Wordpress XML-RPC Username/Password Login Scanner - Metasploit


This page contains detailed information about how to use the auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

Module Overview


Name: Wordpress XML-RPC Username/Password Login Scanner
Module: auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login
Source code: modules/auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login.rb
Disclosure date: -
Last modification time: 2021-08-31 17:10:07 +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-1999-0502

This module attempts to authenticate against a Wordpress-site (via XMLRPC) using username and password combinations indicated by the USER_FILE, PASS_FILE, and USERPASS_FILE options.

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


This module is a scanner module, and is capable of testing against multiple hosts.

msf > use auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login
msf auxiliary(wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf auxiliary(wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set RHOSTS ip-range
msf auxiliary(wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > exploit

Other examples of setting the RHOSTS option:

Example 1:

msf auxiliary(wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.3-192.168.1.200 

Example 2:

msf auxiliary(wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.1/24

Example 3:

msf auxiliary(wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set RHOSTS file:/tmp/ip_list.txt

Required Options


  • RHOSTS: The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'

Knowledge Base


Vulnerable Application


This module attempts to authenticate against a Wordpress-site (via XMLRPC) using username and password combinations indicated by the USER_FILE, PASS_FILE, and USERPASS_FILE options.

Setup using Docksal

Install Docksal

Create a new WordPress installation using fin project create

fin project create
1. Name your project (lowercase alphanumeric, underscore, and hyphen): msf-wp

2. What would you like to install?
  PHP based
    1.  Drupal 8
    2.  Drupal 8 (Composer Version)
    3.  Drupal 7
    4.  Wordpress
    5.  Magento
    6.  Laravel
    7.  Symfony Skeleton
    8.  Symfony WebApp
    9.  Grav CMS
    10. Backdrop CMS

  Go based
    11. Hugo

  JS based
    12. Gatsby JS
    13. Angular

  HTML
    14. Static HTML site

Enter your choice (1-14): 4

Project folder:   /home/weh/dev/msf-wp
Project software: Wordpress
Project URL:      http://msf-wp.docksal

Do you wish to proceed? [y/n]: y
Cloning repository...
Cloning into 'msf-wp'...
...
3. Installing site
 Step 1  Initializing stack...
Removing containers...
...
Starting services...
Creating network "msf-wp_default" with the default driver
Creating volume "msf-wp_cli_home" with default driver
Creating volume "msf-wp_project_root" with local driver
Creating volume "msf-wp_db_data" with default driver
Creating msf-wp_db_1  ... done
Creating msf-wp_cli_1 ... done
Creating msf-wp_web_1 ... done
Connected vhost-proxy to "msf-wp_default" network.
Waiting for project stack to become ready...
 Step 2  Initializing site...
 Step 2  Generating wp-config.php...
Success: Generated 'wp-config.php' file.
 Step 3  Installing site...
msmtp: envelope-from address is missing
Success: WordPress installed successfully.

Open http://msf-wp.docksal in your browser to verify the setup.
Admin panel: http://msf-wp.docksal/wp-admin. User/password: admin/admin  
 DONE!  Completed all initialization steps.

Verification Steps


  1. Do: use auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login
  2. Do: set RHOSTS [IP]
  3. Do: set VHOST [HOSTNAME]
  4. Do: set USERNAME [user]
  5. Do: set PASSWORD [pass]
  6. Do: run

Options


USERNAME

A specific username to authenticate as

USER_FILE

File containing usernames, one per line

PASSWORD

A specific password to authenticate with

PASS_FILE

File containing passwords, one per line

USERPASS_FILE

File containing users and passwords separated by space, one pair per line

USER_AS_PASS

Try the username as the password for all users (default: false)

Scenarios


Wordpress 5.2 running in Docksal

Follow the Instructions above to setup the Docksal Containers.

