This blog post is a collection of articles and links Cobalt Strike users may find interesting. Let’s jump into it: 1. Redirecting Cobalt Strike DNS Beacons Redirectors are a popular offensive technique to obscure a C2 server’s actual source. They’re also nice because you can create and remove redirectors much easier than tearing down and standing […]
CTA Type: Resource
Cobalt Strike 3.5.1 – Important Security Update
Cobalt Strike 3.5.1 is now available. This release addresses a remote code execution vulnerability in Cobalt Strike. This vulnerability was discovered after a report of in-the-wild exploitation by a third-party. Cobalt Strike 3.5 and all prior versions are vulnerable. This includes 2.5 and below. Read last week’s advisory for more details. Strategic Cyber LLC advises all Cobalt […]
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Cobalt Strike RCE. Active Exploitation Reported.
Summary There is a remote code execution vulnerability in the Cobalt Strike team server. A hot fix that breaks this particular exploit chain is available. Customers may use the built-in update program to download an update with this hotfix. The latest trial download has this hotfix as well. Strategic Cyber LLC is working on a comprehensive update […]
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Cobalt Strike 3.5 – UNIX Post Exploitation
Cobalt Strike 3.5 is now available. This release adds an SSH client with a Beacon-like interface. This client allows you to conduct post-exploitation actions against UNIX targets from Cobalt Strike. In this post, I’ll take you through the specifics. The SSH Client Cobalt Strike’s SSH client is a Reflective DLL that receives tasks from and […]
Cobalt Strike Tapas
I’ve slowed down on my blogging since this year’s BlackHat and DEF CON. I’m hard at work on the 3.5 release and haven’t had spare cycles to put into blogging. That said, Cobalt Strike’s users have more than picked up the slack. Here’s a collection of recent links that Cobalt Strike users may find interesting. […]
What happened to my Kill Date?
Cobalt Strike 3.4 introduced a Kill Date feature. This is a date that Cobalt Strike embeds into each Beacon stage. If a Beacon artifact is run on or after this date, it immediately exits. If a running Beacon wakes up on or after this date, it immediately exits. I don’t see kill dates as a […]
Cobalt Strike 3.4 – Operational Details
Cobalt Strike 3.4 is now available. This release focuses on the DNS Beacon and a few additions to Malleable C2. Here are the highlights: New Malleable C2 Options This release extends the Malleable C2 feature with several useful options. The dns_idle option allows you to change the IP address the DNS Beacon uses to signal that […]
Why is rundll32.exe connecting to the internet?
Previously, I wrote a blog post to answer the question: why is notepad.exe connecting to the internet? This post was written in response to a generation of defenders zeroing in on the notepad.exe malware epidemic that was plaguing them. Many offensive actions require spawning a new process to inject something into. In the Metasploit Framework (and […]
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HOWTO: Reset Your Cobalt Strike License Key
Time to time, I hand out Cobalt Strike license keys to non-customers. Sometimes these are to support an event (e.g., the National CCDC Red Team). Other times, these license keys allow a potential customer to evaluate Cobalt Strike without the deliberate tells present in the trial. Cobalt Strike’s license key is primarily used with the […]
Gettin’ Down with Aggressor Script
Aggressor Script is the scripting engine in Cobalt Strike 3.0 and later. As much as possible, I tried to make Cobalt Strike’s scripting feel like the scripting you would find in a modern IRC client. In this post, I’d like to take you through some resources and third-party examples to help you become familiar with […]