In the previous chapter, we exploited a target machine using the vulnerabilities found during the vulnerabilities mapping process. The goal of performing the exploitation is to get the highest privilege accounts available, such as administrator-level accounts in the Windows system or root-level accounts in the Unix system.
After you exploit a system, the next step you would want to take is to do a privilege escalation. Privilege escalation can be defined as the process of exploiting a vulnerability to gain elevated access to the system.
There are two types of privilege escalation, as follows:
Vertical privilege escalation: In this type, a user with lower privilege is able to access the application functions designed for the user with the highest privilege, for example, a content management system where a user is able to access the system administrator functions.
Horizontal privilege escalation: This happens when a normal user is able to access functions designed...