Hey there, folks! It’s been a while since we last connected! Are you finding yourself a bit puzzled by black box pen testing? Don’t worry, you’ve landed in the perfect spot! Today, we’re taking a deep dive into the black box assessments.
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a newbie just beginning your pen-testing journey, we all encounter those nerve-wracking interview questions about black box tests and hurdles when trying to kick-start our career in pen-testing. So, get ready to unravel the art of black box assessments in no time!
Let’s get started.
What Is a Black Box Penetration Test?
A black box penetration test, or black box pentest, is an assessment where the penetration tester has no prior knowledge of the target system. The goal is to simulate an external hacker who has no access to internal data or source code.
How Does a Black Box Pentest Work?
A black box pentest follows these main steps:
- Reconnaissance: The tester gathers public information about the target to identify potential vulnerabilities. This could include examining the company website, social media profiles, job postings, and more.
- Scanning: The tester runs vulnerability scanners to detect weaknesses in the target system. Port scanners check for open ports, web scanners check for flaws in web applications, and network mappers create a map of the network.
- Gaining Access: The tester attempts to gain entry to the target system by exploiting any vulnerabilities found. This could be accessing an administrative interface, infiltrating a network, or hacking a web application.
- Privilege Escalation: If access is gained, the tester tries to gain higher levels of access that would normally be restricted. This could mean accessing sensitive data, taking control of key systems, or becoming a domain administrator.
- Reporting: The tester documents all findings, including vulnerabilities found and levels of access gained. Recommendations are provided to help remediate any issues and strengthen security.
A black box pentest provides an objective assessment of how well your systems and applications would hold up against a real-world cyber-attack. By identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, you can improve your security posture and safeguard your critical assets.
How to Prepare for Your First Black Box Pentest
To prepare for your first black box penetration test, follow these steps:
Research the client and their infrastructure. Review any information the client provides about their systems and networks to gain more context. The more you know about the target environment ahead of time, the more focused and effective your pentest will be.
Determine your testing methodology. Decide which vulnerability scanning tools, password crackers, and exploitation frameworks you will use based on the client’s infrastructure and scope of work. Prepare by updating all your tools and scripts to the latest versions.
Define a testing plan and schedule. Outline the systems, networks, applications, and devices you intend to target. Determine a high-level schedule for your testing activities, including timeframes for reconnaissance, scanning, exploitation, and reporting.
Prepare necessary equipment. Make sure you have a properly configured laptop, networking equipments, and any connectors or cables needed to physically access systems.
With the proper preparation, you will conduct an effective black box penetration test that yields valuable insights into security risks and vulnerabilities in the client’s environment. Thorough planning and methodology set the foundation for a successful pentest engagement. Be ready to adjust your approach based on findings and challenges encountered once testing begins.
Reconnaissance: Gathering Information About the Target
Reconnaissance is the first step in any black box pentest engagement. As a penetration tester, you need to gather as much information as possible about the target system before attempting to compromise it.
- Identify systems, software, 3rd party libraries, frameworks and network infrastructure. Use browser Add-ons like: Wappalyzer, BuiltWith, WhatRuns, URLscan.io or Vulners to detect the technologies and search for publicly available exploits or vulnerabilities.
If there’s any vulnerabilities reported, you can try to exploit them to better understand their impact. However, if exploiting is not possible, report the issues as either a “Vulnerable Dependency/Framework/Library” or an “Out of date version used” depending on the severity of the potential impact.
To assist you in this process, you can rely on synk.io, a valuable resource for obtaining all the relevant information about the specific framework. Not only does it help you identify vulnerabilities, but it also provides insights into the latest non-vulnerable framework versions upon release. Having this knowledge will make it easier to tailor your recommendations for addressing these concerns effectively.
In order to ensure accurate results, it’s essential to manually gather all the JavaScript and CSS files from the page source. However, it’s worth mentioning that false positives might arise with these extensions on rare occasions. Therefore, it’s crucial to carefully look up the versions which will help maintain the integrity of your findings and ensure the best outcomes for your project.
