Command Line Basics for IT Auditors

7/29/2019 Command Line Basics for IT Auditors

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Practical Windows

Command Line Basics for

IT Auditing!A little cmd.exe & PowerShell that I

find useful (and maybe you, too).!!Sean Verity!


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Agenda!whoami! Why?! HOWTO(s)! References / Resources!


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whoami! Job Title: !

IS Auditor, MSUFCU! Some Experience:!

IS General Controls Testing! Network / Web App / Mobile App SecurityTesting!

An Accomplishment:! Submitted the 1st draft of a POST module(post/windows/gather/enum_unattend) to the

Metasploit Project!

This was my first adventure in ruby, msf API,and contributing to a software project!

Much thanks to sinn3r (coding) and Ben Campbell(research and enhancement) !


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Why?!


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Why?! Consistency! Timeliness! Completeness! Repeatability! Fun!


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Procedure: Review All

Local User Accounts for

Reasonableness!Consistency

!


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Windows XP!


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Windows 7!


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Windows Server 2003 R2!


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Windows 8!


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Windows 2012 Core!


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Windows XP, Windows 7, WindowsServer 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008R2, Windows 8, and Windows Server

2012 Core!


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Procedure 1: Review All Local User Accounts for

Reasonableness Procedure 2: Review the Firewall Settings for

Reasonableness Procedure 3: Determine if the system is up-to-

date on Microsoft Security Updates Procedure 4:

Determine if the system storespasswords using weak hashing algorithms (i.e. LM) Procedure 5: Determine if administrative access

is being reasonably managed!

Timeliness!Completeness!Repeatability!


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Pros! Cons!Send me such and such

screenshot(s) tends to be a

very familiar approach formost people.!

Easy to accidentally skip a

procedure when reviewing

several systems.!!Who doesnt like pictures?!

Must take a screenshot for

each procedure and save it

[somewhere]. Easy to forget

to take a screenshot. Thiscould results in dozens of

files.!!Requires the auditor to a lot

of point-and-clicking, wait

for the application to load,

close the application, rinse,

repeat.!!


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Automatetes*ngand

evidencecollec*on/forma5ng

throughtheuseofbatchfiles

orPowerShellscriptstosave

*me,diskspace,andensure

completeness.


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Pros! Cons!Its a more automated

process. Greatly reduces the

risk of an auditor skipping aprocedure.!

Learning curve in finding the

right commands and formatting

the output in manner thatmakes sense to you and / or

your audience.!!Consolidate test results into

a single file. As seen in

the previous slide, you canalso automate the process of

evidence collection.

Learning curve in reading the

output. Its actually a

pretty shallow curve, so thisis debatable.!

Console applications

typically require fewercomputing resources than GUI-

based counterparts. !


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HOWTO(s)!


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HOWTO: Open cmd.exe!


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HOWTO: Orientation to cmd.exe prompt!


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HOWTO: Change the colors in cmd.exe!


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HOWTO: Get help with cmd.exe!


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HOWTO: Get help in cmd.exe!


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HOWTO: Clear the screen in cmd.exe!


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HOWTO: List files in cmd.exe. Wildcard basics.!


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HOWTO: Change your present working directory in

cmd.exe. %HOMEPATH% environment variable.!


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HOWTO: List user accounts and group members in

cmd.exe. !


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CAUTION! net user does not list nested groups whenreviewing Active Directory group members. Use PowerShell

instead (Will not be covered in this presentation. Talkto me after the presentation if youre interested.) !


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HOWTO: Query the registry in cmd.exe. !


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HOWTO: Review OS version, patch levels, etc. Page

command output results. Focus command output on

just what you need. !


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HOWTO: Automate in cmd.exe!


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HOWTO: Automatically save test results generated

from cmd.exe!


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HOWTO: Automatically save test results generated

from cmd.exe!


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Fun!!


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HOWTO: Ping sweep from cmd.exe!


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HOWTO: Port scan from cmd.exe!

CredittoEdSkoudisforthistrick.Usedtobe

possibleusingWindowstelnetclient.Thetelnet

clientisnotenabled,bydefaultinWindows7,so

thisisanice(albeit,slow)workaround.


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HOWTO: Find weak passwords using net.exe and a loop.!


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Now, some PowerShell!


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HOWTO: Open PowerShell!


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HOWTO: Orientation to PowerShell prompt!


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HOWTO: Change the colors in PowerShell (hackish, but

it works)!


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HOWTO: Get help with PowerShell!


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Lets refine our testresults with PowerShell!


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HOWTO: Return a list of ONLY active local accounts

using PowerShell string manipulation!


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Port scanning, the

easier way, withPowerShell!


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HOWTO: Port scan using PowerShell!


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Getting around that

pesky PowerShellExecutionPolicy!


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PROBLEM: Current ExecutionPolicy wont allow the

execution of PowerShell scripts!


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SOLUTION: Call Base64 encoded PowerShell code

from .bat file!


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HOWTO: Look at the bottom of the help page for

powershell.exe. From cmd.exe, type powershell /?!


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A GOTCHA!!


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HOWTO: Be mindful of encoding (UNICODE vs. ASCII)!!


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HOWTO: It works!!


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References / Resources! PowerShell for Pentesters byTim Medin!

Commandlinekungfu blog (EdSkoudis for cmd.exe gymnastics) !

Hey! Scripting Guy! Blog! David ReL1K Kennedy and JoshWinfang Kelley, PowerShell!

Command Line Basics for IT Auditors

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