Privilege Escalation (September 2025)
A privilege escalation course teaches cybersecurity professionals and ethical hackers how attackers exploit vulnerabilities to elevate their access in Linux and Windows systems, covering both vertical (user-to-admin) and horizontal (peer-to-peer) privilege escalation methods. Learners gain practical skills for manually and …
A privilege escalation course teaches cybersecurity professionals and ethical hackers how attackers exploit vulnerabilities to elevate their access in Linux and Windows systems, covering both vertical (user-to-admin) and horizontal (peer-to-peer) privilege escalation methods. Learners gain practical skills for manually and automatically enumerating systems, identifying weak configurations, leveraging common exploits, and defending against these threats using real-world techniques and popular security tools.
Course Description
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The course covers the core concepts of privilege escalation, focusing on how attackers move from basic user accounts to privileged access.
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It explains vertical escalation (gaining admin rights) and horizontal escalation (accessing peer user accounts), with practical examples on both Linux and Windows platforms.
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Students learn hands-on manual enumeration techniques (e.g., inspecting user, service, and kernel details), automated vulnerability scanning with specialized tools, and methods to exploit system weaknesses.
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Topics include kernel exploits, misconfigurations, password mining, registry attacks, scheduled task abuse, and techniques for persistence, impersonation, and post-exploitation activities.
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The course also teaches defensive strategies, including system hardening, proper configuration, monitoring and detection, and deploying auditing tools to safeguard against escalation attacks.
This course gives learners comprehensive, hands-on knowledge of privilege escalation techniques and defenses, preparing them for security assessments, penetration testing, and real-world incident response scenarios.
Here is a structured outline for a course on Privilege Escalation covering both Linux and Windows environments, based on current security training standards and the details you provided.
Module 1: Introduction to Privilege Escalation
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Overview of privilege escalation and its impact on security.
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Types: vertical vs. horizontal privilege escalation.
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Real-world attack scenarios in penetration testing and ethical hacking.
Module 2: Manual Enumeration
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User and group enumeration.
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Operating system and kernel version discovery.
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Network, application, and service enumeration.
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Home directory analysis and file permissions review.
Module 3: Automated Enumeration & Vulnerability Scanning
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Usage of tools: LinPEAS, PowerUp, Sherlock, GTFOBins, Linux/Windows Exploit Suggester.
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Vulnerability scanning: Nmap, Nessus, OpenVAS.
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Identification of kernel/service vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
Module 4: Exploiting Linux Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilities
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Kernel and service exploits.
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SUID/SGID binaries and abusing the PATH variable.
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Password mining, cracking, and shell escape sequences.
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Exploiting misconfigured cron jobs and systemd timers.
Module 5: Exploiting Windows Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilities
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Windows kernel exploits and service misconfigurations.
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Registry and credential extraction, e.g., using Mimikatz.
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Exploiting scheduled tasks and startup applications.
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Impersonation, token theft, and pass-the-hash/ticket attacks.
Module 6: Advanced Techniques
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Linux NFS root squash bypass strategies.
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Windows NTLM/Kerberos and “potato” impersonation attacks.
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Living off the Land (using built-in OS tools) and stealthy persistence.
Module 7: Defensive Measures
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Hardening Linux: AppArmor, SELinux, secure sudo, auditing, and patch management.
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Hardening Windows: UAC, disabling vulnerable services, group policy enforcement, Defender, BitLocker.
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Monitoring and detection: SIEM solutions, audit trails, IDS/IPS deployment.
Module 8: Hands-On Labs & Assessment
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Real-world lab scenarios for both Linux and Windows privilege escalation.
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Practical skills assessment to validate knowledge and techniques.
- 2 Sections
- 29 Lessons
- 10 Weeks
- File Transfer5
- Linux Privilege Escalation24
- 2.1Linux Privilege Escalation1 Hour
- 2.2Linux System & Kernel Enumeration Commands1 Hour
- 2.3Network Interfaces and Configuration Enumeration1 Hour
- 2.4Linux Applications & Services Enumeration1 Hour
- 2.5pspy – unprivileged Linux process snooping1 Hour
- 2.6Password Mining1 Hour
- 2.7Configuration Files1 Hour
- 2.8Identifying Backup Files on Linux1 Hour
- 2.9Critical Linux System File Permissions1 Hour
- 2.10Finding Files and Directories with Special or Insecure Permissions1 Hour
- 2.11SUID Privilege Escalation1 Hour
- 2.12Custom SUID Exploit1 Hour
- 2.13Path Hijacking Path Abusing1 Hour
- 2.14Spawning Root Access via Sudo Privilege Escalation1 Hour
- 2.15Common Root Spawn Commands1 Hour
- 2.16Sudo Custom Binaries Scripts Privilege Escalation1 Hour
- 2.17LD_PRELOAD Privilege Escalation via Misconfigured sudo1 Hour
- 2.18Linux Capabilities1 Hour
- 2.19Cron Jobs & Systemd Timers in Linux1 Hour
- 2.20Cron (Wildcards) – Wildcard Injection (* Expansion)1 Hour
- 2.21Systemd and Systemd Timers1 Hour
- 2.22NFS Root Squashing1 Hour
- 2.23MySQL User-Defined Function (UDF) Exploitation1 Hour
- 2.24Linux Privilege Escalation Enumeration and Analysis Tools1 Hour
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