Mr Robot 1

About this target

Mr Robot 1 is one of the most played VulnHub boxes because it teaches web enumeration without any exotic tricks. It runs a single public web app that leaks more than it should, and the whole box hides three keys. You find the first by reading a file everyone forgets to check, the second after you turn recon into a shell and pivot users, and the third when you escalate to root.

Your two objectives here: land a shell and read the second key (user), then escalate to root and read the third key (root). The first key is a warm-up you will pass on the way.

The loop

1. Find the target on your network.
2. Enumerate the web app, starting with robots.txt, and identify the CMS.
3. Enumerate a valid user, brute force the login, and turn it into a shell (user).
4. Pivot to the second user, then escalate to root through a SUID binary (root).

Work it yourself first. The hints are here when you are genuinely stuck, and each one costs points, so earn them.