To maintain access to a compromised system after rebooting, a penetration tester should create a scheduled task. Scheduled tasks are designed to run automatically at specified times or when certain conditions are met, ensuring persistence across reboots.
Persistence Mechanisms:
Scheduled Task: Creating a scheduled task ensures that a specific program or script runs automatically according to a set schedule or in response to certain events, including system startup. This makes it a reliable method for maintaining access after a system reboot.
Reverse Shell: While establishing a reverse shell provides immediate access, it typically does not survive a system reboot unless coupled with another persistence mechanism.
Process Injection: Injecting a malicious process into another running process can provide stealthy access but may not persist through reboots.
Credential Dumping: Dumping credentials allows for re-access by using stolen credentials, but it does not ensure automatic access upon reboot.
Creating a Scheduled Task:
On Windows, the schtasks command can be used to create scheduled tasks. For example:
schtasks /create /tn "Persistence" /tr "C:\path\to\malicious.exe" /sc onlogon /ru SYSTEM
On Linux, a cron job can be created by editing the crontab:
(crontab -l; echo "@reboot /path/to/malicious.sh") | crontab -
Pentest References:
Maintaining persistence is a key objective in post-exploitation. Scheduled tasks (Windows Task Scheduler) and cron jobs (Linux) are commonly used techniques.
References to real-world scenarios include creating scheduled tasks to execute malware, keyloggers, or reverse shells automatically on system startup.
By creating a scheduled task, the penetration tester ensures that their access method (e.g., reverse shell, malware) is executed automatically whenever the system reboots, providing reliable persistence.
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