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I'm attempting to use a legacy systems recovery feature that typically required calling/faxing a company that is no longer around.

Basically, the system was designed to go into a recovery mode and it provided a 4 character code that was provided over phone/fax to the software company and they would provide you with what looks like a HEX code to gain access to the system.

I've been playing around with my limited knowledge on the subject for a little while now and have made zero progress. The system does run on a local server so maybe there are some decompilers or other processes that can be recommended? (Tomcat Based Webserver)

The Username is Administrator, below are 4 records from previous resets. Looks like MD4 or MD5 Hash to me.

Recover Code - Recovery Password

C969 - CF45FE53C10C541D831BB00A88C2497E

H924 - 4A90846DBA0DC78EFEC6FAB389D4DD97

B939 - D960D76B1BA23E1AC872A289CB1DD15D

I996 - 0DF5117F8731CE4C4C65D383C77BD97E

The other details:

Windows XP "Server"

Full file system administrative access

URL http://localhost/recoverymode=true

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  • what does the system consist of? Is it a generic PC or a special box? Do you have access to the files? What specifically is the server running? try to describe it in more detail.
    – Igor Skochinsky ♦
    May 16, 2018 at 18:01
  • It is running on a Windows XP machine and I do have fulled access to the system. It is a web interface to some utilities (Lights, heating and air) at an old building.
    – Landmine
    May 16, 2018 at 21:43
  • is the UI web-based? what do the URLs look like? did you try finding the files handling the requests on the server? try adding more details to the question (use the edit link)
    – Igor Skochinsky ♦
    May 17, 2018 at 16:43
  • I have looked for files on the server and other files. I think at this point the one way to get into it is find the original developer if he/she is still around or using the posted data to reverse engineer the code making with some trial and error.
    – Landmine
    May 17, 2018 at 21:29
  • 2
    It would be useful to give more information about the company, even if it does not exist, as well as the specific system.
    – Patrick Mevzek
    May 19, 2018 at 20:11

1 Answer 1

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+50

There's not much information to go on, but I would probably try to proceed like this:

  1. Figure out how the web server is running (e.g. what is the server process?) and where are the pages and any additional code handling user input (servlets?)

  2. Analyze the code and try to find where the recovery mode is triggered and how the code is checked. If it's Java, there are numerous decompilers available.

  3. Alternatively, you can analyze how the system interacts with the hardware and develop your own system that does what you need. However, this can be difficult if it's currently in non-working state.

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