TryHackMe Velociraptor Walk-Through

First task that has any questions is…

Task 2

Question 1: Using the documentation, how would you launch an Instant Velociraptor on Windows?

It’s in the documentation. Scroll to “Instant Velociraptor” and you will find…

Answer: Velociraptor.exe gui

Task 3

Question 1: What is the hostname for the client?

Open the Ubuntu terminal and run:

./velociraptor-v0.5.8-linux-amd64 --config velociraptor.config.yaml frontend -v

Let that run for a while….

Then launch Chrome and click on the short cut under the search bar called Velociraptor

If you get the warning about your connection not being private, click the advanced button, then proceed to 127.0.0.1

Enter the sign-in information given in task 3 instructions.

Once it comes up click on the magnifying glass next to the search bar:

Then this loads…

Boom! Hostname.

Answer:

thm-velociraptor.eu-west-1.compute.internal

Question 2: What is listed as the agent version?

From our last step go ahead and click on that Client ID link. It opens up a page with Agent Version on it.

Answer:

2021-04-11T22:11:10Z

Question 3: In the Collected tab, what was the VQL command to query the client user accounts?

Click the collected button at the top of the page. Then click on the requests tab in the bottom frame. The VQL statement we are looking for is the fourth one down:

Answer:

LET Generic_Client_Info_Users_0_0=SELECT Name, Description, Mtime AS LastLogin FROM Artifact.Windows.Sys.Users()

Question 4: In the Collected tab, check the results for the PowerShell whoami command you executed previously. What is the column header that shows the output of the command?

If you didn’t run the whoami command while running through the instructions, do that now. Click on magnifying glass then the Client ID and then on the right upper of the screen you will see the “>_ Shell” button click that run whoami. Then you will see this in the results tab here:

In the screenshot above you can see the column header name is Stdout.

Answer: Stdout

Question 5: In the Shell, run the following PowerShell command Get-Date. What was the PowerShell command executed with VQL to retrieve the result?

This is not the same as pulling the VQL from the previous answer. For this one we have to go to the Log tab after we run the command. There we find the VQL command that was run in the second line. Copy that out starting at the [powershell…

Answer:

[powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -encodedCommand RwBlAHQALQBEAGEAdABlAA==]

Task 4

Question 1: Earlier you created a new artifact collection for Windows.KapeFiles.Targets. You configured the parameters to include Ubuntu artifacts. Review the parameter description for this setting. What is this parameter specifically looking for?

The answer for this is in the screenshots for the instructions:

Answer: Ubuntu on Windows Subsystem for Linux

Question 2: Review the output. How many files were uploaded?

I hope you did the exercise otherwise, you won’t find the answer. Take the time go back and do the exercise, then you can find the answer after the process completes:

I’m pretty sure I didn’t do anything wrong here. I see 19 files uploaded and saw other walk-through’s getting the same answer. But the answer TryHackMe wants is 20.

Answer: 20

Task 5

Question 1: Which accessor can access hidden NTFS files and Alternate Data Streams? (format: xyz accessor)

The answer to this is in the documentation. Read the paragraph under VFS accessors.

Answer: ntfs accessor

Question 2: Which accessor provides file-like access to the registry? (format: xyz accessor)

This answer is also in the documentation same section.

Answer: registry accessor

Question 3: What is the name of the file in $Recycle.Bin?

Ok, time to get real. Dive back into Velociraptor and click the little file folder on the left navigation, it’s called virtual file system in the nav. Click File > C: > $Recycle.Bin ? S-1….. file folder under recyclebin. There is your file.

Answer: desktop.ini

Question 4: There is hidden text in a file located in the Admin’s Documents folder. What is the flag?

Alright, Click C: again followed by Users > Administrator > Documents.

The file we want is called flag.txt and we will need to collect it from the host, in order to get the Textview tab to be clickable.

Answer: THM{VkVMT0NJUkFQVE9S}

Task 6

Question 1: What is followed after the SELECT keyword in a standard VQL query?

