Post

HackTheBox TombWatcher Writeup

A walkthrough of the HackTheBox 'TombWatcher' machine which is easy rated windows box. This write-up covers initial access, privilege escalation, and post-exploitation techniques.

As is common in real life Windows pentests, you will start the TombWatcher box with credentials for the following account: henry / H3nry_987TGV!

RECONNAISSANCE

Nmap

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┌──(dollarboysushil㉿kali)-[~/Documents/HTB_BOXES/tombwatcher]
└─$ nmap -sC -sV 10.129.83.195
Starting Nmap 7.95 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2025-06-08 11:12 EDT
Stats: 0:01:07 elapsed; 0 hosts completed (1 up), 1 undergoing Script Scan
NSE Timing: About 97.91% done; ETC: 11:13 (0:00:00 remaining)
Stats: 0:01:25 elapsed; 0 hosts completed (1 up), 1 undergoing Script Scan
NSE Timing: About 99.94% done; ETC: 11:13 (0:00:00 remaining)
Nmap scan report for 10.129.83.195
Host is up (0.26s latency).
Not shown: 987 filtered tcp ports (no-response)
PORT     STATE SERVICE       VERSION
53/tcp   open  domain        Simple DNS Plus
80/tcp   open  http          Microsoft IIS httpd 10.0
|_http-server-header: Microsoft-IIS/10.0
|_http-title: IIS Windows Server
| http-methods:
|_  Potentially risky methods: TRACE
88/tcp   open  kerberos-sec  Microsoft Windows Kerberos (server time: 2025-06-08 19:14:38Z)
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: tombwatcher.htb0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name)
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=DC01.tombwatcher.htb
| Subject Alternative Name: othername: 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.25.1:<unsupported>, DNS:DC01.tombwatcher.htb
| Not valid before: 2024-11-16T00:47:59
|_Not valid after:  2025-11-16T00:47:59
|_ssl-date: 2025-06-08T19:16:04+00:00; +4h01m48s from scanner 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: tombwatcher.htb0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name)
|_ssl-date: 2025-06-08T19:16:03+00:00; +4h01m48s from scanner time.
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=DC01.tombwatcher.htb
| Subject Alternative Name: othername: 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.25.1:<unsupported>, DNS:DC01.tombwatcher.htb
| Not valid before: 2024-11-16T00:47:59
|_Not valid after:  2025-11-16T00:47:59
3268/tcp open  ldap          Microsoft Windows Active Directory LDAP (Domain: tombwatcher.htb0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name)
|_ssl-date: 2025-06-08T19:16:04+00:00; +4h01m48s from scanner time.
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=DC01.tombwatcher.htb
| Subject Alternative Name: othername: 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.25.1:<unsupported>, DNS:DC01.tombwatcher.htb
| Not valid before: 2024-11-16T00:47:59
|_Not valid after:  2025-11-16T00:47:59
3269/tcp open  ssl/ldap      Microsoft Windows Active Directory LDAP (Domain: tombwatcher.htb0., Site: Default-First-Site-Name)
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=DC01.tombwatcher.htb
| Subject Alternative Name: othername: 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.25.1:<unsupported>, DNS:DC01.tombwatcher.htb
| Not valid before: 2024-11-16T00:47:59
|_Not valid after:  2025-11-16T00:47:59
|_ssl-date: 2025-06-08T19:16:03+00:00; +4h01m48s from scanner time.
5985/tcp open  http          Microsoft HTTPAPI httpd 2.0 (SSDP/UPnP)
|_http-server-header: Microsoft-HTTPAPI/2.0
|_http-title: Not Found
Service Info: Host: DC01; OS: Windows; CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows

Host script results:
| smb2-security-mode:
|   3:1:1:
|_    Message signing enabled and required
|_clock-skew: mean: 4h01m47s, deviation: 0s, median: 4h01m47s
| smb2-time:
|   date: 2025-06-08T19:15:22
|_  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 109.62 seconds

⚠️ Notice: This challenge is currently active on HackTheBox. In accordance with HackTheBox's content policy, this writeup will be made publicly available only after the challenge is retired. For additional hints and to connect with the community, feel free to join the Dollar T.V Discord server.

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