thinQtankLABS

Detection Engineering & Incident Response: CVE-2026-42167

Respond to a ProFTPD SQL-injection compromise (CVE-2026-42167). Reconstruct the timeline from the FTP auth log and SQL backend log, see how COPY TO PROGRAM turned injection into RCE, find the attacker's cron persistence, engineer a detection rule for malicious usernames, then contain, eradicate, upgrade, verify and report.

Intermediate 20 guided steps 6 tasks About 75 minutes Runs in your browser

Skills you will practice

  • Auth and SQL log correlation
  • Timeline reconstruction
  • SQL injection IOCs
  • COPY TO PROGRAM / RCE analysis
  • Persistence hunting
  • Detection engineering
  • Containment and eradication
  • Incident reporting

Certifications this lab maps to

This lab builds hands-on skills that appear on these certification exams. thinQtank Learning runs instructor-led training camps for each — click one to see upcoming classes.

CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 Log analysis, detection and IR Training at thinQtank Learning EC-Council Certified Incident Handler E|CIH Incident-handling lifecycle Training at thinQtank Learning EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker CEH SQL injection and IOCs Training at thinQtank Learning ISC2 CISSP CISSP Security Operations domain Training at thinQtank Learning
Part of these certification lab packages: CySA+ CS0-003 CISSP Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) CEH Certified Incident Handler (E|CIH) E|CIH GCIH GCIH GCIA GCIA

The scenario

An internet-facing ProFTPD server (CVE-2026-42167 open) logged odd usernames followed by a database COPY TO PROGRAM and a new cron job. You are the responder. Classify it.

What you will do

  1. Open and classify the incident4 steps

    Open the incident · Read the alert · Read the ticket · Classify it

  2. Reconstruct the timeline3 steps

    Pull the attacker’s USER commands · Correlate the SQL log · What turned injection into RCE?

  3. Impact and persistence3 steps

    Inspect the rogue cron · What persistence? · Record IOCs

  4. Engineer a detection rule4 steps

    Study the sample · Write a rule · Test and tune · Why not flag every quote?

  5. Contain, eradicate, verify4 steps

    Remove the persistence · Patch ProFTPD · Verify the host · Confirm detection holds

  6. Report2 steps

    Write the report · Why least privilege too?

How this lab works

A real Linux-style console. Commands run against real files, so hashes, hex dumps and comparisons give real results.

A file browser where you can place evidence into the lab, either the file provided or one of your own.

Reset a single step, a whole task or the entire lab. The environment is rebuilt so you can try again cleanly.

Progress saves after every step. Close the tab and come back later; your files and answers are waiting.