNS_Domain_Name: darkzero.htb
| DNS_Computer_Name: DC01.darkzero.htb
| DNS_Tree_Name: darkzero.htb
|_ Product_Version: 10.0.26100
| ms-sql-info:
| 10.129.25.35:1433:
| Version:
| name: Microsoft SQL Server 2022 RTM
| number: 16.00.1000.00
| Product: Microsoft SQL Server 2022
| Service pack level: RTM
| Post-SP patches applied: false
|_ TCP port: 1433
|_ssl-date: 2025-10-05T02:23:50+00:00; +7h00m01s from scanner time.
2179/tcp open vmrdp?
3268/tcp open ldap Microsoft Windows Active Directory LDAP (Domain: darkzero.htb0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name)
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=DC01.darkzero.htb
| Subject Alternative Name: othername: 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.25.1:<unsupported>, DNS:DC01.darkzero.htb
| Not valid before: 2025-07-29T11:40:00
|_Not valid after: 2026-07-29T11:40:00
|_ssl-date: TLS randomness does not represent time
3269/tcp open ssl/ldap Microsoft Windows Active Directory LDAP (Domain: darkzero.htb0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name)
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=DC01.darkzero.htb
| Subject Alternative Name: othername: 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.25.1:<unsupported>, DNS:DC01.darkzero.htb
| Not valid before: 2025-07-29T11:40:00
|_Not valid after: 2026-07-29T11:40:00
|_ssl-date: TLS randomness does not represent time
5985/tcp open http Microsoft HTTPAPI httpd 2.0 (SSDP/UPnP)
|_http-title: Not Found
|_http-server-header: Microsoft-HTTPAPI/2.0
Service Info: Host: DC01; OS: Windows; CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows
Host script results:
|_clock-skew: mean: 7h00m00s, deviation: 0s, median: 7h00m00s
| smb2-security-mode:
| 3:1:1:
|_ Message signing enabled and required
| smb2-time:
| date: 2025-10-05T02:23:12
|_ start_date: N/A
Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 139.88 seconds
Secured
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