msf5 > use auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login 
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set RHOST msf-wp.docksal
RHOST => msf-wp.docksal
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set VHOST msf-wp.docksal
VHOST => msf-wp.docksal
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set USERNAME admin
USERNAME => admin
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set PASSWORD admin
PASSWORD => admin
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > run

[*] 192.168.64.100:80    :/xmlrpc.php - Sending Hello...
[+] 192.168.64.100:80 - XMLRPC enabled, Hello message received!
[*] Starting XML-RPC login sweep...
[+] 192.168.64.100:80 - Success: 'admin:admin'
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > 

Wordpress 5.2 with disabled or protected XMLRPC

You may see this message also, if you forgot to set the VHOST option.

msf5 > use auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login 
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set RHOST msf-wp.docksal
RHOST => msf-wp.docksal
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set USERNAME admin
USERNAME => admin
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > set PASSWORD admin
PASSWORD => admin
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > run

[*] 192.168.64.100:80    :/xmlrpc.php - Sending Hello...
[-] XMLRPC is not enabled! Aborting
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > 

Go back to menu.

Msfconsole Usage


Here is how the scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login auxiliary module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > show info

       Name: Wordpress XML-RPC Username/Password Login Scanner
     Module: auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login
    License: Metasploit Framework License (BSD)
       Rank: Normal

Provided by:
  Cenk Kalpakoglu <[email protected]>

Check supported:
  No

Basic options:
  Name              Current Setting  Required  Description
  ----              ---------------  --------  -----------
  BRUTEFORCE_SPEED  5                yes       How fast to bruteforce, from 0 to 5
  DB_ALL_CREDS      false            no        Try each user/password couple stored in the current database
  DB_ALL_PASS       false            no        Add all passwords in the current database to the list
  DB_ALL_USERS      false            no        Add all users in the current database to the list
  PASSWORD                           no        A specific password to authenticate with
  PASS_FILE                          no        File containing passwords, one per line
  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
  STOP_ON_SUCCESS   false            yes       Stop guessing when a credential works for a host
  TARGETURI         /                yes       The base path to the wordpress application
  THREADS           1                yes       The number of concurrent threads (max one per host)
  USERNAME                           no        A specific username to authenticate as
  USERPASS_FILE                      no        File containing users and passwords separated by space, one pair per line
  USER_AS_PASS      false            no        Try the username as the password for all users
  USER_FILE                          no        File containing usernames, one per line
  VERBOSE           true             yes       Whether to print output for all attempts
  VHOST                              no        HTTP server virtual host

Description:
  This module attempts to authenticate against a Wordpress-site (via 
  XMLRPC) using username and password combinations indicated by the 
  USER_FILE, PASS_FILE, and USERPASS_FILE options.

References:
  https://wordpress.org/
  http://www.ethicalhack3r.co.uk/security/introduction-to-the-wordpress-xml-rpc-api/
  https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-1999-0502

Module Options


This is a complete list of options available in the scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login auxiliary module:

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > show options

Module options (auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login):

   Name              Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----              ---------------  --------  -----------
   BRUTEFORCE_SPEED  5                yes       How fast to bruteforce, from 0 to 5
   DB_ALL_CREDS      false            no        Try each user/password couple stored in the current database
   DB_ALL_PASS       false            no        Add all passwords in the current database to the list
   DB_ALL_USERS      false            no        Add all users in the current database to the list
   PASSWORD                           no        A specific password to authenticate with
   PASS_FILE                          no        File containing passwords, one per line
   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
   STOP_ON_SUCCESS   false            yes       Stop guessing when a credential works for a host
   TARGETURI         /                yes       The base path to the wordpress application
   THREADS           1                yes       The number of concurrent threads (max one per host)
   USERNAME                           no        A specific username to authenticate as
   USERPASS_FILE                      no        File containing users and passwords separated by space, one pair per line
   USER_AS_PASS      false            no        Try the username as the password for all users
   USER_FILE                          no        File containing usernames, one per line
   VERBOSE           true             yes       Whether to print output for all attempts
   VHOST                              no        HTTP server virtual host

