This tool can be used during internal
penetration testing to dump Windows
credentials from an already-compromised host. It allows one to dump SYSTEM, SECURITY and SAM registry hives and once copied to the attacker machines provides an option to delete these files to clear the trace.
Often, this is a repetitive process, once an attacker gets system-level access on the compromised host dumping hives values is the next step. Time is very valuable when it comes to internal penetration testing.
HiveJack will save you plenty of time when it comes to dumping and deleting the files.
You'll never have to remember the command to perform the actions. ;)
Files dumped in the
c:\temp\ folder of the compromised host:
Files are successfully deleted from the compromised host upon clicking on the
Delete Hives button:
Any suggestions or ideas for this tool are welcome - just tweet me on
@ManiarViralA hive is a logical group of keys, subkeys, and values in the registry that has a set of supporting files loaded into memory when the operating system is started or a user logs in.
Registry files have the following two formats:
- Standard format: Supported from Windows 2000, also supported in the later versions of the Windows for backward compatibility
- Latest format: Supported starting with Windows XP
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security, and HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT; all other hives use the latest format.
During an internal penetration test, the attacker often wants to perform a
lateral movement from one host to the other. To move from one host to the other attacker often requires account credentials. Using
HiveJack attacker would be able to gather credentials via system hives.
HiveJack is useful once the attacker has successfully gained local admin or system privileges on one of the compromised hosts. To further gain access within the network attacker can use registry hives. Dumping these hives would allow an attacker to capture system users' password hashes.
Upon dumping the registry hives and pulling it on the attacking box one can use a tool such as
secretsdump available here:
https://github.com/SecureAuthCorp/impacket/blob/master/examples/secretsdump.pyOnce the password hashes are obtained it opens the doors to a variety of attacks such as pass-the-hash, spraying or password cracking to perform a lateral movement within the network.
When hive files are copied to the attacking machine it is a good practice to delete the files from the
temp folder to avoid leaking of sensitive files or cleaning the traces.
Quick TipIt is a good practice to check the
C:\Windows\repair\ location to obtain the SAM and SYSTEM files to avoid detection from EDR solutions. However, this directory contains outdated copies of the original
C:\Windows\System32\config\ files so it might not reflect the current users' credentials. However, if the
passwords are cracked it may be useful to know any password patterns such as
Winter2020 or
Summer2020How do I use this?Method 1:Use a HiveJack.exe file from the release section (
https://github.com/Viralmaniar/HiveJack/releases/download/v1.0/HiveJack.exe) and run it on the compromised host. The hives will get stored at the
c:\temp\ folder.
Method 2:Open the solution using
Visual Studio and look at the code to build the solution.
Note: Please make sure you have a
temp folder in the 'C:' Drive of the compromised host before dumping the registry hives.
Questions?Twitter:
https://twitter.com/maniarviralLinkedIn:
https://au.linkedin.com/in/viralmaniarContribution & LicenseMIT License
Copyright (c) 2020 Viral Maniar
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
Any suggestions or ideas for this tool are welcome - just tweet me on
@ManiarViral @PreemptiveCybervia
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