Do you use **Hacktricks every day**? Did you find the book **very****useful**? Would you like to **receive extra help** with cybersecurity questions? Would you like to **find more and higher quality content on Hacktricks**?
[**Support Hacktricks through github sponsors**](https://github.com/sponsors/carlospolop) **so we can dedicate more time to it and also get access to the Hacktricks private group where you will get the help you need and much more!**
{% endhint %}
If you want to know about my **latest modifications**/**additions** or you have **any suggestion for HackTricks** or **PEASS**, **join the** [**💬**](https://emojipedia.org/speech-balloon/)[**telegram group**](https://t.me/peass), or **follow** me on **Twitter** [**🐦**](https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks/tree/7af18b62b3bdc423e11444677a6a73d4043511e9/[https:/emojipedia.org/bird/README.md)[**@carlospolopm**](https://twitter.com/carlospolopm)**.**
If you want to **share some tricks with the community** you can also submit **pull requests** to [**https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks**](https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks) that will be reflected in this book and don't forget to **give ⭐** on **github** to **motivate****me** to continue developing this book.
Do you have **physical access** to the machine that you want to attack? You should read some [**tricks about physical attacks**](physical-attacks/physical-attacks.md) and others about ****[**escaping from GUI applications**](physical-attacks/escaping-from-gui-applications/).
## 1 - [Discovering hosts inside the network ](pentesting/pentesting-network/#discovering-hosts)/ [Discovering Assets of the company](external-recon-methodology/)
**Depending** if the **test** you are perform is an **internal or external test** you may be interested on finding **hosts inside the company network** \(internal test\) or **finding assets of the company on the internet** \(external test\).
Note that if you are performing an external test, once you manage to obtain access to the internal network of the company you should re-start this guide.
{% endhint %}
## **2-** [**Having Fun with the network**](pentesting/pentesting-network/) **\(Internal\)**
**This section only applies if you are performing an internal test.**
Before attacking a host maybe you prefer to **steal some credentials****from the network** or **sniff** some **data** to learn **passively/actively\(MitM\)** what can you find inside the network. You can read [**Pentesting Network**](pentesting/pentesting-network/#sniffing).
## 3- [Port Scan - Service discovery](pentesting/pentesting-network/#scanning-hosts)
The first thing to do when **looking for vulnerabilities in a host** is to know which **services are running** in which ports. Let's see the[ **basic tools to scan ports of hosts**](pentesting/pentesting-network/#scanning-hosts).
## **4-** [Searching service version exploits](search-exploits.md)
Once you know which services are running, and maybe their version, you have to **search for known vulnerabilities**. Maybe you get lucky and there is a exploit to give you a shell...
## **5-** Pentesting Services
If there isn't any fancy exploit for any running service, you should look for **common misconfigurations in each service running.**
**Inside this book you will find a guide to pentest the most common services** \(and others that aren't so common\)**. Please, search in the left index the** _**PENTESTING**_**section** \(the services are ordered by their default ports\).
**I want to make a special mention of the** [**Pentesting Web**](pentesting/pentesting-web/) **part \(as it is the most extensive one\).**
Also, a small guide on how to[ **find known vulnerabilities in software**](search-exploits.md) can be found here.
**If your service is not inside the index, search in Google** for other tutorials and **let me know if you want me to add it.** If you **can't find anything** in Google, perform your **own blind pentesting**, you could start by **connecting to the service, fuzzing it and reading the responses** \(if any\).
### 5.1 Automatic Tools
There are also several tools that can perform **automatic vulnerabilities assessments**. **I would recommend you to try** [**Legion**](https://github.com/carlospolop/legion)**, which is the tool that I have created and it's based on the notes about pentesting services that you can find in this book.**
### **5.2 Brute-Forcing services**
In some scenarios a **Brute-Force** could be useful to **compromise** a **service**. [**Find here a CheatSheet of different services brute forcing**](brute-force.md)**.**
If at this point you haven't found any interesting vulnerability you **may need to try some phishing** in order to get inside the network. You can read my phishing methodology here:
Somehow you should have found **some way to execute code** in the victim. Then, [a list of possible tools inside the system that you can use to get a reverse shell would be very useful](shells/shells/).
You will probably need to **extract some data from the victim** or even **introduce something** \(like privilege escalation scripts\). **Here you have a** [**post about common tools that you can use with these purposes**](exfiltration.md)**.**
## **9- Privilege Escalation**
### **9.1- Local Privesc**
If you are **not root/Administrator** inside the box, you should find a way to **escalate privileges.**
Here you can find a **guide to escalate privileges locally in** [**Linux**](linux-unix/privilege-escalation/) **and in** [**Windows**](windows/windows-local-privilege-escalation/)**.**
You should also check this pages about how does **Windows work**:
**Don't forget to checkout the best tools to enumerate Windows and Linux local Privilege Escalation paths:** [**Suite PEAS**](https://github.com/carlospolop/privilege-escalation-awesome-scripts-suite)
### **9.2- Domain Privesc**
Here you can find a [**methodology explaining the most common actions to enumerate, escalate privileges and persist on an Active Directory**](windows/active-directory-methodology/). Even if this is just a subsection of a section, this process could be **extremely delicate** on a Pentesting/Red Team assignment.
## 10 - POST
### **10**.1 - Looting
Check if you can find more **passwords** inside the host or if you have **access to other machines** with the **privileges** of your **user**.
Find here different ways to [**dump passwords in Windows**](windows/stealing-credentials/).
### 10.2 - Persistence
**Use 2 o 3 different types of persistence mechanism so you won't need to exploit the system again.
Here you can find some** [**persistence tricks on active directory**](windows/active-directory-methodology/#persistence)**.**
With the **gathered credentials** you could have access to other machines, or maybe you need to **discover and scan new hosts** \(start the Pentesting Methodology again\) inside new networks where your victim is connected.
In this case tunnelling could be necessary. Here you can find [**a post talking about tunnelling**](tunneling-and-port-forwarding.md).
You definitely should also check the post about [Active Directory pentesting Methodology](windows/active-directory-methodology/). There you will find cool tricks to move laterally, escalate privileges and dump credentials.