Advanced Options


Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login auxiliary module:

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > show advanced

Module advanced options (auxiliary/scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login):

   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
   MaxGuessesPerService  0                                                   no        Maximum number of credentials to try per service instance. If set to zero or a non-number, this option will not be used.
   MaxGuessesPerUser     0                                                   no        Maximum guesses for a particular username for the service instance. Note that users are considered unique among different services, so a user at 10.1.1.1:22
                                                                                        is different from one at 10.2.2.2:22, and both will be tried up to the MaxGuessesPerUser limit. If set to zero or a non-number, this option will not be use
                                                                                       d.
   MaxMinutesPerService  0                                                   no        Maximum time in minutes to bruteforce the service instance. If set to zero or a non-number, this option will not be used.
   REMOVE_PASS_FILE      false                                               yes       Automatically delete the PASS_FILE on module completion
   REMOVE_USERPASS_FILE  false                                               yes       Automatically delete the USERPASS_FILE on module completion
   REMOVE_USER_FILE      false                                               yes       Automatically delete the USER_FILE on module completion
   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)
   ShowProgress          true                                                yes       Display progress messages during a scan
   ShowProgressPercent   10                                                  yes       The interval in percent that progress should be shown
   TRANSITION_DELAY      0                                                   no        Amount of time (in minutes) to delay before transitioning to the next user in the array (or password when PASSWORD_SPRAY=true)
   UserAgent             Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)  no        The User-Agent header to use for all requests
   WORKSPACE                                                                 no        Specify the workspace for this module
   WPCHECK               true                                                yes       Check if the website is a valid WordPress install
   WPCONTENTDIR          wp-content                                          yes       The name of the wp-content directory

Auxiliary Actions


This is a list of all auxiliary actions that the scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login module can do:

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > show actions

Auxiliary actions:

   Name  Description
   ----  -----------

Evasion Options


Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login auxiliary module in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/http/wordpress_xmlrpc_login) > 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

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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.

XMLRPC is not enabled! Aborting


Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "XMLRPC is not enabled! Aborting" error message:

44:	  def run_host(ip)
45:	    print_status("#{peer}:#{wordpress_url_xmlrpc} - Sending Hello...")
46:	    if wordpress_xmlrpc_enabled?
47:	      vprint_good("XMLRPC enabled, Hello message received!")
48:	    else
49:	      print_error("XMLRPC is not enabled! Aborting")
50:	      return :abort
51:	    end
52:	
53:	    print_status("Starting XML-RPC login sweep...")
54:	

Could not connect


Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Could not connect" error message:

82:	          credential_data[:core] = credential_core
83:	          create_credential_login(credential_data)
84:	          :next_user
85:	        when Metasploit::Model::Login::Status::UNABLE_TO_CONNECT
86:	          if datastore['VERBOSE']
87:	            print_brute :level => :verror, :ip => ip, :msg => "Could not connect"
88:	          end
89:	          invalidate_login(credential_data)
90:	          :abort
91:	        when Metasploit::Model::Login::Status::INCORRECT
92:	          if datastore['VERBOSE']

Failed: '<RESULT.CREDENTIAL>'


Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Failed: '<RESULT.CREDENTIAL>'" error message:

88:	          end
89:	          invalidate_login(credential_data)
90:	          :abort
91:	        when Metasploit::Model::Login::Status::INCORRECT
92:	          if datastore['VERBOSE']
93:	            print_brute :level => :verror, :ip => ip, :msg => "Failed: '#{result.credential}'"
94:	          end
95:	          invalidate_login(credential_data)
96:	      end
97:	    end
98:	

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References


See Also


Check also the following modules related to this module:

Related Nessus plugins:

Authors


  • Cenk Kalpakoglu <cenk.kalpakoglu[at]gmail.com>

Version


This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.1.29-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

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