Shellcode is named as it does since it is usually starts with a specific shell command. The shellcode gives the initiator control of the target machine by using vulnerability on the aimed system and which was identified in advance. Shellcode is in fact a certain piece of code (not too large) which is used as a payload (the part of a computer virus which performs a malicious action) for the purpose of an exploitation of software’s vulnerabilities.
Shellcode is commonly written in machine code yet any relevant piece of code which performs the relevant actions may be identified as a shellcode. Shellcode’s purpose would mainly be to take control over a local or remote machine (via network) – the form the shellcode will run depends mainly on the initiator of the shellcode and his/hers goals by executing it.
The Various Shellcodes’ Techniques
When the initiator of the shellcode has no limits in means of accessing towards the destination machine for vulnerability’s exploitation it is best to perform a local shellcode.Local shellcode is when a higher-privileged process can be accessed locally and once executed successfully, will open the access to the target with high privileges. The second option refers to a remote run, when the initiator of the shellcode is limited as far as the target where the vulnerable process is running (in case a machine is located on a local network or intranet) – in this case the shellcode is remote shellcode as it may provide penetration to the target machine across the network and in most cases there is the use of standard TCP/IP socket connections to allow the access.
Remote shellcodes can be versatile and are distinguished based on the manner in which the connection is established: “Reverse shell” or a “connect-back shellcode” is the remote shellcode which enables the initiator to open a connection towards the target machine as well as a connection back to the source machine initiating the shellcode. Another type of remote shellcode is when the initiator wishes to bind to a certain port and based on this unique access, may connect to control the target machine, this is known as a “bindshell shellcode”.
Another, less common, shellcode’s type is when a connection which was established (yet not closed prior to the run of the shellcode ) will be utilized towards the vulnerable process and thus the initiator can re-use this connection to communicate back to the source – this is known as a “socket-reuse shellcode” as the socket is re-used by the shellcode.
Due to the fact that “socket-reuse shellcode” requires active connection detection and determination as to which connection can be re-used out of (most likely) many open connections is it considered a bit more difficult to activate such a shellcode, but nonetheless there is a need for such a shellcode as firewalls can detect the outgoing connections made by “connect-back shellcodes” and /or incoming connections made by “bindshell shellcodes”.
For these reasons a “socket-reuse shellcode” should be used in highly secure systems as it does not create any new connections and therefore is harder to detect and block.
A different type of shellcode is the “downloadand execute shellcode”. This type of shellcode directs the target to download a certain executable file outside the target machine itself and to locate it locally as well as executing it. A variation of this type of shellcode downloads and loads a library.
This type of shellcode allows the code to be smaller than usual as it does not require to spawn a new process on the target system nor to clean post execution (as it can be done via the library loaded into the process).
An additional type of shellcode comes from the need to run the exploitation in stages, due to the limited amount of data that one can inject into the target process in order to execute it usefully and directly – such a shellcode is called a “staged shellcode”.
The form in which a staged shellcode may work would be (for example) to first run a small piece of shellcode which will trigger a download of another piece of shellcode (most likely larger) and then loading it to the process’s memory and executing it.
“Egg-hunt shellcode” and “Omelets shellcode” are the last two types of shellcode which will be mentioned. “Egg-hunt shellcode” is a form of “staged shellcode” yet the difference is that in “Egg-hunt shellcode” one cannot determine where it will end up on the target process for the stage in which the second piece of code is downloaded and executed. When the initiator can only inject a much smaller sized block of data into the process the “Omelets shellcode” can be used as it looks for multiple small blocks of data (eggs) and recombines them into one larger block (the omelet) which will be subsequently executed.
Introduction to MSFPAYLOAD Command
In this part we’ll focus on the msfpayload command. This command is used to generate and output all of the various types of shellcode that are available within Metasploit. This tool is mostly used for the generation of shellcode for an exploit that is currently not available within the Metasploit’s framework. Another use for this command is for testing of the different types of shellcode and options before finalizing a module.
Although it is not fully visible within it’s “help banner” (as can be seen in the image below) this tool has many different options and variables available but they may not all be fully realized without a proper introduction.
# msfpayload -h