1We can start the Metasploit console on the command line without showing the banner or any startup information as well. What switch do we add to msfconsole to start it without showing this information? This will include the '-'
Cool! We've connected to the database, which type of database does Metasploit 5 use?
You'll get the answer by using db_status in msefconsole .
The help menu has a very short one-character alias, what is it?
You will get the answer with the help command.
Finding various modules we have at our disposal within Metasploit is one of the most common commands we will leverage in the framework. What is the base command we use for searching?
You will get the answer with the help command.
Once we've found the module we want to leverage, what command we use to select it as the active module?
You will get the answer with the help command.
How about if we want to view information about either a specific module or just the active one we have selected?
You will get the answer with the help command.
Metasploit has a built-in netcat-like function where we can make a quick connection with a host simply to verify that we can 'talk' to it. What command is this?
You will get the answer with the help command.
Entirely one of the commands purely utilized for fun, what command displays the motd/ascii art we see when we start msfconsole (without -q flag)?
You will get the answer with the help command.
We'll revisit these next two commands shortly, however, they're two of the most used commands within Metasploit. First, what command do we use to change the value of a variable?
You will get the answer with the help command.
Metasploit supports the use of global variables, something which is incredibly useful when you're specifically focusing on a single box. What command changes the value of a variable globally?
You will get the answer with the help command.
Now that we've learned how to change the value of variables, how do we view them? There are technically several answers to this question, however, I'm looking for a specific three-letter command which is used to view the value of single variables.
You will get the answer with the help command.
How about changing the value of a variable to null/no value?
You will get the answer with the help command.
When performing a penetration test it's quite common to record your screen either for further review or for providing evidence of any actions taken. This is often coupled with the collection of console output to a file as it can be incredibly useful to grep for different pieces of information output to the screen. What command can we use to set our console output to save to a file?
You will get the answer with the help command.
Leaving a Metasploit console running isn't always convenient and it can be helpful to have all of our previously set values load when starting up Metasploit. What command can we use to store the settings/active datastores from Metasploit to a settings file? This will save within your msf4 (or msf5) directory and can be undone easily by simply removing the created settings file.
You will get the answer with the help command.
Easily the most common module utilized, which module holds all of the exploit code we will use?
See the diagram.
Used hand in hand with exploits, which module contains the various bits of shellcode we send to have executed following exploitation?
See the diagram.
Which module is most commonly used in scanning and verification machines are exploitable? This is not the same as the actual exploitation of course.
See the diagram.
One of the most common activities after exploitation is looting and pivoting. Which module provides these capabilities?
See the diagram.
Commonly utilized in payload obfuscation, which module allows us to modify the 'appearance' of our exploit such that we may avoid signature detection?
See the diagram.
Last but not least, which module is used with buffer overflow and ROP attacks?
See the diagram.
Not every module is loaded in by default, what command can we use to load different modules?
You will get the answer with the help command.
What service does nmap identify running on port 135?
Launch db_nmap -sV 10.10.57.82 , the answer is in the SERVICE column.
Now that we've scanned our victim system, let's try connecting to it with a Metasploit payload. First, we'll have to search for the target payload. In Metasploit 5 (the most recent version at the time of writing) you can simply type 'use' followed by a unique string found within only the target exploit. For example, try this out now with the following command 'use icecast'. What is the full path for our exploit that now appears on the msfconsole prompt? *This will include the exploit section at the start
Launch use icecast and see where you landed.
While that use command with the unique string can be incredibly useful that's not quite the exploit we want here. Let's now run the command 'search multi/handler'. What is the name of the column on the far left side of the console that shows up next to 'Name'? Go ahead and run the command 'use NUMBER_NEXT_TO exploit/multi/handler` wherein the number will be what appears in that far left column (typically this will be 4 or 5). In this way, we can use our search results without typing out the full name/path of the module we want to use.
For me it was module 6 in column # .
1First things first, our initial shell/process typically isn't very stable. Let's go ahead and attempt to move to a different process. First, let's list the processes using the command 'ps'. What's the name of the spool service?
Run ps and check the Name column.
Let's go ahead and move into the spool process or at least attempt to! What command do we use to transfer ourselves into the process? This won't work at the current time as we don't have sufficient privileges but we can still try!
You will get the answer with the help command.
Well that migration didn't work, let's find out some more information about the system so we can try to elevate. What command can we run to find out more information regarding the current user running the process we are in?
You will get the answer with the help command.
meterpreter > getuidHow about finding more information out about the system itself?
You will get the answer with the help command.
1This might take a little bit of googling, what do we run to load mimikatz (more specifically the new version of mimikatz) so we can use it?
Answer: load kiwi
1Let's go ahead and figure out the privileges of our current user, what command do we run?
What command do we run to transfer files to our victim computer?
You will get the answer with the help command.
How about if we want to run a Metasploit module?
You will get the answer with the help command.
A simple question but still quite necessary, what command do we run to figure out the networking information and interfaces on our victim?
You will get the answer with the help command.
1One quick extra question, what command can we run in our meterpreter session to spawn a normal system shell?
You will get the answer with the help command.
Let's go ahead and run the command run autoroute -h , this will pull up the help menu for autoroute. What command do we run to add a route to the following subnet: 172.18.1.0/24? Use the -n flag in your answer.
Answer: run autoroute -s 172.18.1.0 -n 255.255.255.0
Run run autoroute -h to known the answer.
Additionally, we can start a socks4a proxy server out of this session. Background our current meterpreter session and run the command search server/socks4a . What is the full path to the socks4a auxiliary module?
Run bg to background our current session, then run search server/socks4a .
Once we've started a socks server we can modify our /etc/proxychains.conf file to include our new server. What command do we prefix our commands (outside of Metasploit) to run them through our socks4a server with proxychains?
The answer is the name of the tool itself.