Cleartext Credential Recovery in ServiceNow

[carlospolop]

🤖 Automated Content Update

This PR was automatically generated by the HackTricks News Bot based on a technical blog post.

📝 Source Information

• Blog URL: https://specterops.io/blog/2026/08/27/cleartext-credential-recovery-servicenow
• Blog Title: Cleartext Credential Recovery in ServiceNow
• Suggested Section: Network Services Pentesting > 80,443 - Pentesting Web Methodology > ServiceNow > Post-Exploitation and Cleartext Credential Extraction

🎯 Content Summary

Overview: The post presents two privileged ServiceNow post-exploitation techniques for recovering credentials in cleartext by abusing server-side JavaScript components known as script includes. The first technique modifies the existing CredentialTestAjax script include so that its client-callable testCredential function returns the JSON generated by the internal _decryptCredentialData() function. This exposes secrets from ...

🔧 Technical Details

Exposing plaintext at an internal decryption boundary: When a server-side workflow decrypts a credential before passing it to another component, attackers with server-side code-modification rights can target the point where plaintext temporarily exists. Insert an early return immediately after the internal decryption call, then invoke the normal client-callable wrapper and collect the plaintext from its HTTP response. In ServiceNow, CredentialTestAjax.testCredential calls _decryptCredentialData() and normally passes its JSON output to SNC.CredentialTest.test(); returning that JSON instead converts the legitimate credential-testing workflow into a credential-disclosure endpoint.

Temporarily backdooring server-side components: If an attacker can modify a server-side script record, they can save its original source, insert an exfiltration or return statement, invoke the modified component, retrieve the ...

🤖 Agent Actions

Plan:

1. Map existing ServiceNow and related credential-decryption documentation.
2. Read at least five candidate pages and compare for overlap.
3. Add only the novel post-exploitation technique to the best existing page, with numbered citations.
4. Validate the diff, references, formatting, and repository scope.
   Repository mapping is complete: the existing servicenow.md page is the precise fit, and repository-wide searches show the two decryption paths are not yet documented. I’m now verifying the supplied research against the author’s PoCs and ServiceNow’s own field/script documentation before editing that single page.
   Verification found one useful implementation nuance: the current Discovery PoC injects an AJAX method using sn_cc.StandardCredentialsProvider, while the article demonstrates an early return after _decryptCredentialData(). I’ll document both as variants of the same plaintext-boundary abuse and keep the edition scoped to servicenow.md.
   The documentation update is written. Final validation will check whitespace, citation/reference consistency, forbidden-source absence, changed-file scope, and mdBook parsing if the local builder is available.
   Updated src/network-services-pentesting/pentesting-web/servicenow.md with:

• Discovery credential extraction through CredentialTestAjax
• Current StandardCredentialsProvider PoC workflow
• LDAP Password2 decryption using getDecryptedValue()
• Required ServiceNow roles and access paths
• PoC commands and request format
• Detection guidance for Script Include modifications and AJAX activity
• Numbered references to the SpecterOps research and both PoCs

Validation passed: git diff --check, citation numbering, forbidden-source checks, and single-file scope. mdbook was unavailable locally.

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This PR was automatically created by the HackTricks Feed Bot. Please review the changes carefully before merging.

[carlospolop]

🔗 Additional Context

Original Blog Post: https://specterops.io/blog/2026/08/27/cleartext-credential-recovery-servicenow

Content Categories: Based on the analysis, this content was categorized under "Network Services Pentesting > 80,443 - Pentesting Web Methodology > ServiceNow > Post-Exploitation and Cleartext Credential Extraction".

Repository Maintenance:

• MD Files Formatting: 1029 files processed

Review Notes:

• This content was automatically processed and may require human review for accuracy
• Check that the placement within the repository structure is appropriate
• Verify that all technical details are correct and up-to-date
• All .md files have been checked for proper formatting (headers, includes, etc.)

Bot Version: HackTricks News Bot v1.0