Description (Keynote)

This Cookbook was created with the main purpose of helping people understand local privilege escalation techniques on Windows environments. Moreover, it can be used for both attacking and defensive purposes.

ℹ️ This Cookbook focuses only on misconfiguration vulnerabilities on Windows workstations/servers/machines.

Evasion techniques to bypass security protections, endpoints, and antivirus are not included in this cookbook. I created this PowerShell script, TurnOffAV.ps1, which permanently disables Windows Defender. Run this with local Administrator privileges.

The main structure of this Cookbook includes the following sections:

  • Description (of the vulnerability)
  • Lab Setup
  • Enumeration
  • Exploitation
  • Mitigation
  • (Useful) References

I hope to find this CookBook useful and learn new stuff .

Useful Tools

In the following table, some popular and useful tools for Windows local privilege escalation are presented:

NameLanguageAuthorDescription
SharpUpC#@harmj0ySharpUp is a C# port of various PowerUp functionality
PowerUpPowerShell@harmj0yPowerUp aims to be a clearinghouse of common Windows privilege escalation
BeRootPythonAlessandroZBeRoot(s) is a post exploitation tool to check common Windows misconfigurations to find a way to escalate our privilege
PrivescPowerShellenjoizWindows PowerShell script that finds misconfiguration issues which can lead to privilege escalation
WinpeasC#@hacktricks_liveWindows local Privilege Escalation Awesome Script
PrivescCheckPowerShell@itm4nPrivilege Escalation Enumeration Script for Windows

Vulnerabilities

This Cookbook presents the following Windows vulnerabilities: