Privilege Escalation in Linux

Abstract

An attacker that gains a foothold on a Linux system wants to escalate privileges to root in the same way that an attacker on a Windows domain wants to escalate privileges to Administrator or Domain Administrator. The techniques used on a Linux target are somewhat different. There are fewer privilege escalation modules in Metasploit, so an attacker may need to rely on a customized exploit. The success of these exploits may require a particular distribution and a version. These exploits are usually distributed as source code, and so need to be compiled. The 2016 Dirty COW class of attacks is particularly powerful because they work against such a wide range of systems; nearly every Linux system prior to the 2016 patch can be exploited.