Null Byte How-Tos
Hacking macOS: How to Steal Signal Conversations from a MacBook with a USB Rubber Ducky
Developed by Open Whisper Systems, Signal is a free, open-source encrypted communications app for both mobile and desktop devices that allows users to make voice calls, send instant messages, and even make video calls securely. However, a vulnerability was recently discovered for the desktop version that can be turned into a USB Rubber Ducky payload to steal signal messages with a single click.
Hacking macOS: How to Create a Fake PDF Trojan with AppleScript, Part 2 (Disguising the Script)
With the macOS stager created and the attacker's system hosting the Empire listener, the malicious AppleScript can be designed and disguised to appear as a legitimate PDF using a few Unicode and icon manipulation tricks.
Hacking macOS: How to Create a Fake PDF Trojan with AppleScript, Part 1 (Creating the Stager)
While hackers have taken advantage of numerous vulnerabilities in Adobe's products to deliver payloads to Windows users via PDF files, a malicious PDF file can also wreak havoc on a Mac that's using the default Preview app. So think twice before double-clicking a PDF open on your MacBook — it might just be a Trojan with a rootkit inside.
Hacking macOS: How to Connect to MacBook Backdoors from Anywhere in the World
Backdooring a powered-off MacBook is easy when a few minutes of physical access is allowed. That attack works well if the hacker also shares a Wi-Fi network with the victim, but this time, I'll show how to remotely establish a connection to the backdoored MacBook as it moves between different Wi-Fi networks.
How To: Attend Defcon Without Looking Like a Noob or Spending a Fortune
Defcon is the largest hacker conference with something for everyone, whether it be the talks, parties, villages, or any of the hundreds of events. In this guide, we'll take a holistic view at everything that goes into attending the con for the first time, from securing your electronics and making the most of your time to the logistics of getting there and finding the right place to stay.
SQL Injection 101: Advanced Techniques for Maximum Exploitation
For SQL injection, the next step after performing reconnaissance and gathering information about a database is launching an attack. But something seems off .. in the real world, it's usually not quite as simple as passing in a few fragments of SQL code to an input field and seeing all that glorious data displayed right in the browser. This is when more advanced techniques are needed.
How To: Hack SAML Single Sign-on with Burp Suite
Single sign-on (SSO) lets users login across different sites without having to manage multiple accounts. I'm sure most of us appreciate the convenience of seeing "Sign in with …" buttons that let us login with a single username. Hackers, however, see a possible avenue for exploitation, and you'll soon learn how an attacker can exploit a SAML vulnerability to assume another user's identity.
How To: Use Maltego to Target Company Email Addresses That May Be Vulnerable from Third-Party Breaches
The easiest way around a security policy is to find users who don't follow it. The Have I Been Pwned database identifies accounts with information breached by major third parties like Yahoo and LinkedIn. With Maltego, hackers can locate breached accounts created using company email addresses, potentially giving attackers access to a company account if the employee reuses a compromised password.
Hacking macOS: How to Configure a Backdoor on Anyone's MacBook
The conversation of which operating system is most secure, macOS vs. Windows, is an ongoing debate. Most will say macOS is more secure, but I'd like to weigh in by showing how to backdoor a MacBook in less than two minutes and maintain a persistent shell using tools already built into macOS.
SQL Injection 101: How to Fingerprint Databases & Perform General Reconnaissance for a More Successful Attack
Know thy enemy — wise words that can be applied to many different situations, including database hacking. It is essential to performing adequate reconnaissance on a system before even thinking about launching an attack — any type of attack — and this is no different for SQL injection.
Hacking Windows 10: How to Intercept & Decrypt Windows Passwords on a Local Network
Hashes containing login passwords are transmitted between Windows computers on local Wi-Fi networks. By intercepting and decrypting these hashes using Responder and John the Ripper, respectively, we can learn a target's login credentials which can be later used to gain physical access to their computer.
SQL Injection 101: Database & SQL Basics Every Hacker Needs to Know
The key to becoming a competent white hat is knowing how the technology that you are trying to exploit actually works. SQL injection is one of the most common methods of attack used today and also one of the easiest to learn. In order to understand how this attack works, you need to have a solid grasp of ... you've guessed it ... SQL.
How To: Use Facial Recognition to Conduct OSINT Analysis on Individuals & Companies
Analysis of photographs and social connections can be a huge component of social engineering. Understanding who a person is, as well as who they know, can establish links within a company. This information could be used by hackers to execute elaborate social engineering attacks.
How To: Quickly Look Up the Valid Subdomains for Any Website
Traditional subdomain enumeration techniques create a lot of noise on the target server and may alert intrusion detection systems to an attacker's intentions. For a stealthier approach, there's a tool with the capability of finding hundreds of subdomains related to the target website without alarming the server administrators.
Advanced Phishing: How to Inject Meetings into Anyone's Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a cornerstone of the Google Suite, perhaps second only to Gmail itself. Whereas email is constantly plagued by phishing attacks, as of yet, the calendar is a relatively untapped social engineering attack vector. But it's relatively easy for an attacker to inject a meeting or event into a target's Google Calendar and use it to exploit them.
