Windows Manage Safe Delete - Metasploit


This page contains detailed information about how to use the post/windows/manage/sdel 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 Safe Delete
Module: post/windows/manage/sdel
Source code: modules/post/windows/manage/sdel.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: -

The goal of the module is to hinder the recovery of deleted files by overwriting its contents. This could be useful when you need to download some file on the victim machine and then delete it without leaving clues about its contents. Note that the script does not wipe the free disk space so temporary/sparse/encrypted/compressed files could not be overwritten. Note too that MTF entries are not overwritten so very small files could stay resident within the stream descriptor.

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/sdel

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/sdel
msf post(sdel) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf post(sdel) > set SESSION session-id
msf post(sdel) > 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/sdel")
  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/sdel post exploitation module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use post/windows/manage/sdel

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

       Name: Windows Manage Safe Delete
     Module: post/windows/manage/sdel
   Platform: Windows
       Arch: 
       Rank: Normal

Provided by:
  Borja Merino <[email protected]>

Compatible session types:
  Meterpreter

Basic options:
  Name        Current Setting  Required  Description
  ----        ---------------  --------  -----------
  FILE                         yes       File to be deleted
  ITERATIONS  1                no        The number of overwrite passes
  SESSION                      yes       The session to run this module on.
  ZERO        false            no        Zero overwrite. If set to false, random data will be used

Description:
  The goal of the module is to hinder the recovery of deleted files by 
  overwriting its contents. This could be useful when you need to 
  download some file on the victim machine and then delete it without 
  leaving clues about its contents. Note that the script does not wipe 
  the free disk space so temporary/sparse/encrypted/compressed files 
  could not be overwritten. Note too that MTF entries are not 
  overwritten so very small files could stay resident within the 
  stream descriptor.

Module Options

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

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

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

   Name        Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----        ---------------  --------  -----------
   FILE                         yes       File to be deleted
   ITERATIONS  1                no        The number of overwrite passes
   SESSION                      yes       The session to run this module on.
   ZERO        false            no        Zero overwrite. If set to false, random data will be used

Advanced Options

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

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

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

   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/sdel module can do:

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

Post actions:

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

Evasion Options

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

msf6 post(windows/manage/sdel) > 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.

File <FILE> does not exist

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "File <FILE> does not exist" error message:

45:	      type = 0
46:	      print_status("The file will be overwritten with null bytes")
47:	    end
48:	
49:	    if !file_exist?(file)
50:	      print_error("File #{file} does not exist")
51:	      return
52:	    elsif comp_encr(file)
53:	      print_status("File compress or encrypted. Content could not be overwritten!")
54:	    end
55:	    file_overwrite(file, type, n)

File compress or encrypted. Content could not be overwritten!

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "File compress or encrypted. Content could not be overwritten!" error message:

48:	
49:	    if !file_exist?(file)
50:	      print_error("File #{file} does not exist")
51:	      return
52:	    elsif comp_encr(file)
53:	      print_status("File compress or encrypted. Content could not be overwritten!")
54:	    end
55:	    file_overwrite(file, type, n)
56:	  end
57:	
58:	  # Function to calculate the size of the cluster

The file is too small. If it's store in the MTF (NTFS) sdel will not overwrite it!

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "The file is too small. If it's store in the MTF (NTFS) sdel will not overwrite it!" error message:

69:	  def size_on_disk(file)
70:	    size_file = session.fs.file.stat(file).size;
71:	    print_status("Size of the file: #{size_file}")
72:	
73:	    if (size_file < 800)
74:	      print_status("The file is too small. If it's store in the MTF (NTFS) sdel will not overwrite it!")
75:	    end
76:	
77:	    sizeC = size_cluster()
78:	    size_ = size_file.divmod(sizeC)
79:

The was an error writing to disk, check permissions

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "The was an error writing to disk, check permissions" error message:

120:	
121:	      # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365747(v=vs.85).aspx
122:	      w = session.railgun.kernel32.WriteFile(handle, random, real_size, 4, nil)
123:	
124:	      if w['return'] == false
125:	        print_error("The was an error writing to disk, check permissions")
126:	        return
127:	      end
128:	
129:	      print_status("#{w['lpNumberOfBytesWritten']} bytes overwritten")
130:	    end

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See Also

Check also the following modules related to this module:

Authors

  • Borja Merino <bmerinofe[at]gmail.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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