About

Imported from mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills (skills/performing-privilege-escalation-on-linux/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills --skill performing-privilege-escalation-on-linux. Copyright stays with the author (Apache-2.0).

Performing Privilege Escalation on Linux

Name: performing-privilege-escalation-on-linux
Author: mukul975

Legal Notice: This skill is for authorized security testing and educational purposes only. Unauthorized use against systems you do not own or have written permission to test is illegal and may violate computer fraud laws.

Overview

Linux privilege escalation involves elevating from a low-privilege user account to root access on a compromised system. Red teams exploit misconfigurations, vulnerable services, kernel exploits, and weak permissions to achieve root. This skill covers both manual enumeration techniques and automated tools for identifying and exploiting privilege escalation vectors.

When to Use

When conducting security assessments that involve performing privilege escalation on linux
When following incident response procedures for related security events
When performing scheduled security testing or auditing activities
When validating security controls through hands-on testing

Prerequisites

Familiarity with red teaming concepts and tools
Access to a test or lab environment for safe execution
Python 3.8+ with required dependencies installed
Appropriate authorization for any testing activities

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

T1548.001 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism: Setuid and Setgid
T1548.003 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism: Sudo and Sudo Caching
T1068 - Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
T1574.006 - Hijack Execution Flow: Dynamic Linker Hijacking
T1053.003 - Scheduled Task/Job: Cron
T1543.002 - Create or Modify System Process: Systemd Service

Key Escalation Vectors

SUID/SGID Binaries

Find SUID binaries: find / -perm -4000 -type f 2>/dev/null
Check GTFOBins for exploitation methods
Custom SUID binaries may have vulnerabilities

Sudo Misconfigurations

sudo -l to list allowed commands
Wildcards in sudo rules allow injection
NOPASSWD entries for dangerous commands
sudo versions vulnerable to CVE-2021-3156 (Baron Samedit)

Kernel Exploits

Dirty Cow (CVE-2016-5195) for older kernels
Dirty Pipe (CVE-2022-0847) for kernel 5.8+
PwnKit (CVE-2021-4034) for pkexec
GameOver(lay) (CVE-2023-2640, CVE-2023-32629) for Ubuntu

Cron Job Abuse

World-writable cron scripts
PATH hijacking in cron jobs
Wildcard injection in cron commands

Capabilities

getcap -r / 2>/dev/null to find binaries with capabilities
cap_setuid allows UID manipulation
cap_dac_override bypasses file permissions

Writable Service Files

Systemd unit files with weak permissions
Init scripts writable by non-root users
Socket files in accessible locations

Tools and Resources

Tool	Purpose
LinPEAS	Automated privilege escalation enumeration
LinEnum	Linux enumeration script
linux-exploit-suggester	Kernel exploit matching
pspy	Process monitoring without root
GTFOBins	SUID/sudo binary exploitation reference
PEASS-ng	Privilege escalation awesome scripts suite

Validation Criteria

Enumeration performed using automated tools
Privilege escalation vector identified
Root access achieved through identified vector
Evidence documented (screenshots, command output)
Alternative escalation paths identified

Use it

Copy one of these into your project. Installing also returns the manifest and these snippets.

yaml

targets:
  - https://api.opensmartroute.ai/api/v1/registry/mukul975-anthropic-cybersecurity-skills-performing-privi-b1aecc/manifest   # or paste the manifest below

Manifest

An Open Capability Manifest: the router reads it to know what this does, what it costs and when to pick it.

mukul975-anthropic-cybersecurity-skills-performing-privi-b1aecc.ocm.jsonjson

{
  "ocm": "1",
  "id": "mukul975-anthropic-cybersecurity-skills-performing-privi-b1aecc",
  "kind": "skill",
  "name": "performing-privilege-escalation-on-linux",
  "description": "Guides manual enumeration and automated tooling to escalate from a low-privilege Linux user to root by exploiting misconfigurations, vulnerable services, kernel exploits, and weak permissions, mapped to MITRE ATT&CK. Use during authorized red team engagements or penetration tests once initial low-privilege access on a Linux host is obtained and root-level access is needed.",
  "publisher": "mukul975",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "capabilities": {
    "domains": [
      "coding"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "skill-md",
      "red-team",
      "adversary-simulation",
      "mitre-attack",
      "exploitation",
      "post-exploitation",
      "privilege-escalation",
      "linux",
      "skills-sh"
    ],
    "languages": [
      "en"
    ]
  },
  "quality_prior": 0.6,
  "examples": [
    "Guides manual enumeration and automated tooling to escalate from a low-privilege Linux user to root by exploiting misconfigurations, vulnerable services, kernel exploits, and weak permissions, mapped to MITRE ATT&CK. Use during authorized red team engagements or penetration tests once initial low-privilege access on a Linux host is obtained and root-level access is needed."
  ],
  "primary": false,
  "metadata": {
    "source": {
      "provider": "skills.sh",
      "repository": "https://github.com/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills",
      "path": "skills/performing-privilege-escalation-on-linux/SKILL.md",
      "ref": "HEAD",
      "url": "https://github.com/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/performing-privilege-escalation-on-linux/SKILL.md",
      "key": "mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/skills/performing-privilege-escalation-on-linux/SKILL.md"
    },
    "license": "Apache-2.0"
  },
  "instructions": "# Performing Privilege Escalation on Linux\n\n\n> **Legal Notice:** This skill is for authorized security testing and educational purposes only. Unauthorized use against systems you do not own or have written permission to test is illegal and may violate computer fraud laws.\n\n## Overview\n\nLinux privilege escalation involves elevating from a low-privilege user account to root access on a compromised system. Red teams exploit misconfigurations, vulnerable services, kernel exploits, and weak permissions to achieve root. This skill covers both manual enumeration techniques and automated tools for ide",
  "cost": {
    "context_tokens": 824
  }
}

Fetch it by URL: GET /api/v1/registry/mukul975-anthropic-cybersecurity-skills-performing-privi-b1aecc/manifest?version=1.0.0

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