Windows Gather Virtual Environment Detection - Metasploit


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

Table Of Contents
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Module Overview

Name: Windows Gather Virtual Environment Detection
Module: post/windows/gather/checkvm
Source code: modules/post/windows/gather/checkvm.rb
Disclosure date: -
Last modification time: 2022-04-02 10:43:57 +0000
Supported architecture(s): -
Supported platform(s): Windows
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, Virtual PC, VirtualBox, Xen, and QEMU.

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/windows/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/windows/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/windows/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

This is a post-exploitation module that checks several known registry keys and process names, as a simple way to determine if your target is running inside of a virtual machine. While many of these are easy to change, triggering a false negative, this script services as a simple pre-check.

The script has been tested on a variety of Windows 10 targets, but changes to hypervisors and VM-related drivers are common. If you identify misleading output from this tool, please file an issue or, even better, submit a pull request.

The script can be run from within a Meterpreter session or from the Metasploit shell:

Within Meterpreter

meterpreter > run post/windows/gather/checkvm

From the Metasploit console

msf > use post/windows/gather/checkvm
msf post(windows/gather/checkvm) > set SESSION 1
SESSION => 1
msf post(windows/gather/checkvm) > run

[*] Checking if DESKTOP-Q05UKIU is a Virtual Machine .....
[+] This is a VMware Virtual Machine
[*] Post module execution completed

Scenarios

On a Windows 10 x64 physical machine

[*] Checking if DESKTOP-Q05UKIU is a Virtual Machine .....
[*] DESKTOP-Q05UKIU appears to be a Physical Machine

On a Windows 10 x64 VMware VM

[*] Checking if DESKTOP-Q05UKIU is a Virtual Machine .....
[+] This is a VMware Virtual Machine

On a Windows 10 x64 Hyper-V VM

[*] Checking if DESKTOP-Q05UKIU is a Virtual Machine .....
[+] This is a Hyper-V Virtual Machine running on physical host ASOTO-HYPERV-SERVER

msf > notes

[*] Time: 2018-01-17 18:31:24 UTC Note: host=192.168.77.2 type=host.hypervisor data={:hypervisor=>"MS Hyper-V"}
[*] Time: 2018-01-17 18:31:24 UTC Note: host=192.168.77.2 type=host.physicalHost data={:hypervisor=>"ASOTO-HYPERV-SERVER"}

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Msfconsole Usage

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

msf6 > use post/windows/gather/checkvm

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

       Name: Windows Gather Virtual Environment Detection
     Module: post/windows/gather/checkvm
   Platform: Windows
       Arch: 
       Rank: Normal

Provided by:
  Carlos Perez <[email protected]>
  Aaron Soto <[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, Virtual PC, VirtualBox, Xen, 
  and QEMU.

Module Options

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

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

Module options (post/windows/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 windows/gather/checkvm post exploitation module:

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

Module advanced options (post/windows/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 windows/gather/checkvm module can do:

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

Post actions:

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

Evasion Options

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

msf6 post(windows/gather/checkvm) > show evasion

Module evasion options:

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

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See Also

Check also the following modules related to this module:

Authors

  • Carlos Perez <carlos_perez[at]darkoperator.com>
  • Aaron Soto <aaron_soto[at]rapid7.com>

Version

This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.2.1-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

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