Exploit development can be an advanced penetration testing skill that takes time to master. Additionally, when on a job, pen testers often don’t have the resources to create a new exploit. Many resort to searching for and using pre-written exploits that have not been tested and must go through the timely effort of quality assurance testing in order to ensure they are secure and effective.
Core Impact users can save time by finding all the up-to-date exploits they need in one place. We provide a robust library of exploits designed to enable pen testers to safely and efficiently conduct successful penetration tests. Witten by our own internal team, you can trust they have been thoroughly tested and validated by our experts.
The universe of vulnerabilities is huge and not all of them represent the same risk for the customers. Vulnerabilities do not all have the same level of criticality. Some may be easily exploitable by a low-level user, while others may not be exploitable at all. To increase the efficiency of the attacks and the quality of the exploits provided, the Core Impact team has developed selection criteria to prioritize its analysis and implementation. We determine which exploits warrant creation based on the following questions:
What are the most critical attacks from the attacker’s perspective?
What new vulnerabilities are more likely to be exploited in real attacks?
What exploits are the most valuable for Core Impact?
Once an exploit is approved, its priority order considers the following variables:
Vulnerability Properties: CVE, disclosure date, access mechanism and privileges needed.
Target Environment Setup: OS, application prevalence, version and special configurations needed.
Value Provided to Core Impact: Customer request, usage in multiple attacks, allows the installation of an agent, etc.
Technical Cost vs. Benefit: An analysis weighing the resources needed to build an exploit with the internal and external knowledge gained in its creation.
Each one of these variables has a different weight and provides a ranking of the potential exploits to be developed. Following those criteria, the top of the list would contain, for example, a vulnerability on Windows (most popular OS) that can be exploited remotely, without authentication and that provides super user privileges.
Correspondingly, a vulnerability on an application that is rarely installed, needs special configurations, and requires User Interaction, would be at the bottom.
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Title
Description
Date Added
CVE Link
Exploit Platform
Exploit Type
Product Name
Linux kernel mremap-unmap exploit
As stated in the advisory published by iSEC Security Research: "A critical security vulnerability has been found in the Linux kernel memory management code inside the mremap(2) system call due to missing function return value check. [...] Proper exploitation of this vulnerability leads to local privilege escalation giving an attacker full super-user privileges." Vulnerable versions of the Linux kernel: "2.2 up to and including 2.2.25, 2.4 up to to and including 2.4.24, 2.6 up to to and including 2.6.2". Upon successful exploitation, this module will deploy a new agent.
Linux Kernel n_tty_write Privilege Escalation Exploit
This module exploits a vulnerability in the Linux Kernel. The n_tty_write function in drivers/tty/n_tty.c in the Linux kernel through 3.14.3 does not properly manage tty driver access in the LECHO & !OPOST case, which allows local attackers to escalate privileges triggering a race condition involving read and write operations with long strings.
Linux Kernel perf_swevent_init Privilege Escalation Exploit
This module exploits a vulnerability in the Linux kernel. The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9 uses an incorrect integer data type, which allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted perf_event_open system call.
Linux Kernel RDS Protocol Privilege Escalation Exploit
Improper input validation in the RDS protocol implementation in the Linux kernel allows local unprivileged users to escalate their privileges and execute arbitrary code with root permissions. The RDS protocol does not properly check that the base address of a user-provided iovec struct points to a valid userspace address before using the __copy_to_user_inatomic() function to copy the data. By providing a kernel address as an iovec base and issuing a recvmsg() style socket call, a local user could write arbitrary data into kernel memory, thus escalating privileges to root.
Linux Kernel SOCK_DIAG Privilege Escalation Exploit
The __sock_diag_rcv_msg() function in net/core/sock_diag.c of the Linux kernel does not validate the value of the sdiag_family field, which is used to index the sock_diag_handlers array. This can be exploited by a local unprivileged attacker to gain root privileges by sending a specially crafted Netlink message to the kernel.
Linux Kernel Sock_Sendpage() Privilege Escalation Exploit
The Linux kernel 2.6.0 through 2.6.30.4, and 2.4.4 through 2.4.37.4, does not initialize all function pointers for socket operations in proto_ops structures, which allows local users to trigger a NULL pointer dereference and gain privileges by using mmap to map page zero, placing arbitrary code on this page, and then invoking an unavailable operation, as demonstrated by the sendpage operation (sock_sendpage function) on a PF_PPPOX socket
Linux Kernel UDEV Local Privilege Escalation Exploit
This module exploits a vulnerability in KOBJECT_UEVENT through an installed unprivileged agent, allowing the execution of arbitrary code with superuser privileges.
Linux Kernel udp_sendmsg Privilege Escalation Exploit
This module exploits a vulnerability in the udp_sendmsg function in the UDP implementation in net/ipv4/udp.c and net/ipv6/udp.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.19 allowing local users to gain privileges via vectors involving the MSG_MORE flag and a UDP socket.
