The document discusses techniques for attacking different layers during a penetration test. It covers attacking protocols like ARP, NBNS, SMB, PXE and DTP. It also discusses attacking passwords by cracking hashes, dictionary attacks, and dumping passwords in cleartext. Additionally, it covers attacking applications, bypassing endpoint protection, and escalating privileges on Windows systems locally and within a domain. The overall message is that penetration testers should attack all layers of the stack during a test to fully evaluate security.
How to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected Worker
Attack All the Layers - What's Working in Penetration Testing
1. Attack All the Layers:
What’s Working During Pen Tests
Scott Sutherland and Karl Fosaaen
2. Introductions
• Scott Sutherland
‒ Principal Security Consultant @ NetSPI
‒ Twitter: @_nullbind
• Karl Fosaaen
‒ Senior Security Consultant @ NetSPI
‒ Twitter: @kfosaaen
We specialize in both
things and stuff!
3. Overview
• Why do Companies Pen Test?
• Attacking Protocols
• Attacking Passwords
• Attacking Applications
• Bypassing End Point Protection
• Windows Escalation
• Conclusions
4. Why do companies pen test?
• Compliance requirements
• Evaluate risks associated with an acquisition or
partnership
• Validate preventative controls
• Validate detective controls
• Prioritize internal security initiatives
• Proactively prevent breaches
5. Overview
• Attacking Protocols
• Attacking Passwords
• Attacking Applications
• Bypassing End Point Protection
• Windows Escalation
6. Attacking protocols
• ARP: Address Resolution Protocol
• NBNS: NetBIOS Name Service
• SMB: Server Message Block
• PXE: Preboot Execution Environment
• DTP: Dynamic Trunking Protocol
8. Attacking protocols: ARP
• General
‒MAC to IP association
‒Layer 2
• Conditions
‒Independent of user action
‒Broadcast network
• Attacks
‒MITM Monitoring
‒MITM Injection
‒DOS
12. Attacking protocols: NBNS
• General
‒ IP to hostname association
‒ Layer 5 / 7
• Constraints
‒ Dependent on user action
‒ Broadcast Network
‒ Windows Only
• Attacks
‒ MITM Monitoring
‒ MITM Injection
‒ DOS
16. Attacking protocols: NBNS
• Common mitigating controls:
‒ Create a WPAD (Web Proxy Auto-Discovery) server entry in
DNS
‒ Disable NBNS (recommended)
• Might cause issues with legacy apps
‒ Disable insecure authentication to help
• limit impact of exposed hashes
‒ Enable packet signing to help prevent
• SMB Relay attacks
18. Attacking protocols: SMB
• General
‒ SMB is the come back kid!
‒ Layer 7
• Constraints
‒ Dependent on user action
‒ Any routable network
‒ No connecting back to
originating host
• Attacks
‒ Command execution
‒ Shells..aaand shells
20. Attacking protocols: SMB
• Historically, SMB Relay has been used to:
‒ Execute arbitrary commands
‒ Obtain shells
• Lately the community has been developing tools for doing
things like:
‒ LDAP queries
‒ SQL queries
‒ Exchange services
‒ Mounting file systems
21. Attacking protocols: SMB
• Common mitigating controls:
‒ Enable packet signing to help prevent SMB Relay attacks
‒ Apply really old patches like if you missed out on the last
decade…
26. Attacking protocols: DTP
• General
‒ 802.1Q encapsulation is in use
‒ Layer 2
• Constraints
‒ Independent of user action
‒ Trunking is set to enabled
• or auto on switch port
• Attacks
‒ Monitor network traffic for all VLANs, because all VLANs are
• allowed on a trunk by default
• *Full VLAN hopping
31. Attacking protocols: DTP
• Common mitigating controls:
‒ Use dedicated VLAN ID for all trunking ports
‒ Disable all unused ports and place them on a
non-routable VLAN
‒ Configure all user ports as access ports to
prevent trunk negotiation
‒ Configure frames with two 802.1Q headers
‒ Configure strong VACLs
32. Overview
• Attacking Protocols
• Attacking Passwords
• Attacking Applications
• Bypassing End Point Protection
• Windows Escalation
34. Attacking Passwords
Tool Function Year
Pass the Hash Passing Hashes 1997
Rainbow Tables Password Cracking 2000s
SMB Relay Relaying Captured Hashes 2001
John the Ripper Password Cracking 2001
NetNTLM.pl Cracking Network Hashes 2007
PTH Toolkit Pass all the Hashes 2008
Hashcat CPU and GPU Cracking 2010
WCE and Mimikatz Cleartext Windows Creds 2012
35. Attacking Passwords: Hashes
• What are hashes?
‒ A non-reversible way of storing passwords
‒ Operating systems and applications
‒ Lots of types
• LM/NTLM
• Network and Local
• MD5
• SHA
• descrypt
36. Attacking Passwords: Hashes
• How do we get hashes?