The answer to this question is found in the documentation. Read the Whitespace section.

Answer: Column Selectors

Question 2: What goes after the FROM keyword?

Keep reading same sentence to get the next anwser.

Answer: VQL Plugin

Question 3: What is followed by the WHERE keyword?

Just keep reading.. Just keep reading… next sentence has the next answer.

Answer: filter expression

Question marked by a “?”. This is also in the documentation, but you will need to navigate to notebooks. Look in number 5 for…

After clicking the Edit Cell button, you can type VQL directory into the cell. As you type, the GUI offers context sensitive suggestions about what possible completions can appear at the cursor. Typing “?” will show all suggestions possible.

Answer: ?

Question: What plugin would you use to run PowerShell code from Velociraptor?

Back to the documentation. Read the section about “Extending Artifacts – PowerShell” to find…

Answer: execve()

Task 7

Question 1: What are the arguments for parse_mft()?

It’s in the documentation. Look under time analysis for…

Answer: parse_mft(filename=”C:/$MFT”, accessor=”ntfs”)

Question 2: What filter expression will ensure that no directories are returned in the results?

Once again answer in the documentation. Filesystem doc under Glob Results.

Answer: IsDir

Task 8

Start the new machine.

Question 1: What is the name in the Artifact Exchange to detect Printnightmare?

Start up Velociraptor by opening a DOS shell and typing…

cd desktop
Velociraptor.exe gui

Let’s check the documentation. Using search I found. https://docs.velociraptor.app/exchange/artifacts/pages/printnightmare/

Answer is in the documentation! Again!

Answer: Windows.Detection.PrintNightmare

Question 2: Per the above instructions, what is your Select clause? (no spaces after commas)

Replace the **** per the instructions.

Answer:

SELECT “C:/” + FullPath AS Full_Path,FileName AS File_Name,parse_pe(file=”C:/” + FullPath) AS PE

Question 3: What is the name of the DLL that was  placed by the attacker?

We have to create a notebook and plugin some VQL that we build using the previous answer as a template:

SELECT "C:/" + FullPath AS Full_Path,FileName AS File_Name,parse_pe(file="C:/" + FullPath) AS PE
FROM parse_mft(filename="C:/$MFT", accessor="ntfs")
WHERE NOT IsDir AND FullPath =~ "Windows/System32/spool/drivers" AND PE

29 rows later, we see a oddly named DLL as the last row…

Answer: nightmare.dll

Question 4: What is the PDB entry?

Once you have the above, just look at the PDB line.

Answer: C:\Users\caleb\source\repos\nightmare\x64\Release\nightmare.pdb

Weekly Cybersecurity Wrap-up 10/23/23

Webinars

Articles

Podcasts

Projects

  • LinkedIn Learning – CompTIA Security+ Module 8: Network Security Design and Implementation | This is a long one, I’m still working on it.
  • TryHackMe – SOC Level 1(87 % Complete): Volatility – Complete
  • UDemy – Python for Cybersecurity – Gitlab

Book Review: Confident Cyber Security

Confident Cyber Security: How to Get Started in Cyber Security and Futureproof Your Career by Jessica Barker

The Book in 3 Sentences

  1. Jessica Barker is the co-CEO of Cygenta and a leader in cybersecurity awareness who is very active on social media.
  2. The book acts as a primer for those interested in cyber security but don’t have a foundation in it.
  3. I think the sub-title is misleading as the book spends 95% of its content teaching the basics of cyber security, which isn’t bad in itself, but it doesn’t go deep on ‘how to get started in cyber security and futureproof your career’.

Impressions

As I said in point 3 above, the book spent all its content educating on the basics of cyber and did not dive deep into getting into the field or futureproofing your career in cyber. This is all contained in 1 chapter second to last in the book. This is not a bad book, but it doesn’t accomplish the goal on the cover. I was looking for something deeper about securing a future in a cyber career.

Who Should Read It?

