TryHackMe: Complete Beginner (Supplements)

author: Nathan Acks
date: 2021-11-27

Wireshark 101

ICMP Traffic

ICMP traffic “types” correspond to the kind of packet being sent (though different ICMP services can have multiple types):

0 - Ping reply
8 - Ping request

See RFC 792 for the gory details.

Ping packets typically just include either random data or all zeros.

RFC 792: Internet Control Message Protocol

TCP Traffic

The TCP “acknowledgment number” contains the next sequence number that the sender is expecting to receive (so basically senders determine the next sequence number). This is 0 in the case of RST packets (and other errors?).

See RFC 793 for more.

RFC 793: Transmission Control Protocol

DNS Traffic

Apparently DNS over TCP is sufficiently rare in the wild as to always warrant further investigation.

HTTP Traffic

HTTP does not use handshakes (beyond the standard initial TCP handshake); it’s all request/response (a bit like ICMP that way).

Wireshark can actually save off webpages and other files transmitted over HTTP using File > Export Objects > HTTP. Neat!

Also worth checking out some of the tools in the Statistics menu; TryHackMe specifically calls out Protocol Hierarchy and Endpoints, but I think I need to see some practical examples of these in action to really grasp their utility.

HTTPS Traffic

HTTPS traffic starts out with an SSL handshake. All application data after the handshake is completed will be encrypted, but if you happen to have the server’s private key then Wireshark can display the decrypted contents.

Import the key under Edit > Preferences > Protocols > TLS > RSA keys list.
Make sure to fill in the (server) IP address, port, and protocol (there’s also a “password” field, if the key’s encrypted). Note that port and protocol a bit reversed from what you’d expect - for HTTPS, these values are start_tls and http, respectively.

Note that HTTPS is much more likely to break up data between packets than HTTP, so the ability to export files from the packet stream is much more useful here!

Analyzing Exploit PCAPs

DCERPC is Windows Server’s RPC connection protocol.

DRSUAPI is Windows’ implementation of the “Directory Replication Service” protocol, which is used to keep domain controllers in sync.

Wifi Hacking 101

The Basics: An Intro to WPA

Because I always get these confused:

SSID - The wireless network “display” name. BSSID - The MAC address of the access point currently being used. ESSID - A collection of BSSIDs representing a single network. More-or-less analogous to SSID (when used in the context of networks consisting of multiple access points).

From what I can tell, SSID and BSSID apply to single access points, while ESSID applies to an entire network of access points.

Aircrack-NG: Let’s Get Cracking

aircrack-ng -b $BSSID -w $WORLDLIST_FILE $CAP_FILE