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The teamserver response is controlled by the http-get server portion of the profile. If the teamserver has taskings for the Beacon, it will provide them in the response to the next check-in request. Beacon will thereafter check-in at the designated sleep interval. This is controlled by the http-get client portion of the profile. After Beacon stages, it sends a GET request to the server with host metadata. This may seem like a lot to fill out per profile, but it is manageable and provides extensive customization options.īefore we go further, it’s useful to understand the basics about how Beacon communicates. Creating the ProfileĮach profile contains the following elements:
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Enumerate specific applications using open source intelligence gathering techniques where possible. For instance, if our target is the loan processing department at a financial institution, a digital document signing service (like Docusign) would likely blend in. In a highly-targeted test, this may mean creating individual profiles per targeted department. If a network defender does end up reviewing our traffic, we want to maximize the chances of being dismissed as legitimate. Ideally, our Cobalt Strike C2 traffic will blend in with normal traffic on the target network. Choosing a Target ProfileĬonsider your target environment when deciding on the website or application we want to emulate. A GitHub repo with the Bing web search and my other profiles can be found here. The aim of the post is not to cover every option Malleable C2 provides (that’s what documentation is for!) rather, the goal is to provide a workflow for traffic selection and profile creation.
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This post covers how to create new Malleable C2 profiles for Cobalt Strike, using Bing web search as an example. A big thanks to both Raphael and Will for their previous work! Will Schroeder ( also covered Malleable C2 in his post A Brave New World: Malleable C2. Cobalt Strike 3.6 - A Path for Privilege Escalation.Cobalt Strike 2.0 - Malleable Command and Control.Malleable Command and Control Documentation.Raphael Mudge ( previously covered Malleable C2 in the official Cobalt Strike documentation as well as on his blog: Alternatively, if a client wants to test detection capabilities, you could make your traffic look like a well-known malware toolkit like Zeus. For instance, if you determine your target organization allows employees to use Pandora, you could create a profile to make Cobalt Strike’s C2 traffic look like Pandora on the wire. Malleable C2 provides operators with a method to mold Cobalt Strike command and control traffic to their will. Cobalt Strike’s Malleable C2 is a method of avoiding that problem when it comes to command and control (C2) traffic. It’s even less fun if that signature is easily bypassed. It’s not fun to get caught on an assessment because your target has your toolset signatured.
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