Building your very own Pentest Lab

I am going to go through the steps of building a penetration testing lab, I can’t over emphasizes the point to plan, you can’t do it enough. Please do as I did and look at other articles and books for ideas and fundamentals in information technology. This article assumes the reader has a certain level of understanding in I.T. networking, servers, applications and hypervisors at least.

I.            Planning

a.       Hardware and Software

                                                   i.      You need to start by determining what hardware and software you will need to build your Lab.

b.      Physical or Virtual

                                                   i.      You will also need to think about what type of Lab you will have; will it be all physical devices, one physical device with many Virtual or VM’s, or will you use a hybrid. The manner in which you will determine this will most likely depend on how much money you are willing to spend. The less money you have, the more virtual you will want to go.

c.       What type of pretesting

                                                   i.      It is also a very good idea to have some goals, and be very specific with them, as to what you are building the Lab for. If you have no real agenda then it will make it much harder to know what you need and what to do. There are a great many books and articles on the net I suggest that you do, as I did, and research.

II.            Preparing

a.       Download

                                                   i.      Your Hypervisor(VMware or VirutalBox)

                                                 ii.      Any way you build it you will need to download all required software and applications you will be using. This can actually be the longest part. . All VM’s should be standard and only need to be 32bit for testing.

1.       You should setup your Kali Pentest box first

2.       Have at least one Ubuntu and one Windows box as well

3.       Install any firewall appliances that you may wish to pentest    

III.            Build

a.       Setup

                                                   i.      Start hooking up and configuring you hardware, if using VM’s then start will configuring you Hypervisor

                                                 ii.      All VM’s can use minimum requirements and defaults as they are only testing devices.

                                                iii.      Have and keep a journal or log of all your configurations.

                                               iv.      Make backups and snapshots of all devices before you start your testing

IV.            Pentest

a.       Grab a book, watch a video or take a class; that is where you start! Again this is where your agenda of attacks comes in handy.

Obviously, this is a bit vague but there is no standard way to setting up a pentest lab that is detailed. The only thing you need to know is the tools and where to find them, and unfortunately everyone has a different answer or preference. My suggestion is that you start out basic with one Kali Linux box and one Linux and windows box.  Kali Linux is a very good operating system with all the tools you need to start, there is also an OS for testing on called Metasploitable, also look to the VMware virtual appliance marketplace.

N-able Help

Powershell Has Stopped Working & Trojans

Powershell Has Stopped Working & Trojans

Ref: https://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?/topic/159960-powershell-has-stopped-working-trojans/

      

Please run a Threat Scan with Malwarebytes

Start Malwarebytes 2.0..........
Click on Settings > Detection and Protection > Non-Malware Protection > PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program) detections > Make sure it's set to Treat detections as malware
Same for PUM (Potentially Unwanted Modifications)
Quarantine all that's found
Post the log (save the log as a .txt file not .xml)


Then......

Please download and run RogueKiller 32 bit to your desktop.

RogueKiller<---use class="apple-converted-space" for="" one="" span="" this=""> 64 bit systems

    Which system am I using?

Quit all running programs.

For Windows XP, double-click to start.
For Vista or Windows 7-8, do a right-click on the program, select Run as Administrator to start, & when prompted Allow to run.

Wait for the Prescan to finish

Click Scan to scan the system.

Don't run any other options, they're not all bad!!!!!!!

RogueKiller logs will also be located here:
%programdata%/RogueKiller/Logs <-------w7 span="">
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\RogueKiller\Logs <-------xp o:p="">

________________________________________________________________________________

Download the attached fixlist.txt to the same folder as FRST.exe/FRST64.exe.

Run FRST.exe/FRST64.exe and click Fix only once and wait


The tool will create a log (Fixlog.txt) in the folder, please post it to your reply. 

Then...........

Please download and run ComboFix.

The most important things to remember when running it is to disable all your malware programs and run Combofix from your desktop.

Please visit this webpage for download links, and instructions for running ComboFix

http://www.bleepingc...to-use-combofix

http://www.bleepingc...combofix/dl/12/ 



Please make sure you click download buttons that look similar to this, not "sponsored ad links":

Ensure you have disabled all anti virus and anti malware programs so they do not interfere with the running of ComboFix.

Information on disabling your malware programs can be found Here.

Make sure you run ComboFix from your desktop.

Give it at least 30-45 minutes to finish if needed.

Please include the C:\ComboFix.txt in your next reply for further review.


----------NOTE<---------- font="" nbsp="">
If you get the message Illegal operation attempted on registry key that has been marked for deletion after you run ComboFix....please reboot the computer, this should resolve the problem. You may have to do this several times if needed.

________________________________________________________________________________

Lets check your computers security before you go and we have a little cleanup to do also:

 Download Security Check by screen317 from HERE or HERE.

     ·         
          Save it to your Desktop.
·         Double click SecurityCheck.exe and follow the onscreen instructions inside of the black box.
·         If you get Unsupported operating system. Aborting now, just reboot and try again.

·         A Notepad document should open automatically called checkup.txt.

_______________________________________________________________________________

A little clean up to do....

