☀️ Solar — Teaser (inksec.io)

Platform: Hack The Box — Pro Labs
Tier: Mini Pro Lab
Difficulty: Intermediate–Hard
Status: ⏳ Active — full write-up locked until rotation/retirement
Thumbnail: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/inkedqt/ctf-writeups/main/assets/proofs/solar.png

Overview (No Spoilers)

Solar is a tight, focused Mini Pro Lab that rewards clean recon and disciplined chaining. Expect a modern web surface backed by BSD-flavored services, light but meaningful source review, and one or two pivots that hinge on awareness rather than wordlists. The escalations feel fair: understand the environment, test assumptions safely, and the path opens.

This page is a spoiler-free teaser only. The full walkthrough will publish automatically once the lab rotates/retires.

What You’ll Practice

• Structured enumeration across web, service, and host layers without guesswork
• BSD basics & service hygiene (configs, init/rc conventions, users/groups)
• Source/code reading to derive precise inputs instead of fuzzing blindly
• Out-of-band thinking (detecting side effects via collaborator-style checks)
• Small-to-big chaining: turning “minor” findings into meaningful access

Suggested Prep (General, Non-Spoiler)

• Refresh FreeBSD fundamentals: pkg, /etc/rc.conf, service scripts, jails/permissions
• Review common web hardening patterns and how to safely validate misconfigs
• Have a local enum checklist (users, groups, capabilities, scheduled jobs, unusual binaries)
• Be comfortable with Burp/ffuf/curl triage and OAST (e.g., Collaborator/interactsh) for OOB signals
• Practice converting hints from code/README/configs into exact, minimal PoCs

Light-Weight Toolkit

• nmap (service/scripts), curl/httpie, ffuf
• Burp Suite (Intruder/Repeater + Collaborator or interactsh)
• Grep/awk/jq for quick config & JSON triage
• A notes template for checklists so you don’t miss pivots

Publication Policy

Per HTB rules, no active-lab solutions are published.
This page will unlock the full write-up when Solar retires. Until then, feel free to bookmark:

Future full write-up:
https://github.com/inkedqt/ctf-writeups/tree/main/HTB/ProLabs/Solar

If the link 404s while the lab is active, that’s expected.

Proofs

• Completion pop-up:
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/inkedqt/ctf-writeups/main/assets/proofs/solar.png

• Certificate:
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/inkedqt/ctf-writeups/main/assets/certs/solar_cert.png

No spoilers, just vibes. See you on the other side. 🛰️