Linux Kernel Vmsplice() Privilege Escalation Exploit
Exploits a missing verification of parameters within the "vmsplice_to_user()", "copy_from_user_mmap_sem()", and "get_iovec_page_array()" functions in fs/splice.c before using them to perform certain memory operations. This can be exploited to e.g. read or write to arbitrary kernel memory via a specially crafted "vmsplice()" system call, and allows an unprivileged process to elevate privileges to root.
Linux Kernel x86_64 Ptrace Sysret Privilege Escalation Exploit
On x86_64 Intel CPUs, sysret to a non-canonical address causes a fault on the sysret instruction itself after the stack pointer has been set to a usermode-controlled value, but before the current privilege level (CPL) is changed. A flaw in the ptrace subsystem of the Linux kernel allows a tracer process to set the RIP register of the tracee to a non-canonical address, which is later used when returning to user space with a sysret instruction instead of iret after a system call, thus bypassing sanity checks that were previously introduced to fix related vulnerabilities.
The kernel module loader in Linux kernel 2.2.x before 2.2.25, and 2.4.x before 2.4.21, allows local users to gain root privileges by using ptrace to attach to a child process that is spawned by the kernel. This module exploits this vulnerability and if is successful, install a new agent with root privileges.
The NVIDIA Binary Graphics Driver for Linux is vulnerable to a buffer overflow that allows an attacker to run arbitrary code as root. This bug can be exploited locally. NOTE: The user logged on the X server must be the same user of the installed local agent.
Linux contains a vulnerability in it's exec() implementation that may allow for modification of a setuid process memory via ptrace(). The vulnerability is due to the fact that it is possible for a traced process to exec() a setuid image even when the tracing process is setuid.
This module exploits a vulnerability in Linux for x86_64. The IA32 system call emulation functionality does not zero extend the eax register after the 32bit entry path to ptrace is used, which might allow local users to trigger an out-of-bounds access to the system call table using the %RAX register and escalate privileges.
A logical error in sudo when the env_reset option is disabled allows local attackers to define environment variables that were supposed to be blacklisted by sudo. This can be exploited by a local unprivileged attacker to gain root privileges by manipulating the environment of a command that the user is legitimately allowed to run with sudo.
The suid_dumpable support in Linux kernel 2.6.13 up to versions before 2.6.17.4, and 2.6.16 before 2.6.16.24, allows a local user to [...] gain privileges via the PR_SET_DUMPABLE argument of the prctl function and a program that causes a core dump file to be created in a directory for which the user does not have permissions. Note: you should remove the core file created in the "/etc/cron.d" directory after this bug was successfully exploited.
As explained in the description of the CVE entry associated with this vulnerability: "do_command.c in Vixie cron (vixie-cron) 4.1 does not check the return code of a setuid call, which might allow local users to gain root privileges if setuid fails in cases such as PAM failures or resource limits, as originally demonstrated by a program that exceeds the process limits as defined in /etc/security/limits.conf." This exploit will create new processes until the limit of available processes is exceeded, this will cause the setuid() system call to fail instead of dropping privileges, forcing the exp
Linux X.org MIT-SHM Extension Privilege Escalation Exploit
The MIT-SHM extension for the X.org X11 server before 1.4 is vulnerable to a buffer overflow that allows an attacker to run arbitrary code as root. The error is located in the compNewPixmap function. This module triggers the overflow while creating a window with a high bit depth and a second child window with a lower bit depth. The overflow is only possible when windows of different depth can be created on the display, so most servers on 24 or 32 bit modes are not vulnerable, because the X server usually stores 24 bit pixels in 4 bytes.
When a process executes a setuid executable, all existing rights to the task port are invalidated, to make sure unauthorized processes do not retain control of the process. Exception handlers however remain installed, and when some kind of hardware exception occurs, the exception handler can receive a new right to the task port as one of its arguments, and thus regain full control over the process.
Mac OS X AppleScript ARDAgent Shell Local Privilege Escalation Exploit
This module exploits a vulnerability in ARDAgent in Apple Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 that allows local users to gain privileges via an osascript tell command.
Mac OS X CUPS lppasswd Local Privilege Escalation Exploit
This module exploits a format string vulnerability in CUPS lppasswd in Apple Mac OS X 10.5.6 that allows local users to get code execution with elevated privileges. Exploitation requires valid local user, with access to the lppasswd command. After successful exploitation an agent will be deployed. This agent will inherit the user identity and capabilities of the previous agent. However, the euid (as opposite to the uid) of the agent may be not that of the super user (usually is "nobody"), and by using the setuid module (see setuid module documentation), it can be changed to zero (root).
Mac OS X i386_set_ldt Vulnerability Local Privilege Escalation Exploit
This module exploits a vulnerability on "i386_set_ldt" function of "mach_kernel" creating a "call gate" entry in the LDT. Then it jumps to the new call gate selector, setting from the ring 0 the UID and the EUID of the current process to ROOT ( ID 0 ).