Hack The Box Series – FTP Exploration

Easy E

Easy E

— 1 min read
Hack The Box Series – FTP Exploration
Image courtesy of Hack The Box. Machine: Fawn!

Continuing my Hack The Box series, I’m starting to feel more comfortable navigating Linux through the command line and interacting with target machines. Each lab forces me to rely more on my command-line knowledge, which is exactly the kind of hands-on practice I was looking for when I made the switch from TryHackMe.

In this lab, I connected to the target machine using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to investigate the system and search for files that might contain useful information. Before I could begin, I realized the FTP command wasn’t installed in my environment, so I installed it using:

sudo apt install ftp

Once the installation was complete, I connected to the target system using:

ftp <IP Address>

After establishing the connection, I logged in using the anonymous username with a blank password. From there, I started exploring the available files on the server. Using the ls command, I found a file named flag.txt, which immediately caught my attention.

To retrieve the file, I used the command:

get flag.txt

Once the file was downloaded locally, I exited the FTP session using the bye command. Finally, I opened the file with:

cat flag.txt

Inside was the flag, confirming that I had successfully completed the machine.

This exercise helped reinforce a few key things for me:

  • Becoming comfortable using Linux commands
  • Understanding how FTP can be used to enumerate and retrieve files from a system
  • Recognizing that sometimes the simplest services can reveal useful information if configured insecurely

It’s been interesting seeing how each machine introduces a slightly different concept while still reinforcing the basics. Slowly but surely, the command line is starting to feel more natural.

🔗 HTB Achievement:
https://labs.hackthebox.com/achievement/machine/3214417/393

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