64GB RAM on Lenovo Gaming 17IAB7

Posted on June 15, 2025 by Jon Wood

I bought the Lenovo Gaming 17IAB7 desktop PC in the spring of 2023. I don’t have much time for tinkering with proper PC builds anymore, so decided to give a prebuilt a shot, this time.

One of the first upgrades this thing needed was more RAM as it only came with 16GB. From some quick research, it does not support XMP settings, so many types of RAM will run at a slower fallback DDR4 speed of 2133 Mhz.

Now that it’s 2025, I wanted 64GB for running local LLMs and virtual machines. And it should run at full speed (3200 Mhz).

Lenovo claims the maximum supported RAM is 32GB.

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Hacker Fest: 2019 VulnHub Walkthrough

Posted on October 24, 2019 by Jon Wood

I wanted to see how quickly I could knock out this “very easy” vulnhub VM. And maybe help out any beginners who stumble upon this blog post.

They do give some hints. Let’s fill in the blanks from the authors description.

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DC: 6 Vulnhub Walkthrough

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Jon Wood

DC:6 can serve as a light introduction to WordPress pen testing with WPScan.

This Vulnhub VM featured some decent, realistic web entry points that I enjoyed.

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WordPress powers.. um.. too much of the web

My OSCP Review… or what I would have done differently

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Jon Wood

I passed the exam on December 8, 2018. And then, eventually, went on to root all of the regular lab machines (~55) in all of the subnets. It was a blast!

This review will focus on some topics where I may have disagreed with the majority.

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My OSCP Review — Always wanted one of these packs…

digitalworld.local: DEVELOPMENT Vulnhub Walkthrough

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Jon Wood

This is a very easy web-focused VM, done in the style of some OSCP/PWK lab machines. You can download it here.

If you have experience with web pen testing and Linux this should be a quick pwn, and if you’re new, it’s a decent first box to try.

Few tools are needed other than your browser, NMAP, and an SSH client.
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Web Developer: 1 Vulnhub Walkthrough

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Jon Wood

“Web Developer” is the first in a new series of vulnerable machines by Fred Wemeijer on Vulnhub.

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HackInOS: 1 Vulnhub Walkthrough

Posted on March 21, 2019 by Jon Wood

The author describes HackInOS as a “beginner level CTF style” VM.
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Stapler 1: Vulnhub Walkthrough

Posted on January 5, 2019 by Jon Wood

Here’s a simple and fun vulnerable VM I completed in preparation for the OSCP.

It was ranked as beginner/intermediate with at least 2 paths to limited shell, and 3 paths to root.
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Taking on the CISSP Monster

Posted on January 3, 2019 by Jon Wood

A year ago, I looked at the CISSP and thought it looked unattainable.

I chalked it up as a “long-term” goal, maybe in 5 years.

But after passing the CEH and PenTest+ in 2018, I gained more confidence and decided to dive in.

Everyone’s shared stories helped me immensely in my journey, and maybe I can help you, too.
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♫ Bell la-pa-du-la, a-lop-bam boom! ♫

Basic Pentesting: 2 Walkthrough

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Jon Wood

Here’s another easy VulnHub VM.

My goal this month is to increase the speed that I pop these boxes, in preparation for the OSCP.

I had already completed the first entry in the Basic Pentesting series by this author in about 20 minutes, and wanted to see if I could crack this one in under an hour as well. The author states that it is a “a moderate step up in difficulty” from the first.

Let’s dig in!

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