Please Uninstall ComboFix: (------->if you used it<------- span="">)

Press the Windows logo key + R to bring up the "run box"

Copy and paste next command in the field:

ComboFix /uninstall

Make sure there's a space between Combofix and /

Then hit enter. (it may look like CF is re-installing but it's not)
This will uninstall Combofix, delete its related folders and files, hide file extensions, hide the system/hidden files and clears System Restore cache and create new Restore point

(If that doesn't work.....you can simply rename ComboFix.exe to Uninstall.exe and double click it to complete the uninstall or download and run the uninstaller)

---------------------------------

Download Delfix from here and save it to your desktop. (you may already have this)

·         Ensure Remove disinfection tools is checked.
·         Click the Run button.
·         Reboot
Any other programs or logs that are still remaining, you can manually delete. (right click.....Delete)
IE: RogueKiller.exe, RKreport.txt, RK_Quarantine folder, C:\FRST folder, FRST-OlderVersion folder, MBAR folder, etc....AdwCleaner > just run the program and click uninstall.

Note:
If you used FRST and can't delete the quarantine folder:
Download the fixlist.txt to the same folder as FRST.exe.
Run FRST.exe and click Fix only once and wait
That will delete the quarantine folder created by FRST.
The rest you can manually delete.

CMI Limited - Remove this Junk

Well last day of the year and out with a bang, saw a system with a ton of rogue applications installed, one being:

Fix Winsock

Winsock Fix for Windows Computers

After removing spyware or malware, if you have problems connecting to the Internet, you may need to initialize your TCP/IP network settings. To restore your connection, follow the directions below for the type of Windows computer you use.

Windows 7 computers

Click Start in the lower-left corner of the screen.
Click in the Start Search box and type the following command:

cmd

When cmd.exe appears in the Programs box, right-click it and select Run as administrator as shown in the following graphic:

Click Continue if the User Account Control dialog box prompts you whether to run this program.

In the window that appears, type the following command:

netsh winsock reset

The window should look similar to the following:

Press ENTER.
Restart your computer.

NORSE

http://map.ipviking.com/

The Grinch

http://www.techworm.net/2014/12/linux-grinch-vulnerability.html#prettyPhoto

All Linux Platforms are vulnerable to the ‘Grinch’ Root Access vulnerability

Security researchers at Alert Logic have unearthed a vulnerability in Linux  platforms that could potentially affect every system even remotely using Linux including Android smartphones and tablets. This vulnerability dubbed “Grinch” could potentially allow a user to get root access of a system thereby bypassing all security mechanisms leaving the target machine utterly defenseless. This flaw can be used across Linux powered computers, servers and even android devices. Alert Logic states,

According to a 2013 report from W3Tech, approximately 65% of all web servers on the Internet utilize a Unix/Linux based operating system. We uncovered a bug that impacts all Linux platforms, including mobile devices, and we’re calling it “grinch.” Fortunately, there are ways to detect the exploit of this bug in your environment until a patch is released.

Exploitation of the logging system

Grinch Root Access Vulnerability Impacts All Linux PlatformsThis isn’t the first major vulnerability to be uncovered in Linux. The same researchers had uncovered vulnerabilities in JournalD back in August, 2014, which allowed attackers to hijack the terminal sessions for remote execute commands. Further digging led them to grinch. The vulnerability was found in a Linux authorization system which could give an unauthorized user root access to the system by leveraging “wheel,” a special user group that controls access to the su command and allows one user to operate as if they were another.  Writing on the Alert Logic blog, Chief Security Evangelist, Stephen Coty stated,

“If we were to compromise the user through a client-side vulnerability or any privilege escalation on the box itself, we would no longer need to worry about cached Sudo authorization timestamp tokens or trying to trick users into providing their credentials with bashrc, environment modifications, or other means,” the researchers explained. “Instead, we can abuse the user’s group privileges to give us access, thus granting direct authentication bypass even if the wheel user cannot get root like in Ubuntu ecosystems.”

A potential hacker could exploit the Grinch flaw by either modifying the registered user accounts in a wheel or by manipulating the Policy Kit (Polkit), a graphical User interface for managing privileged operations for ordinary users.

“Polkit can be used by privileged processes to decide if it should execute privileged operations on behalf of the requesting user. For directly executed tools, Polkit provides a setuid-root helper program called ‘’pkexec.’’ The hooks to ask the user for authorizations are well integrated into text environments and native in all major graphical environments” notes Alert Logic in a blog.”

Whichever method the attacker uses, the goal is to gain root access to the system. With root access, the attacker has full administrative control and can install, modify programs or access files in any directory. The attacker is also able to remotely control the system implying they can create a replicating worm which can be spread to other systems instantaneously.

Threat perception

With an approximate 65% of web servers running on Linux/Unix the threat of this vulnerability cannot be emphasized enough. Major companies which run their services on Linux based system will be affected include the cloud servers of Amazon and Microsoft. Not to mention the half a billion users of Android around the world who stand in risk. “We find that possession of user logs and knowledge of your own environment are the best security content to help you navigate away from a bug like grinch,” the team advised. “Know how your Linux administrator is installing packages and managing updates.”

On the bright side, the researchers also denied any news of this vulnerability ever being used so far. So no major damage has been done. It is advised to restrict user permissions on your Linux systems and also monitor user activity until a proper patch is released.

On the vulnerability level, Grinch could be to Linux what ShellShock is to Windows.  Until and unless a patch is released all the devices running on Linux are vulnerable to Grinch.  Linux team is yet to confirm the Alert Logic’s finding or issue a patch for this vulnerability but Coty believed that Linux was working on this issue.