#DETECTING COBALT STRIKE BEACON TRAFFIC HOW TO#
#DETECTING COBALT STRIKE BEACON TRAFFIC CRACKED#
#DETECTING COBALT STRIKE BEACON TRAFFIC FOR WINDOWS 10#

Customer ID / WatermarkД«ased on information provided on official web pages, Customer ID is a 4-byte number associated with the Cobalt Strike licence key and since v3.9 is embedded into the payloads and beacon configs.

#DETECTING COBALT STRIKE BEACON TRAFFIC FOR WINDOWS 10#

Payload identification via known API hashesД¬omplete Cobalt Strike API hash list: API hashД¬omplete API hash list for Windows 10 system DLLs is available here. We can use a known API hashes list for proper payload type identification and known fixed positions of API hashes for more accurate detection via Yara rules. We can use the following regex patterns for searching hardcoded API hashes: Python implementation of API hashing algorithm The whole algorithm is nicely commented inside assembly code on the Metasploit repository.

The hash algorithm is ROR13 and the final hash is calculated from the API function name and DLL name. Placeholder offsets are on fixed positions the same as hard coded API hash values. Raw payloads have a predefined structure and binary format with particular placeholders for each customizable value such as DNS queries, HTTP headers or C2 IP address. We can use these patterns for locating payloadsвЂ™ entry points and count other fixed offsets from this position. Standard 64bit variants start also with CLD instruction followed by AND RSP,-10h and CALL instruction.

Payload header x86 variantДefault 32bit raw payloadвЂ™s entry points start with typical instruction CLD (0xFC) followed by CALL instruction and PUSHA (0ењ†0) as the first instruction from API hash algorithm. LetвЂ™s describe interesting parts of each payload separately. This particular checksum8 algorithm is also used in other frameworks like Empire. Raw payloadsД¬obalt StrikeвЂ™s payloads are based on Meterpreter shellcodes and include many similarities like API hashing ( x86 and ењ†4 versions) or url query checksum8 algo used in http/https payloads, which makes identification harder. We also share our useful parsers, scripts and yara rules based on these findings back to the community.

#DETECTING COBALT STRIKE BEACON TRAFFIC HOW TO#

The first part of this series is dedicated to proper identification of all raw payload types and how to decode and parse them. Other modules and payloads are very often overlooked, but these parts also contain valuable information for malware researchers and forensic analysts or investigators. There are many great articles about reverse engineering Cobalt Strike software, especially beacon modules as the most important part of the whole chain.

It is the main reason why we have seen use of Cobalt Strike in almost every major cyber security incident or big breach for the past several years.

#DETECTING COBALT STRIKE BEACON TRAFFIC CRACKED#

It is also very popular in many cybercrime groups which usually abuse cracked or leaked versions of Cobalt Strike.Д¬obalt Strike has multiple unique features, secure communication and it is fully modular and customizable so proper detection and attribution can be problematic. Cobalt Strike threat emulation software is the de facto standard closed-source/paid tool used by infosec teams in many governments, organizations and companies. fusion-sides-frame.avada-html-has-bg-image. fusion-bottom-frame.avada-html-has-bg-image. How to detect stealthy Cobalt Strike activity in your enterprise /********* Compiled CSS - Do not edit *********/ :root.avada-html-has-bg-image.

Detecting cobalt strike beacon traffic