Anyone interested in cybersecurity that does not already have a foundation in it. Those with a basic understanding will find, like me, 90% of the book covers the basics they already know.

How the Book Changed Me

I wouldn’t say this book had a huge impact on me. I got a couple of book and website recommendations and further solidified my cyber security understanding. Other than that, I learned maybe to abandon a book a little earlier in the future.

TryHackMe – Volatility Walk-Through

This will only cover Task 10 – Practical Investigations

Question 1: What is the build version of the host machine in Case 001?

In the above screenshot look at NTBuildLab.

Answer: 2600.xpsp.080413-2111

Question 2: At what time was the memory file acquired in Case 001?

Also, in the previous screenshot look at SystemTime.

Answer: 2012-07-22 02:45:08

Question 3: What process can be considered suspicious in Case 001?

Find the last line PID 1640.

Answer: reader_sl.exe

Question 4: What is the parent process of the suspicious process in Case 001?

See previous screenshot. It is the executable just above reader_sl.exe

Answer: explorer.exe

Question 5: What is the PID of the suspicious process in Case 001?

Also in the last screenshot, look under the PID column.

Answer: 1640

Question 6: What is the parent process PID in Case 001?

Again, same screenshot, look at the PID for explorer.exe

Answer: 1484

Question 7: What user-agent was employed by the adversary in Case 001?

We are going to use memmap to figure this out:

./vol.py -f /Scenarios/Investigations/Investigation-1.vmem -o /tmp windows.memmap --pid 1640 --dump

This will load pid.1640.dmp in tmp

Now we use string to dig deeper

Answer: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; en-US

Question 8: Was Chase Bank one of the suspicious bank domains found in Case 001? (Y/N)

Strings to the recue again…

strings /tmp/pid.1640.dmp | grep "chase"

Answer: Y

Question 9: What suspicious process is running at PID 740 in Case 002?

Okay, case 2.

./vol.py -f /Scenarios/Investigations/Investigation-2.raw windows.pstree

Look at PID 740

Answer: @WanaDecryptor@

Question 10: What is the full path of the suspicious binary in PID 740 in Case 002?

Time to break out dlllist and our friend grep

./vol.py -f /Scenarios/Investigations/Investigation-2.raw windows.dlllist | grep 740

The directory is in the second line.

Answer: C:\Intel\ivecuqmanpnirkt615\@WanaDecryptor@.exe

Question 11: What is the parent process of PID 740 in Case 002?

See screenshot above with PIDs listed. You can see that the executable before PID 740 is…

Answer: tasksche.exe

Question 12: What is the suspicious parent process PID connected to the decryptor in Case 002?

This is in the same screenshot. Basically this is asking what the PID for tasksche.exe is…

Answer: 1940

Question 13: From our current information, what malware is present on the system in Case 002?

This is kinda self-explanatory, so let’s take a wild guess..

Answer: WannaCry

Question 14: What DLL is loaded by the decryptor used for socket creation in Case 002?

PID 740 has a lot of DLLs listed. We could try each one in the answer box, but it did say socket in the question. WS stands for WinSock as in Winsock DLLs.

Answer: WS2_32.dll

Question 15: What mutex can be found that is a known indicator of the malware in question in Case 002?

We are going to use handles on this one and look for PID 1940

./vol.py -f /Scenarios/Investigations/Investigation-2.raw windows.handles | grep 1940

I could have searched for this one, but it popped out of the screen when looking for mutex…

Answer: MsWinZonesCacheCounterMutexA

Question 16: What plugin could be used to identify all files loaded from the malware working directory in Case 002?

Again, we look at the reference and find filescan

Answer: windows.filescan

Weekly Cybersecurity Wrap-up 10/16/23

Webinars

Articles

Podcasts

Projects

LinkedIn Learning – CompTIA Security+ Module 8: Network Security Design and Implementation

TryHackMe – SOC Level 1(85 % Complete): KAPE – Complete

Python for Cybersecurity (Section 5 out of 10)

Weekly Cybersecurity Wrap-up 10/9/23

Webinars

Articles

Podcasts

  • Cyberwire – Ep 1925 | 10.12.23 – Hacktivism, auxiliaries, and the cyber phases of two hybrid wars. Challenges of content moderation. Cyberespionage in the supply chain. Don’t buy all the hype, but do fix your Linux libraries.