‒ Cain and Abel
‒ fgdump
‒ Metasploit
‒ Mimikatz
‒ Databases
‒ Config files
43. Overview
• Attacking Protocols
• Attacking Passwords
• Attacking Applications
• Bypassing End Point Protection
• Windows Escalation
44. Attacking Applications: Common
• Default and weak passwords
• SQL injection
• RFI/web shells
• Web directory traversals
• UNC path injection + SMB relay
• Critical missing patches
45. Attacking Applications: Breakouts
• Obtain a common dialog box
• Bypass folder path and file type restrictions
• Bypass file execution restrictions
• Bypass file black/white lists
• Access to native consoles and management tools
• Downloading and use third party applications
46. Overview
• Attacking Protocols
• Attacking Passwords
• Attacking Applications
• Bypassing End Point Protection
• Windows Escalation
51. Windows Escalation: Goals
• Local Escalation Goals
‒ Find clear text or reversible credentials with local
administrative privileges
‒ Get application to run commands as Administrator or
LocalSystem
• Domain Escalation Goals
‒ Find Domain Admins
‒ Impersonate Domain Admins
52. Windows Escalation: Local
• Local Escalation
‒ *Clear text credentials in files, registry, over network
‒ Insecure service paths
‒ DLL preloading
‒ DLL and exe replacement
‒ Binary planting in auto-run locations (reg and file
system)
‒ Modifying schedule tasks
‒ *Local and remote exploits
‒ Leverage local application like IIS, SQL Server etc
‒ *UNC path injection + SMB Relay / Capture + crack
53. Windows Escalation: Domain
• Domain Escalation – Find DAs
‒ Check locally! (Processes, Tokens, Cachedump)
‒ Review active sessions – netsess (veil)
‒ Review remote processes - tasklist
‒ Service Principal Names (SPN) – get-spn
‒ Scanning Remote Systems for NetBIOS Information - nbtscan
‒ Pass the hash to other systems
‒ PowerShell shell spraying
‒ WINRM/WINRS shell spraying
‒ Psexec shell spraying
54. Windows Escalation: Domain
• Domain Escalation – Impersonate DAs
‒ Dump passwords from memory with Mimikatz
‒ Migrate into the Domain Admin’s process
‒ Steal Domain Admins delegation tokens with Incognito
‒ Dump cached domain admin hashes with cachedump
‒ Relatively new techniques
• PTH using Kerberos ticket
55.
56. Conclusions
• Most Networks
‒ Kind of broken
• Most Protocols
‒ Kind of broken
• Most Applications
‒ Kind of broken
All can kind of be fixed
58. Attack all the layers!
• Scott Sutherland
‒ Principal Security Consultant
‒ Twitter: @_nullbind
• Karl Fosaaen
‒ Senior Security Consultant
‒ Twitter: @kfosaaen
These are protocols that are commonly targeted. However, there are many others:Address Resolution Protocol (ARP): Cain, ettercap, interceptor-ng, Subterfuge, easycredsNetBIOS Name Service (NBNS): MetaSploit and responder Link-local Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR): MetaSploit and responder Pre-Execution Environment (PXE): MetaSploitDynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP): Yersinia Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP): Yersinia, ettercap (lamia plugin) Hot Stand-by Router Protocol (HSRP): Yersinia Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP): Interceptor, MetaSploit, manual setup Domain Name Services (DNS): MetaSploit, ettercap, dsniff, zodiac, ADMIdPackVLAN Tunneling Protocol (VTP): Yersinia, voiphopper, or modprobe+ifconfig
Been an issue since the birth of the internet and hasn’t really gone away.ARP is a broadcast protocol used for IP to MAC relationshipsLimited to broadcast network- No encryption or validation allows for spoofingMITM Step 1 – tell server you are a clientMITM Step 2 - tell client you are the serverCan also broadcast as gateway to all systems on subnet, but your most likely not a router – so don’t do thatCan also dos very easily
Been an issue since the birth of the internet and hasn’t really gone away.ARP is a broadcast protocol used for IP to MAC relationshipsLimited to broadcast network- No encryption or validation allows for spoofingMITM Step 1 – tell server you are a clientMITM Step 2 - tell client you are the serverCan also broadcast as gateway to all systems on subnet, but your most likely not a router – so don’t do thatCan also dos very easily
Been an issue since the birth of the internet and hasn’t really gone away.ARP is a broadcast protocol used for IP to MAC relationshipsLimited to broadcast network- No encryption or validation allows for spoofingMITM Step 1 – tell server you are a clientMITM Step 2 - tell client you are the serverCan also broadcast as gateway to all systems on subnet, but your most likely not a router – so don’t do thatCan also dos very easily
Go with what you like.
