Privilege Escalation Methods

Privilege escalation is the process of gaining root or administrator access after obtaining an initial shell on Linux or Windows targets. It is needed during authorized red-team engagements or post-exploitation training to simulate privileged access.

Linux privilege escalation involves abusing sudo binaries, scheduled cron jobs, file capabilities, and NFS root squashing. You can identify exploitable binaries using GTFOBins and attempt root-owned service abuse, such as exploiting MySQL running as root.

Yes, Mimikatz and Rubeus are used for Windows and Active Directory privilege escalation. They facilitate techniques like token impersonation, Kerberoasting, AS-REP roasting, Golden Ticket generation, and Pass-the-Ticket attacks.

The best way to exploit SeBackupPrivilege and SeLoadDriverPrivilege is through targeted Windows service abuse and token impersonation. These techniques allow you to escalate privileges by leveraging misconfigured service permissions and specific access tokens.

Yes, you need initial shell access with proper authorization before attempting privilege escalation. This skill requires a controlled, authorized environment to guide ethical red-team engagements and post-exploitation training safely.

NFS root squashing fails to provide root access when the server properly remaps root requests to an unprivileged user. However, abusing misconfigured NFS exports where root squashing is disabled allows direct root-level file manipulation.