How I got here
After finishing Alchemy (OT/ICS) and Zephyr I decided to try Dante, the entry-level Pro Lab that HackTheBox recommends for people preparing for OSCP.
What Dante is
Dante is a simulated enterprise network with machines spread across several network segments. Unlike a normal HTB machine, where you work one box at a time, Dante forces you to think like a real attacker moving through an organisation — enumerate, pivot, escalate, all the way to domain dominance.
It covers:
- Web application attacks
- Linux and Windows privilege escalation
- Active Directory exploitation
- Lateral movement
- Pivoting and tunnelling
Who it is for
- You already have some Linux/Windows privesc under your belt
- You understand Active Directory basics
- You are preparing for OSCP
- You want practice with Metasploit
The lab as a whole
Three segments in total, and you have to enumerate your way into each one.
Segment I
A single website, and that is your foothold into the environment.
- Web exploitation practice — WordPress
Segment II
A lot of machines here, and you have to find them yourself. Windows and Linux mixed together, with one DC — but it is not joined to the other workstations.
- AD exploitation
- Web exploitation
- Privilege escalation
- Enumeration
- Metasploit
Segment III
This zone has another DC, which you either enumerate for or go looking for from the first DC. Another DC plus two Linux boxes.
- AD exploitation
- Metasploit
Most of the tooling here points you at Metasploit — both for pivoting and for the meterpreter shell — because some of the tasks are far easier that way, or effectively require it. :D
Dante does not only teach you exploitation. It teaches you methodology:
Enumerate → Foothold → Escalate → Pivot → Repeat
After Dante you start seeing pentesting as a process, and you have practised on something that genuinely resembles one organisation's infrastructure.
Overall it was good fun. Worth trying, because it really is beginner friendly.
Certificate
| munpao59