gh0st InfoSec Blog

     From the last attack that we accomplished; we were able to gain a user’s credentials. This opens more attacks for us to attempt on the network. The first that I’m going to attempt is an attack dumping the SAM and LSA Secrets files to get the accounts associated with the workstation and possibly search for local admin password re-use. The program that we will be doing this with is secretsdump.py in the impacket’s repository. This is a large repository of applications that are great for attacks against an Active Directory environment. You can access the repository from this link. impacket In your kali, type in “git clone https://github.com/fortra/impacket” and this will download the impacket’s repository with all the applications in it.

     In an active directory environment, attackers can use the mistakes of the users to their advantage to gain information that they should otherwise not have access to. One such attack is exploiting LLMNR and using it to gather user credentials. The LLMNR, Link-Local Multicast Name Resolution, protocol is used to locate host in a local network without the need of DNS. It will do so by contacting every machine in its network asking for a specific hostname in hopes to find it. As an attacker, this can be very beneficial. If we are on that network, that query will be sent to us as well, which we can respond to. Attackers can use the program Responder to answer this query and request the machine to give their username and hash to authenticate. It will in turn hand over their credentials to the attacker who can use that credential to further their attacks. [1]

     The first attacker machine that we are going to set up is a Kali Linux machine. This is a popular operating system for attackers as it has many of the tools that they need come pre-installed. We will be creating another attacker virtual machine much later on using the Windows operating system.  To install this operating system, go to the Kali Linux website and scroll down till you see the virtual machine tab and select your virtual machine application that you are using. You can use the link provided as well. 

For the initial creation, I'm going to create 5 machines in total. 1 Microsoft Windows Server 2016 3 Windows 10 Enterprise Workstations 1 Kali Linux Machine      To create the virtual machines of the Windows Server and Enterprise, you will need the ISO files of these systems. These can be found at the following links. You may be required to fill out a form of information, however, this has no checking on it so you can use completely fake information. Windows Server 2016 Windows 10 Enterprise Kali Linux      You might be wondering why I chose a 2016 server. In company networks, the most common servers you are going to come across are 2012 and 2016, there will be minimal 2019. Outside of those, it is rare to find other Active Directory server years, so I chose the more recent of the two most common.      I will get into how to set up the Kali Linux machine in the next post where I will cover the installation of the system and tools that you...

     This post is the beginning of my Virtual Home Lab series. This series will go into how I set up my home lab and act as a guide to help anyone attempting to create their own Active Directory lab environment. These blog posts will go into my thought process, guide to creating the environment, and demonstrating attacks you can simulate in this Active Directory environment.      I want to start by laying out some plans before flying in blind into this project. I want to have a base understanding of where I want this project to go, and where I might want this project to possibly end if at all. To start I'm going to lay out the components that I know I want this lab to eventually include.  2 Active Directory Domain Controllers  1 Active Directory Certificate Services Server 2+ Windows Workstations Multiple Organizational Units Many Domain Users I would like this lab to allow me to simulate the following attacks.  Responder Bloodhound Enumerati...