This article presents a compilation of the ultimate red team tools for the year 2023. Red teaming is a practice employed by organizations to simulate real-world cyber attacks, with the aim of assessing and enhancing their security measures. The compilation encompasses a wide range of tools, organized into various categories, each serving specific purposes. These categories include passive intelligence gathering tools, frameworks for reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering, exploit and payload generation tools, tools for email and domain reconnaissance, LinkedIn reconnaissance, sandbox evasion, social engineering, bypass techniques, tools for delivery of red team tools, phishing tools, tools for watering hole attacks, command and control tools, remote access tools, and staging tools. The objective of this compilation is to provide red teams with an extensive list of tools that can facilitate the execution of effective and realistic cyber attack simulations. By employing these tools, red teams can enhance their understanding of potential vulnerabilities and develop strategies to strengthen their organization’s overall security posture.
Key Takeaways
- There is a wide range of red team tools available for various stages of the red teaming process, including passive intelligence gathering, frameworks, weaponization, red team tools, email and domain recon, LinkedIn recon, payload generation, sandbox evasion, social engineering, bypass techniques, red team tools delivery, phishing, and watering hole attacks.
- These tools offer capabilities such as reconnaissance, vulnerability exploitation, payload generation, sandbox evasion, social engineering, phishing, and browser exploitation.
- Red team tools like Maltego, SpiderFoot, and Recon-ng provide comprehensive frameworks for gathering intelligence and conducting reconnaissance on targets.
- Phishing tools like King Phisher, Gophish, and CredSniper enable the simulation of real-world phishing attacks and the capturing of 2FA tokens for credential theft.
Top Passive Intelligence Gathering Tools
In the compilation of the top red team tools for 2023, the category of passive intelligence gathering includes tools such as EyeWitness, AWSBucketDump, AQUATONE, spoofcheck, and Nmap. These tools are used for tasks such as taking screenshots of websites, enumerating AWS S3 buckets, performing reconnaissance on domain names, checking domain spoofing possibilities, and discovering hosts and services on a network. Passive intelligence gathering techniques involve collecting information without directly engaging with the target. These open source reconnaissance tools provide red teamers with valuable insights into their target’s infrastructure and potential vulnerabilities. By utilizing these tools, red teamers can gather crucial information that can be used to plan and execute effective attacks while minimizing the risk of detection.
Frameworks for Reconnaissance
Frameworks for reconnaissance include Maltego, SpiderFoot, datasploit, and Recon-ng, which provide comprehensive tools and techniques for gathering intelligence and conducting footprinting activities. Maltego is a popular tool that delivers a clear threat picture to an organization’s environment. SpiderFoot is an open-source footprinting and intelligence-gathering tool that helps in gathering information about a target. datasploit is an OSINT framework that allows users to perform reconnaissance techniques on companies, individuals, and more. Recon-ng is a full-featured web reconnaissance framework written in Python, offering a wide range of modules for data gathering and analysis. These frameworks enable red teams to gather valuable information about their targets, identify potential vulnerabilities, and plan effective attack strategies. By leveraging these open-source tools, red teams can enhance their reconnaissance capabilities and improve the success of their operations.
Powerful Weaponization Exploits
Weaponization exploits are powerful tools used by red teams to exploit vulnerabilities in software and systems, such as the WinRAR Remote Code Execution, Composite Moniker, Exploit toolkit CVE-2017-8759, CVE-2017-11882 Exploit, and Adobe Flash Exploit CVE-2018-4878, allowing for unauthorized access and control. These weaponization techniques leverage specific vulnerabilities in software or systems to execute malicious code and gain control over the targeted environment. Red teams use these advanced exploit tools to simulate real-world attacks and identify weaknesses in the organization’s security posture. By successfully exploiting vulnerabilities, red teams can demonstrate the potential impact of such attacks and help organizations improve their defenses. These weaponization exploits require a deep understanding of software vulnerabilities and the ability to craft payloads that can bypass security measures.
