Linux Gather Virtual Environment Detection - Metasploit

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

Module Overview

Name: Linux Gather Virtual Environment Detection
Module: post/linux/gather/checkvm
Source code: modules/post/linux/gather/checkvm.rb
Disclosure date: -
Last modification time: 2021-05-23 13:16:22 +0000
Supported architecture(s): -
Supported platform(s): Linux
Target service / protocol: -
Target network port(s): -
List of CVEs: -

This module attempts to determine whether the system is running inside of a virtual environment and if so, which one. This module supports detection of Hyper-V, VMWare, VirtualBox, Xen, and QEMU/KVM.

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

There are two ways to execute this post module.

From the Meterpreter prompt

The first is by using the "run" command at the Meterpreter prompt. It allows you to run the post module against that specific session:

meterpreter > run post/linux/gather/checkvm

From the msf prompt

The second is by using the "use" command at the msf prompt. You will have to figure out which session ID to set manually. To list all session IDs, you can use the "sessions" command.

msf > use post/linux/gather/checkvm
msf post(checkvm) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf post(checkvm) > set SESSION session-id
msf post(checkvm) > exploit

If you wish to run the post against all sessions from framework, here is how:

1 - Create the following resource script:

framework.sessions.each_pair do |sid, session|
  run_single("use post/linux/gather/checkvm")
  run_single("set SESSION #{sid}")
  run_single("run")
end

2 - At the msf prompt, execute the above resource script:

msf > resource path-to-resource-script

Required Options

• SESSION: The session to run this module on.

Knowledge Base

msf > use auxiliary/scanner/ssh/ssh_login
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > set username root
username => root
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > set password "test"
password => example_password
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > set rhosts 127.0.0.1
rhosts => 127.0.0.1
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > exploit

[*] SSH - Starting bruteforce
[-] SSH - Could not connect: The connection was refused by the remote host (127.0.0.1:22).
[!] No active DB -- Credential data will not be saved!
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > exploit

[*] SSH - Starting bruteforce
[+] SSH - Success: 'root:test' 'uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root) Linux k 4.6.0-kali1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.6.4-1kali1 (2016-07-21) x86_64 GNU/Linux '
[!] No active DB -- Credential data will not be saved!
[*] Command shell session 1 opened (127.0.0.1:41521 -> 127.0.0.1:22) at 2016-09-14 00:14:36 -0400
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed
msf auxiliary(ssh_login) > use post/linux/gather/checkvm 
msf post(checkvm) > set session 1
session => 1
msf post(checkvm) > run

[*] Gathering System info ....
[+] This appears to be a 'Xen' virtual machine
[*] Post module execution completed

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Msfconsole Usage

Here is how the linux/gather/checkvm post exploitation module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use post/linux/gather/checkvm

msf6 post(linux/gather/checkvm) > show info

       Name: Linux Gather Virtual Environment Detection
     Module: post/linux/gather/checkvm
   Platform: Linux
       Arch: 
       Rank: Normal

Provided by:
  Carlos Perez <[email protected]>

Compatible session types:
  Meterpreter
  Shell

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

Description:
  This module attempts to determine whether the system is running 
  inside of a virtual environment and if so, which one. This module 
  supports detection of Hyper-V, VMWare, VirtualBox, Xen, and 
  QEMU/KVM.

Module Options

This is a complete list of options available in the linux/gather/checkvm post exploitation module:

msf6 post(linux/gather/checkvm) > show options

Module options (post/linux/gather/checkvm):

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

Advanced Options

Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the linux/gather/checkvm post exploitation module:

msf6 post(linux/gather/checkvm) > show advanced

Module advanced options (post/linux/gather/checkvm):

   Name       Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----       ---------------  --------  -----------
   VERBOSE    false            no        Enable detailed status messages
   WORKSPACE                   no        Specify the workspace for this module

Post Actions

This is a list of all post exploitation actions which the linux/gather/checkvm module can do:

msf6 post(linux/gather/checkvm) > show actions

Post actions:

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

Evasion Options

Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the linux/gather/checkvm post exploitation module in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):

msf6 post(linux/gather/checkvm) > 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:

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.

This does not appear to be a virtual machine

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "This does not appear to be a virtual machine" error message:

163:	    end
164:	
165:	    if vm
166:	      print_good("This appears to be a '#{vm}' virtual machine")
167:	      report_virtualization(vm)
168:	    else
169:	      print_status('This does not appear to be a virtual machine')
170:	    end
171:	
172:	  end
173:	end

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Related Pull Requests

• #15236 Merged Pull Request: Update checkvm.rb
• #15065 Merged Pull Request: Fix linux checkvm bug
• #8799 Merged Pull Request: Add module to detect Docker, LXC, and systemd-nspawn containers
• #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
• #2525 Merged Pull Request: Change module boilerplate
• #2304 Merged Pull Request: Fix load order in posts, hopefully forever
• #1241 Merged Pull Request: Removed all $Id$ and $Revision$ occurences

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See Also

Check also the following modules related to this module:

• post/linux/gather/checkcontainer
• post/linux/gather/ecryptfs_creds
• post/linux/gather/enum_commands
• post/linux/gather/enum_configs
• post/linux/gather/enum_containers
• post/linux/gather/enum_nagios_xi
• post/linux/gather/enum_network
• post/linux/gather/enum_protections
• post/linux/gather/enum_psk
• post/linux/gather/enum_system
• post/linux/gather/enum_users_history
• post/linux/gather/gnome_commander_creds
• post/linux/gather/gnome_keyring_dump
• post/linux/gather/haserl_read
• post/linux/gather/hashdump
• post/linux/gather/manageengine_password_manager_creds
• post/linux/gather/mimipenguin
• post/linux/gather/mount_cifs_creds
• post/linux/gather/openvpn_credentials
• post/linux/gather/phpmyadmin_credsteal
• post/linux/gather/pptpd_chap_secrets
• post/linux/gather/tor_hiddenservices
• post/linux/gather/vcenter_secrets_dump

Authors

• Carlos Perez <carlos_perez[at]darkoperator.com>

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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