Been an issue since the birth of the internet and hasn’t really gone away.ARP is a broadcast protocol used for IP to MAC relationshipsLimited to broadcast network- No encryption or validation allows for spoofingMITM Step 1 – tell server you are a clientMITM Step 2 - tell client you are the serverCan also broadcast as gateway to all systems on subnet, but your most likely not a router – so don’t do thatCan also dos very easily
Windows Protocol- Kind of like a back up to DNS- Host file- DNS- NBNSRace condition Limited to broadcast network
Go with what you like. http basichttp_ntlmauthhttp_relaysmb
Been an issue since the birth of the internet and hasn’t really gone away.ARP is a broadcast protocol used for IP to MAC relationshipsLimited to broadcast network- No encryption or validation allows for spoofingMITM Step 1 – tell server you are a clientMITM Step 2 - tell client you are the serverCan also broadcast as gateway to all systems on subnet, but your most likely not a router – so don’t do thatCan also dos very easily
In summary, an SMB Relay attack can be loosely defined as the process of relaying SMB authentication from one system to another via a man-in-the-middle (MITM) position. Based on my five whole minutes of wiki research I now know that the issues that allow smb attacks to be succesful were identified as a threat in the late 90’s. However, it wasn’t until 2001 that Sir Dystic publicly released a tool that could be used to perform practical attacks. Seven years later Microsoft got around to partially fixing the issue with a patch, but it only prevents attackers from relaying back to the originating system.I guess the good news is that SMB relay attacks can be prevented by enabling and requiring smb message signing, but the bad news is that most environments are configured in such a way that attackers can still relay authentication to other systems.2001 was a while ago, so I got out my calculator and did some hardcore math to figure out that this has been a well known and practiced attack for at least 11 years. During that time there have been many tools and projects dedicated to taking advantage of the attack technique. Some of the more popular ones include Metasploit, Squirtle, and ZackAttack.Anyway, let’s get back on track…
Image showing MITM
Go with what you like. http basichttp_ntlmauthhttp_relaysmb
Been an issue since the birth of the internet and hasn’t really gone away.ARP is a broadcast protocol used for IP to MAC relationshipsLimited to broadcast network- No encryption or validation allows for spoofingMITM Step 1 – tell server you are a clientMITM Step 2 - tell client you are the serverCan also broadcast as gateway to all systems on subnet, but your most likely not a router – so don’t do thatCan also dos very easily
In summary, an SMB Relay attack can be loosely defined as the process of relaying SMB authentication from one system to another via a man-in-the-middle (MITM) position. Based on my five whole minutes of wiki research I now know that the issues that allow smb attacks to be succesful were identified as a threat in the late 90’s. However, it wasn’t until 2001 that Sir Dystic publicly released a tool that could be used to perform practical attacks. Seven years later Microsoft got around to partially fixing the issue with a patch, but it only prevents attackers from relaying back to the originating system.I guess the good news is that SMB relay attacks can be prevented by enabling and requiring smb message signing, but the bad news is that most environments are configured in such a way that attackers can still relay authentication to other systems.2001 was a while ago, so I got out my calculator and did some hardcore math to figure out that this has been a well known and practiced attack for at least 11 years. During that time there have been many tools and projects dedicated to taking advantage of the attack technique. Some of the more popular ones include Metasploit, Squirtle, and ZackAttack.Anyway, let’s get back on track…
Been an issue since the birth of the internet and hasn’t really gone away.ARP is a broadcast protocol used for IP to MAC relationshipsLimited to broadcast network- No encryption or validation allows for spoofingMITM Step 1 – tell server you are a clientMITM Step 2 - tell client you are the serverCan also broadcast as gateway to all systems on subnet, but your most likely not a router – so don’t do thatCan also dos very easily
the unauthorized switch can send DTP frames and form a trunk with the Company Switch. If the attacker can establish a trunk link to the Company switch, it receives traffic to all VLANs through the trunk because all VLANs are allowed on a trunk by default.
Image showing MITM
Image showing MITM
Image showing MITM
Image showing MITM
Touch on common tools and pitfalls (account lockouts)
Default and weak passwords for everythingTools: Nmap, Nessus, Web Scour, Manuals, GoogleSQL injectionTools: Manually, web scanners, SQL Ninja, SQL Map, MetasploitRFI/Web Shells (JBOSS, Tomcat, etc.)Tools: Metasploit, Fuzzdb, and other web shelleryWeb directory traversalsTools: Manually, web scanners, Fuzzdb, Metasploit, Critical Missing Patches (SEP etc)Tools: Metasploit, exploitdb exploits, etc
Execution via approved apps - Powershell Code Injection - Rundll32 - IEExecDirectory Exceptions - GACDisable ServicesPoisoning allowed file list and blocking updates via hosts filePoisoning updates
This is a non-linear process so be aware that some techniques can be used at many levels.These are the common escalation scenarios seen during penetration testing.
Localuser Local AdministratorExcessive local group privileges (admin or power users)Cleartext credentialsSysprep (unattend.xml/ini/txt)Config files, scripts, logs, desktop foldersTech support calls filesWeak application configurations that allow: Restarting or reconfiguring servicesReplacing application files DLL pre or side loading Executable injection via poorly registered services C:\Program Files (x86) vs “C:\Program Files (x86)” Local and remote exploits (Metasploit: getsystem)
This is a non-linear process so be aware that some techniques can be used at many levels.These are the common escalation scenarios seen during penetration testing.
This is a non-linear process so be aware that some techniques can be used at many levels.These are the common escalation scenarios seen during penetration testing.
This is a non-linear process so be aware that some techniques can be used at many levels.These are the common escalation scenarios seen during penetration testing.