Linpeas

LinPEAS (Linux Privilege Escalation Awesome Script) automates Linux system enumeration and privilege escalation vulnerability detection.

Installation

# Download latest version
curl -L https://github.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng/releases/download/20250330/linpeas.sh -o linpeas.sh
chmod +x linpeas.sh

# Or clone from GitHub
git clone https://github.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng.git
cd PEASS-ng/linPEAS
chmod +x linpeas.sh

# Run directly from GitHub (no download)
curl -L https://github.com/carlospolop/PEASS-ng/releases/latest/download/linpeas.sh | bash

Basic Usage

Command	Description
`./linpeas.sh`	Run full enumeration
`./linpeas.sh -h`	Display help menu
`./linpeas.sh -t`	Thorough scan (slower, comprehensive)
`./linpeas.sh -a`	Run all checks without limitations
`./linpeas.sh 2>/dev/null`	Suppress stderr output
`./linpeas.sh -p`	Personalised search (specify search strings)

Output Sections

LinPEAS color-codes findings:

Red: Critical vulnerabilities requiring immediate attention
Yellow: Important findings, potential issues
Blue: Interesting information worth investigation
Green: Non-critical or informational content

Key Enumeration Areas

System Information

# Kernel version and OS details
uname -a
cat /etc/os-release

# CPU and memory info
nproc
free -h

Users and Permissions

# Current user and groups
whoami
id
groups

# All users on system
cat /etc/passwd
getent passwd

# Sudo capabilities
sudo -l
sudo -l -U <user>

SUID Binaries

# Find SUID/SGID binaries
find / -perm -4000 2>/dev/null
find / -perm -2000 2>/dev/null

# Check for GTFOBins candidates
find / -perm -4000 -type f 2>/dev/null | xargs ls -la

Writable Directories and Files

# World-writable directories
find / -perm -0002 -type d 2>/dev/null

# User-writable system directories
find /usr/bin /usr/local/bin /usr/sbin -writable 2>/dev/null

# Writable files in /etc
find /etc -writable 2>/dev/null

Cron Jobs

# View system cron jobs
cat /etc/crontab
ls -la /etc/cron.d/
ls -la /etc/cron.daily/
ls -la /etc/cron.hourly/

# User cron jobs
crontab -l

Network and Services

# Open ports and listening services
ss -tulpn
netstat -tulpn
lsof -i -P -n

# Running processes
ps aux
ps auxf

# Services
systemctl list-units --all
service --status-all

File and Directory Permissions

# Check home directory permissions
ls -la ~/
ls -la /root/

# Check for world-readable sensitive files
find / -name "*.pem" -o -name "*.key" -o -name "*.txt" 2>/dev/null

# Password files and sudoers
cat /etc/shadow 2>/dev/null
cat /etc/sudoers 2>/dev/null
cat /etc/sudoers.d/* 2>/dev/null

Kernel Vulnerabilities

# Get kernel version
uname -r
cat /proc/version

# Check for known CVEs (linpeas detects these)
# Common: DirtyCOW, Overlayfs, CVE-2022-0847, etc.

Capabilities

# List capabilities of binaries
getcap -r / 2>/dev/null

# Check specific binary capabilities
getcap /usr/bin/ping
getcap /usr/bin/python3

Environment Variables

# Display all env vars
env
printenv

# Check for sensitive data in env
env | grep -i "pass\|token\|key\|secret"

Advanced Options

Search Strings

# Personalised searches for specific strings
./linpeas.sh -p "password\|api\|key"

# Search in specific directories
./linpeas.sh -s "/home\|/opt\|/var"

Write Output

# Save to file
./linpeas.sh > linpeas_output.txt

# Color-preserved HTML output
./linpeas.sh -w html > linpeas.html

# Line numbers
cat linpeas_output.txt | nl

Common Findings Interpretation

Critical Indicators

SUID binaries - Run as root, check for exploits via GTFOBins
Sudo without password - Direct privilege escalation
Writable /etc/passwd - Create new root user
Kernel CVE - Potential DoS or privilege escalation
Capabilities (cap_setuid) - Escalate privileges programmatically
Cron jobs running as root - Writable cron script = privilege escalation

Medium Findings

Writable cron directories
Interesting files in /tmp or /var/tmp
Old installed software (outdated libraries)
NFS shares with no_root_squash
Docker group membership

Linux Privilege Escalation Checklist

# 1. Check sudo
sudo -l

# 2. Check SUID
find / -perm -4000 2>/dev/null

# 3. Check writable paths
find / -perm -0002 -type f 2>/dev/null | grep -E "bin|etc"

# 4. Check cron
cat /etc/crontab /etc/cron.d/*

# 5. Check capabilities
getcap -r / 2>/dev/null | grep -v "cap_net"

# 6. Check kernel version
uname -r

# 7. Check mounted filesystems
mount | grep -i "noexec\|nosuid"

# 8. Check services
ps aux | grep -E "root|mysql|postgres"

# 9. Check writable directories
find /etc -writable 2>/dev/null

Tips and Tricks

Run linpeas before and after any changes to compare findings
Save output for documentation and proof of concept
Pay attention to RED findings - highest priority
Check GTFOBins for found SUID binaries: https://gtfobins.github.io/
Use pspy64 to monitor running processes in real-time
Cross-reference findings with SearchSploit for exploit availability

winPEAS: Windows privilege escalation enumeration
pspy: Monitor processes without root
GTFOBins: Exploit database for Unix binaries
SearchSploit: Offline exploit database
PEASS-ng: Complete privilege escalation framework

Last updated: March 2025 | GitHub