In order to attack academy targets and practice the knowledge acquired in the section you will need to connect to our VPN network, you can do this using the Pwnbox, or using the VPN file on your own Virtual Machine.
My Workstation / Pwnbox
Pwnbox is fully equipped with the tools of the trade and can be used to attack target systems or just to practice with Linux! It's automatically connected to our network, so there's no need to worry about connecting to a VPN when using it.
Spawning Pwnbox
You can access Pwnbox directly within the Section content itself. Scrolling down, you can choose the VPN server and location where you want to spawn Pwnbox, choose the closest location to you with the least amount of ms, and press Start Instance.
After spawning an instance you can open it in full screen in a new browser tab, terminate, reset, and add more time to it.
If you are a free user who has never made a purchase on Academy, you cannot spawn Pwnbox again once you've terminated it until the next day. If you are having trouble with your instance, reset it instead.
VPN File
Downloading and Connecting to a VPN File
If you wish to use your own Virtual Machine to practice and attack Academy targets you just need to download the VPN file and connect to it, choose one of the recommended servers.
Unless you need to switch servers, you only need one VPN file for all sections and modules, you don't have to download a VPN file for every section.
Save the file on your VM of choice and connect to it using the following command:
sudo openvpn academy-regular.ovpn
If you have already running VPN files, use sudo killall openvpn to kill them.
Once you see Initialization Sequence Completed you are ready to go, do not close the terminal tab as this will kill your connection, open a new tab and start working from it.
VPN Connection Troubleshooting
If you encounter any VPN issues, here are some steps to help you troubleshoot them.
Switching VPN Servers
Changing VPN server for the VPN File
Switching VPN servers is done from the VPN Servers dropdown, choose one of the recommended VPN servers that has Medium or low Load and download the new VPN file.
Changing the VPN server for Pwnbox
To change the VPN server for the Pwnbox you need to change the VPN server from the dropdown for VPN Servers, you can also do it from the VPN page
All VM instances associated with the old VPN Server will be terminated when switching to a new VPN server. The existing Pwnbox instance will automatically switch to the new VPN server.
Switching to TCP
If you're experiencing connectivity issues with your VPN, switching from UDP to TCP might help improve stability and performance, especially if your network is prone to interruptions.
Switching to TCP on the VPN File:
This is done by changing the Protocol to
TCP 443and downloading a new VPN file
Switching to TCP on the Pwnbox:
Open a terminal on your Pwnbox and run the following command
sudo sed -i 's/udp/tcp/g; s/1337/443/g; s/tls-auth/tls-crypt/g' /etc/openvpn/*.conf; sudo systemctl restart openvpnCheck the VPN logs by running
cat /var/log/openvpn/htb.log, you should see this at the end indicating success
Using Resource effective RDP commands
Students are encouraged to experiment with various xfreerdp options to enhance their RDP session performance. Here's an example command that optimizes for different settings:
xfreerdp /u:username /p:password /v:TargetIP /cert-ignore /bpp:8 /network:modem /compression -themes -wallpaper /clipboard /audio-mode:1 /auto-reconnect -glyph-cache /dynamic-resolution
You can use either the Pwnbox or the VPN file, NOT BOTH.