2. If you’re working on a public application that’s already live, then check for sensitive documents, logs and endpoints using “Google dorks”. Here’s how you can do it:
inurl:target not for distribution | confidential | “employee only” | proprietary | top secret | classified | trade secret | internal | private filetype:pdf
inurl:target not for distribution | confidential | “employee only” | internal | private | WS_FTP | ws_ftp | log | LOG filetype:log
Remember, you need to replace the target with your target name and tweak the keywords or add more variations to your Google dorks to make the search even more comprehensive.
3. If you’re working on a live public application and it includes additional subdomains within its scope, then check if any of the public-facing systems are indexed on search engines like Shodan. By using specific search queries, you can uncover open ports and services associated with the main domain, directory listing and other CVE related vulnerabilities. This might lead you to discover some ports/endpoints that don’t require any authentication, potentially leaving sensitive information exposed.
4. Another valuable technique is to examine the certificates of your target using a tool like Censys. By doing so, you can identify all the hosts using that certificate and find out the origin IP. This information can be incredibly helpful when exploring the target, especially as it might allow you to bypass the Web Application Firewall (WAF).
Keep in mind, you need an account to perform the specified search results, but the great news is that both Shodan and Censys offer free account options with certain limitations. Despite these limitations, you can still perform essential checks and gather valuable insights.
Scanning: Unlocking the Secrets
When diving into the world of black box pentesting, scanning takes center stage as the crucial second step. As a skilled penetration tester, your mission is clear: explore the target system to its core before even thinking about making your move.
1. You can easily check for open ports and access them by running a port scan using tools like Nmap or Naabu (preferably the fast option). When conducting such scans, you’ll often find various open ports that can be quite interesting.
For example, you might come across Dashboards, Login Interfaces, and Sensitive Configuration Panels that have no authentication or still use default passwords, making them potentially vulnerable entry points for unauthorized access.
To perform a port scan using Naabu, you can use the following command:
naabu -stats -c 200 -host target -port 80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90,280,300,443,591,593,832,981,1010,1025,1099,1311,1883,2082,2095,2096,2480,2809,2875,2888,2889,3000,3128,3333,4243,4567,4711,4712,4993,5000,5001,5002,5003,5050,5104,5108,5280,5281,5601,5800,6543,7000,7001,7396,7474,8000,8001,8002,8003,8004,8005,8008,8014,8042,8060,8069,8080,8081,8082,8083,8084,8085,8086,8087,8088,8089,8090,8091,8095,8118,8123,8172,8181,8222,8243,8280,8281,8333,8337,8443,8500,8834,8880,8881,8882,8883,8884,8885,8886,8887,8888,8889,8890,8891,8892,8893,8894,8895,8896,8897,8898,8899,8983,9000,9001,9002,9003,9004,9005,9006,9043,9060,9080,9081,9082,9083,9084,9085,9086,9087,9088,9089,9090,9091,9092,9093,9094,9095,9096,9097,9098,9099,9200,9443,9502,9800,9981,10000,10243,10250,11371,12443,15672,16080,17778,18091,18092,18093,18094,20720,32000,32400,55440,55672 -o naabu_scan.txtDuring the scan, you might encounter some major ports worth noting, such as:
- Port 2082: cPanel default web interface port
- Port 8091: Couchbase web console port
- Port 9060: WebSphere Application Server Administration Console port
- Port 9200: Elasticsearch web interface port
These are just a few examples of the ports you might encounter while scanning for open ones.
And there you have it — the conclusion of this blog post! But hold on, the adventure doesn’t end here. We’ve got two more thrilling parts coming your way, as we continue to explore the fascinating world of vulnerabilities. In the upcoming posts, we’ll cover techniques like Authentication bypass, SSL Checks, HTTP Methods Override, and other low-hanging fruits.
But that’s not all — we’ll also be delving into the attack surfaces of internal and Intranet applications, unearthing even more exciting insights. So, be sure to keep an eye out for the next installments.
Until then, happy hacking! 😄🔒