Essential Red Team Tools
Sandbox evasion techniques are crucial for red teams to bypass detection and analysis, and tools like CheckPlease, Invoke-PSImage, LuckyStrike, ClickOnceGenerator, and macro_pack provide effective methods for evading sandbox environments and executing malicious activities. These tools are essential in the red teaming methodology as they allow red teams to test the effectiveness of an organization’s security measures. CheckPlease offers sandbox evasion modules written in various languages, while Invoke-PSImage embeds a PowerShell script in the pixels of a PNG file. LuckyStrike creates malicious Office macro documents for pentesting, and ClickOnceGenerator creates quick malicious ClickOnce applications. Lastly, macro_pack automates obfuscation and generation of MS Office documents for pentesting. These tools enable red teams to establish covert communication channels and execute attacks without being detected or hindered by sandbox environments.
Effective Email and Domain Recon
Effective Email and Domain Reconnaissance is a critical aspect of red teaming, enabling the identification of vulnerabilities and potential attack vectors through tools such as SimplyEmail, truffleHog, Just-Metadata, typeofinder, and pwnedOrNot. These tools provide red teamers with the ability to gather valuable information about targeted email accounts and domains, allowing them to assess the security posture of an organization and identify potential weak points. Email harvesting techniques and domain reconnaissance strategies play a crucial role in this process, as they allow red teamers to collect relevant data and discover potential avenues for exploitation. By leveraging the power of these tools, red teamers can gain valuable insights that can be used to execute sophisticated attacks and simulate real-world threat scenarios.
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| SimplyEmail | Fast and easy email recon with a framework to build on |
| truffleHog | Searches through git repositories for secrets |
| Just-Metadata | Gathers and analyzes metadata about IP addresses |
| typeofinder | Finds domain typos and shows country of IP address |
| pwnedOrNot | Checks if email accounts have been compromised in data breaches |
LinkedIn Reconnaissance Techniques
LinkedIn Reconnaissance Techniques involve the use of tools such as GitHarvester, pwndb, LinkedInt, CrossLinked, and findomain to gather information from LinkedIn profiles, search leaked credentials, extract employee names, and perform fast domain enumeration. GitHarvester is used to harvest information from GitHub using Google dork, while pwndb searches leaked credentials using the Onion service. LinkedInt is a LinkedIn Recon Tool that aids in extracting valid employee names from an organization through search engine scraping. CrossLinked performs search engine scraping to gather information, and findomain is a fast domain enumeration tool using Certificate Transparency logs and APIs. These techniques allow for effective LinkedIn data scraping and LinkedIn account enumeration, providing valuable information for red team operations.
Payload Generation Strategies
In the previous subtopic, we explored the techniques used for reconnaissance on the professional networking platform LinkedIn. Now, let us delve into the realm of payload generation strategies in the context of red teaming. Payloads play a crucial role in executing malicious activities during a red team engagement, and their generation requires careful consideration of various factors. Advanced payload generation techniques have become essential in the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, where adversaries continuously seek innovative ways to bypass security measures. Red teamers must stay updated on emerging trends in payload creation to effectively simulate real-world attack scenarios. This entails leveraging tools like Unicorn, Shellter, EmbedInHTML, SigThief, and Veil to generate payloads that can evade detection by common anti-virus solutions. By mastering these techniques, red teamers can enhance their ability to identify and exploit vulnerabilities, providing valuable insights to organizations for strengthening their security posture.
Sandbox Evasion Methods
Sandbox evasion methods are crucial for red teamers to bypass security measures and effectively execute payloads during engagements. To achieve successful evasion, red teamers employ various techniques that allow them to avoid detection by sandbox environments. These techniques include:
- Code obfuscation: Red teamers utilize obfuscation techniques to hide the true nature of their payloads, making it difficult for sandboxes to analyze and detect malicious behavior.
- Anti-analysis tricks: By incorporating anti-analysis techniques, red teamers can detect if their code is running in a sandbox environment and alter its behavior accordingly to avoid detection.
