What is Hacking? (Part 3) — Exploitation and Privilege Escalation

Exploitation is the phase where a vulnerability is actively abused. This can mean bypassing authentication, executing unauthorized commands, accessing restricted data, or gaining remote access to a system.

After initial access, attackers attempt privilege escalation. This means moving from a low-level user to administrator or root access. Privilege escalation often occurs due to weak permissions, vulnerable services, or insecure system configurations.

This phase is critical because limited access may expose only small amounts of data, but elevated access can result in total system compromise.

In real-world attacks, privilege escalation is often the turning point between a minor issue and a major breach.