01 / LAB SETUP & RECONNAISSANCE
Penetration Testing Lab Environment
Built an isolated VirtualBox penetration-testing environment and verified attacker-to-target connectivity before beginning application testing.
Lab environment
Ubuntu 24.04 Attackbox (192.168.56.104), EH vulnerable machine (192.168.56.105), macOS host, VirtualBox Host-only network vboxnet0 / 192.168.56.0/24.
Assessment highlights
- Configured NAT for guest internet access and Host-only networking for isolated attacker-target communication.
- Used Nmap service discovery to confirm the target was reachable and identify its web-facing service.
- Installed Nmap, Ncat and Gobuster on the attacker machine.
- Enumerated the target web root and identified the maintenance application plus additional web directories.
Security impact
The lab provided a controlled environment for subsequent white-box, black-box and Linux security assessments.
Recommendations
- Keep vulnerable targets isolated from production networks.
- Use separate attacker and target interfaces when the lab requires controlled internet access.
- Document IP addressing, interfaces and scan results before exploitation.
Lab scope: This case study describes coursework performed against intentionally vulnerable systems in an isolated environment.