- Dynamic payload generation: Red teamers dynamically generate their payloads to evade detection. This involves creating unique and polymorphic payloads that change their behavior with each execution, making it harder for sandboxes to identify malicious activity.
- Advanced phishing methods: Red teamers employ sophisticated phishing techniques to trick users into interacting with malicious content. These methods often involve creating convincing social engineering scenarios that bypass traditional security measures.
By utilizing these sandbox evasion techniques and advanced phishing methods, red teamers can effectively bypass security measures and maximize their success during engagements.
Social Engineering Tactics
Social engineering tactics are employed by red teamers to manipulate individuals and exploit their trust, often through the use of deceptive techniques and psychological manipulation. These tactics aim to exploit human vulnerabilities and bypass technical security measures. Red teamers utilize various psychological manipulation techniques to deceive individuals into divulging sensitive information, granting unauthorized access, or performing actions that benefit the attacker. These techniques may include persuasion, impersonation, pretexting, and manipulation of emotions. To mitigate the risks associated with social engineering attacks, organizations should invest in social engineering awareness training for their employees. This training aims to educate individuals about common social engineering tactics and how to identify and respond to such attacks. By increasing awareness and promoting a culture of skepticism, organizations can better defend against social engineering attacks.
Bypass Techniques for Security Measures
In the previous subtopic, we explored different social engineering tactics used by red teams in their penetration testing activities. Now, let’s delve into the current subtopic, which focuses on techniques to bypass security measures. As technology advances, organizations implement various security measures to protect their systems and data. However, red teams continuously seek novel approaches to overcome these measures and gain unauthorized access. To achieve this, they employ a range of bypass techniques that exploit vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the security infrastructure. Some of these techniques include PowerShell downgrade attacks, AppLocker bypass, and interaction with Exchange servers remotely. Red teams constantly innovate and develop new methods to circumvent security measures, thereby challenging organizations to enhance their defenses and stay one step ahead.
- Techniques to bypass security measures:
- PowerShell downgrade attacks
- AppLocker bypass
- Remote interaction with Exchange servers
By continuously evolving their tactics, red teams are able to find and exploit vulnerabilities in security measures, highlighting the need for organizations to remain vigilant and proactive in their defense strategies.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I effectively gather passive intelligence during a red team operation?
Effective strategies for social engineering in red team operations involve crafting convincing pretexts, using psychological manipulation techniques, and exploiting human vulnerabilities. Leveraging open source intelligence enables passive reconnaissance by gathering information from publicly available sources without directly engaging the target.
What are some popular frameworks used for reconnaissance in red team engagements?
Popular reconnaissance frameworks used in red team engagements include Maltego, SpiderFoot, datasploit, and Recon-ng. These frameworks provide effective OSINT techniques for gathering intelligence on organizations, individuals, and domains during red team operations.
Which weaponization exploits are considered to be the most powerful in 2023?
The most powerful weaponization exploits in 2023 include WinRAR Remote Code Execution (CVE-2018-20250), Composite Moniker (CVE-2017-8570), and Exploit toolkit CVE-2017-8759. These exploits target vulnerabilities in software and frameworks to gain unauthorized access or execute arbitrary code.
What are some essential red team tools that every red teamer should have in their toolkit?
Passive intelligence gathering techniques, red teaming tools, and techniques for social engineering are essential for red teamers. These tools include EyeWitness, AQUATONE, Maltego, the Social-Engineer Toolkit, and Phishery, which enable reconnaissance, threat analysis, and phishing attacks.
What are some effective techniques for email and domain reconnaissance during a red team operation?
Effective techniques for email and domain reconnaissance in red team operations involve utilizing open source intelligence. This includes tools like SimplyEmail, truffleHog, Just-Metadata, typeofinder, and pwnedOrNot. These tools aid in fast and easy email recon, searching for secrets in git repositories, gathering and analyzing metadata about IP addresses, finding domain typos, and checking compromised email accounts. Open source intelligence plays a crucial role in red team operations by providing valuable information for assessing an organization’s security posture.
