POP3 Login Utility - Metasploit
This page contains detailed information about how to use the auxiliary/scanner/pop3/pop3_login metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.
Module Overview
Name: POP3 Login Utility
Module: auxiliary/scanner/pop3/pop3_login
Source code: modules/auxiliary/scanner/pop3/pop3_login.rb
Disclosure date: -
Last modification time: 2021-08-31 17:10:07 +0000
Supported architecture(s): -
Supported platform(s): -
Target service / protocol: -
Target network port(s): 110
List of CVEs: -
This module attempts to authenticate to an POP3 service.
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/pop3/pop3_login
msf auxiliary(pop3_login) > show options
... show and set options ...
msf auxiliary(pop3_login) > set RHOSTS ip-range
msf auxiliary(pop3_login) > exploit
Other examples of setting the RHOSTS option:
Example 1:
msf auxiliary(pop3_login) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.3-192.168.1.200
Example 2:
msf auxiliary(pop3_login) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.1/24
Example 3:
msf auxiliary(pop3_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>'
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Msfconsole Usage
Here is how the scanner/pop3/pop3_login auxiliary module looks in the msfconsole:
msf6 > use auxiliary/scanner/pop3/pop3_login
msf6 auxiliary(scanner/pop3/pop3_login) > show info
Name: POP3 Login Utility
Module: auxiliary/scanner/pop3/pop3_login
License: Metasploit Framework License (BSD)
Rank: Normal
Provided by:
Heyder Andrade <[email protected]>
Check supported:
No
Basic options:
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
BLANK_PASSWORDS false no Try blank passwords for all users
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 /opt/metasploit-framework/embedded/framework/data/wordlists/unix_passwords.txt no The file that contains a list of probable passwords.
RHOSTS yes The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
RPORT 110 yes The target port (TCP)
STOP_ON_SUCCESS false yes Stop guessing when a credential works for a host
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 /opt/metasploit-framework/embedded/framework/data/wordlists/unix_users.txt no The file that contains a list of probable users accounts.
VERBOSE true yes Whether to print output for all attempts
Description:
This module attempts to authenticate to an POP3 service.
References:
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1734.txt
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1939.txt
Module Options
This is a complete list of options available in the scanner/pop3/pop3_login auxiliary module:
msf6 auxiliary(scanner/pop3/pop3_login) > show options
Module options (auxiliary/scanner/pop3/pop3_login):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
BLANK_PASSWORDS false no Try blank passwords for all users
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 /opt/metasploit-framework/embedded/framework/data/wordlists/unix_passwords.txt no The file that contains a list of probable passwords.
RHOSTS yes The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
RPORT 110 yes The target port (TCP)
STOP_ON_SUCCESS false yes Stop guessing when a credential works for a host
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 /opt/metasploit-framework/embedded/framework/data/wordlists/unix_users.txt no The file that contains a list of probable users accounts.
VERBOSE true yes Whether to print output for all attempts
Advanced Options
Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the scanner/pop3/pop3_login auxiliary module:
msf6 auxiliary(scanner/pop3/pop3_login) > show advanced
Module advanced options (auxiliary/scanner/pop3/pop3_login):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
CHOST no The local client address
CPORT no The local client port
ConnectTimeout 10 yes Maximum number of seconds to establish a TCP connection
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 used.
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.
Proxies no A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
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
SSL false no Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
SSLCipher no String for SSL cipher - "DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA" or "ADH"
SSLVerifyMode PEER no SSL verification method (Accepted: CLIENT_ONCE, FAIL_IF_NO_PEER_CERT, NONE, PEER)
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)
WORKSPACE no Specify the workspace for this module
Auxiliary Actions
This is a list of all auxiliary actions that the scanner/pop3/pop3_login module can do:
msf6 auxiliary(scanner/pop3/pop3_login) > show actions
Auxiliary actions:
Name Description
---- -----------
Evasion Options
Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the scanner/pop3/pop3_login auxiliary module in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):
msf6 auxiliary(scanner/pop3/pop3_login) > show evasion
Module evasion options:
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
TCP::max_send_size 0 no Maxiumum tcp segment size. (0 = disable)
TCP::send_delay 0 no Delays inserted before every send. (0 = disable)
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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.
Could not connect: <RESULT.PROOF>
Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Could not connect: <RESULT.PROOF>" error message:
89: credential_data[:core] = credential_core
90: create_credential_login(credential_data)
91: next
92: when Metasploit::Model::Login::Status::UNABLE_TO_CONNECT
93: if datastore['VERBOSE']
94: print_brute :level => :verror, :ip => ip, :msg => "Could not connect: #{result.proof}"
95: end
96: when Metasploit::Model::Login::Status::INCORRECT
97: if datastore['VERBOSE']
98: print_brute :level => :verror, :ip => ip, :msg => "Failed: '#{result.credential}', '#{result.proof.to_s.chomp}'"
99: end
Failed: '<RESULT.CREDENTIAL>', '<RESULT.PROOF.TO_S.CHOMP>'
Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Failed: '<RESULT.CREDENTIAL>', '<RESULT.PROOF.TO_S.CHOMP>'" error message:
93: if datastore['VERBOSE']
94: print_brute :level => :verror, :ip => ip, :msg => "Could not connect: #{result.proof}"
95: end
96: when Metasploit::Model::Login::Status::INCORRECT
97: if datastore['VERBOSE']
98: print_brute :level => :verror, :ip => ip, :msg => "Failed: '#{result.credential}', '#{result.proof.to_s.chomp}'"
99: end
100: end
101:
102: # If we got here, it didn't work
103: invalidate_login(credential_data)
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Related Pull Requests
- #12022 Merged Pull Request: Deregister PASSWORD_SPRAY option for LoginScanner modules
- #9085 Merged Pull Request: Make pop3_login scanner proxy-aware again
- #8716 Merged Pull Request: Print_Status -> Print_Good (And OCD bits 'n bobs)
- #8338 Merged Pull Request: Fix msf/core and self.class msftidy warnings
- #6655 Merged Pull Request: use MetasploitModule as a class name
- #6648 Merged Pull Request: Change metasploit class names
- #6216 Merged Pull Request: Resolve 'duplicate key' warning for some modules
- #6014 Merged Pull Request: Related to #4803, Update LoginScanner modules to have into account TCP advanced options
- #5068 Merged Pull Request: Clean up authors
- #4737 Merged Pull Request: Preserve Context in LoginScanner socket calls, fixes #4723
- #4364 Merged Pull Request: Modules should respect bruteforce_speed again
- #4057 Merged Pull Request: Re-eneable tcp evasions in some LoginScanners
- #4052 Merged Pull Request: Restore 'Proxies' option for LoginScanners
- #3999 Merged Pull Request: Fix #3995 - Make negative messages less verbose for LoginScanner modules
- #3815 Merged Pull Request: Explicitly require credential_collection
- #3746 Merged Pull Request: Feature/msp 11162/db all creds
- #2525 Merged Pull Request: Change module boilerplate
- #2249 Merged Pull Request: Use OptPath instead of OptString to ensure path validation
- #1228 Merged Pull Request: MSFTIDY cleanup #1 - auxiliary
References
See Also
Check also the following modules related to this module:
- auxiliary/scanner/pop3/pop3_version
- auxiliary/server/capture/pop3
- exploit/linux/pop3/cyrus_pop3d_popsubfolders
- exploit/windows/pop3/seattlelab_pass
- exploit/dialup/multi/login/manyargs
Authors
- Heyder Andrade <heyder[at]alligatorteam.org>
Version
This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.1.24-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.
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