Projects

TryHackMe – SOC Level 1(82 % Complete): Autopsy, Redline – Complete

Weekly Cybersecurity Wrap-up 10/2/23

Webinars

I tried this and found Chat GPT to be helpful writing about myself and using “resume speak”.

Articles

Podcasts

  • Cyberwire Daily – Ep 1918 | 10.2.23 – Adventures of ransomware, and other developments in cybercrime. Cyberespionage and hybrid warfare. A government shutdown averted. Cybersecurity Awareness Month is underway.
  • Cyberwire Daily – Ep 1919 | 10.3.23 – Where ICS touches the Internet. BunnyLoader traded in C2C markets. Phantom Hacker scams. API risks. Cybersecurity attitudes and behavior. DHS IG reports on two cyber issues. Updates on the hybrid war.
  • Cyberwire Daily Ep 1921 | 10.5.23 – Security risks in the hardware and software supply chains. Patches and proofs-of-concept. A look at recent incidents hitting major corporations. Online surveillance and social credit in Russia.
  • Smashing Security 342: Royal family attacked, keyless car theft, and a deepfake Tom Hanks

Projects

Weekly Cybersecurity Wrap-up 9/25/23

Webinars

I’m studying for the Security+ right now. This was a good overview, but I think anyone with any technical background can skip directly to the Security+.

I’ll watch anything with Rachel Tobac in it. She is a master of social engineering!

This certificate looks like it would be worth while to do after the Security+ as it covers CISSP a lot and I’ll need lots of time to review the topics for that more difficult certificate.

Articles

Podcasts

  • CyberWire Daily – Ep 1914 | 9.26.23 – Crooks phish for guests; spies phish for drone operators. ZenRAT is used in an info-stealing campaign. More MOVEit-related incidents (some involving Cl0p). DeFi platforms hit. The UK hunts forward.
  • CyberWire Daily – Ep 1916 | 9.28.23 -Buckworm APT’s specialized tools. Cyberattack against Johnson Controls. Oversight panel reports on Section 702. Cyber in election security, and in the US industrial base. Hacktivism versus Russia.
  • CyberWire Daily – Ep 1917 | 9.29.23 – Malicious ads in a chatbot. A vulnerability gets some clarification. Cl0p switches from Tor to torrents. Influence operations as an adjunct to WMD. And NSA’s new AI Security Center.
  • Smashing Security 341: Another T-Mobile breach, ThemeBleed, and farewell Naked Security

Projects

TryHackMe – SOC Level 1(75 % Complete): Windows Forensics 2 – In Progress

Weekly Cybersecurity Wrap-up 9/17/23

Webinars

This week I watched a lot of youtubes. Some of the were okay.

The below brighttalk talk was one of the best I’ve been too and its monthly so you should really watch this and make sure to catch them monthly.

Verizon Threat Research Advisory Center MIB – Monthly Update for September. Great webinar and worth 1 CPE.

This one below from Black Hills Information Security was the best thing I watched this week. Great for beginners like me:

Articles

Podcasts

  • ISC Daily Stormcast – SANS Podcast for 8/21/23 – DNS TTls; Snatch Ransomware; npm packages; nagios xi vuln;
  • Cyberwire Daily – Ep 1910 | 9.20.23 – Hacking the ICC. ShroudedSnooper active, simple, and novel. New criminal malware used against Chinese-speakers. More on the materiality of cyberattacks.
  • BEERS WITH TALOS – Rachel Tobac on social engineering, expanding opportunities for women in cybersecurity

Projects

TryHackMe – SOC Level 1(74 % Complete): Windows Forensics 1 – Complete