Boot2Root

Overview

Boot2Root is a Capture The Flag (CTF) project done in a team of 3. The concept: we're given a vulnerable virtual machine, and our only goal is to become root through at least two different paths. No help, no hint, not even an IP — we're dropped in the wild.

The approach

Step 1 — Reconnaissance

It all starts with good old reconnaissance. An nmap scan to see which ports are open, followed by enumeration of the services running on them. It's a bit like walking around a castle to spot the poorly closed windows and the crumbling walls. Patience is the mother of every find.

Step 2 — The first foothold

Once an entry point is identified (often a vulnerability on an exposed service), the goal is to get a first shell on the machine. That's the moment you go from mere onlooker to intruder. The famous "I'm in."

Step 3 — The long, painful escalation

This is where the real challenge began. The project confronted me with a particularly tricky privilege-escalation path that made me sweat.

Between a folder with diabolically booby-trapped permissions that looked like a false lead (but wasn't!) and a series of manoeuvres to climb the ladder, persistence was the only option. Every new piece of information was a win, every failure a lesson. It was long and frustrating, but the feeling of assembling the puzzle piece by piece is incredibly rewarding.

What I learned

Beyond the technical skills (enumeration, exploitation, privilege escalation), Boot2Root above all taught me methodology and patience. You learn to be rigorous, to leave no stone unturned, and above all never to give up on a problem that seems unsolvable.

And let's be honest, nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing the # prompt appear after hours of hard work.