Advanced Exploitation: How to Find & Write a Buffer Overflow Exploit for a Network Service
While our time with the Protostar VM from Exploit Exercises was lovely, we must move on to bigger things and harder challenges. Exploit Exercises' Fusion VM offers some more challenging binary exploitation levels for us to tackle. The biggest change is that these levels are all network services, which means we'll write our first remote exploits.
How To: Create Your Own Search Engine for More Privacy & Zero Trust Issues
While there are a variety of privacy-focused search engines available like StartPage and DuckDuckGo, nothing can offer the complete trust offered by creating one's own search engine. For complete trust and security, Searx can be used as free metasearch engine which can be hosted locally and index results from over 70 different search engines.
How To: Easily Generate Hundreds of Phishing Domains
A convincing domain name is critical to the success of any phishing attack. With a single Python script, it's possible to find hundreds of available phishing domains and even identify phishing websites deployed by other hackers for purposes such as stealing user credentials.
Hacking Windows 10: How to Remotely Record & Listen to the Microphone of a Hacked Computer
The microphone in a Windows computer is accessible to most applications running on the device at all times and completely without security limitations. Information gathered from recorded audio conversations taking place in the surrounding area of a compromised computer can be used for social engineering, blackmail, or any number of other reasons.
How To: Build a Beginner Hacking Kit with the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
If you want to follow Null Byte tutorials and try out Kali Linux, the Raspberry Pi is a perfect way to start. In 2018, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ was released featuring a better CPU, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet built in. Our recommended Kali Pi kit for beginners learning ethical hacking on a budget runs the "Re4son" Kali kernel and includes a compatible wireless network adapter and a USB Rubber Ducky.
How To: Automate Brute-Force Attacks for Nmap Scans
Using Hydra, Ncrack, and other brute-forcing tools to crack passwords for the first time can be frustrating and confusing. To ease into the process, let's discuss automating and optimizing brute-force attacks for potentially vulnerable services such as SMTP, SSH, IMAP, and FTP discovered by Nmap, a popular network scanning utility.
How To: Run Kali Linux as a Windows Subsystem
Kali Linux is known as being the de facto penetration-testing Linux distribution but can be a pain to use as an everyday OS — even more of a pain if that means carrying around a second laptop or the constant frustration of using the finicky Wi-Fi on virtual machines. But there's another option: installing a Kali subsystem on your Windows computer as a convenient compromise.
How To: Create Custom Wordlists for Password Cracking Using the Mentalist
Beginners learning brute-forcing attacks against WPA handshakes are often let down by the limitations of default wordlists like RockYou based on stolen passwords. The science of brute-forcing goes beyond using these default lists, allowing us to be more efficient by making customized wordlists. Using the Mentalist, we can generate millions of likely passwords based on details about the target.
How To: Use Leaked Password Databases to Create Brute-Force Wordlists
To name just a few companies, VK, µTorrent, and ClixSense all suffered significant data breaches at some point in the past. The leaked password databases from those and other online sites can be used to understand better how human-passwords are created and increase a hacker's success when performing brute-force attacks.
How To: Attack Web Applications with Burp Suite & SQL Injection
Web applications are becoming more and more popular, replacing traditional desktop programs at an accelerated rate. With all these new apps out on the web comes various security implications associated with being connected to the internet where anyone can poke and prod at them. One of the simplest, yet the most prevalent types of security flaws found in modern web apps are SQL injections.
How to Hack Wi-Fi: Stealing Wi-Fi Passwords with an Evil Twin Attack
While Wi-Fi networks can be set up by smart IT people, that doesn't mean the users of the system are similarly tech-savvy. We'll demonstrate how an evil twin attack can steal Wi-Fi passwords by kicking a user off their trusted network while creating a nearly identical fake one. This forces the victim to connect to the fake network and supply the Wi-Fi password to regain internet access.
Hacking Windows 10: How to Capture Keystrokes & Passwords Remotely
Using a keylogger to intercept keys pressed on an infected computer can circumvent encryption used by email and secure chat clients. The collected data can often reveal usernames, passwords, and potentially compromising and private information which hackers abuse for financial gain.
Hacking Windows 10: How to Find Sensitive & 'Deleted' Files Remotely
Deleted bank statements and private photos are still within an attacker's grasp, so don't think that emptying your recycling bin is enough to keep your files from coming back to life. It's possible for a hacker to recover compromising files and images from a backdoored computer completely without the victim's knowledge.
How to Hack Wi-Fi: Hunting Down & Cracking WEP Networks
While the security behind WEP networks was broken in 2005, modern tools have made cracking them incredibly simple. In densely populated areas, WEP networks can be found in surprising and important places to this day, and they can be cracked in a matter of minutes. We'll show you how a hacker would do so and explain why they should be careful to avoid hacking into a honeypot.
Hacking Windows 10: How to Capture & Exfiltrate Screenshots Remotely
Screenshots taken from a compromised computer can provide hackers with access to private emails, photographs, and information found in sensitive documents. This data can be used by the attackers to build profiles of a target for social engineering attacks and blackmail or even just to release the information out in the wild.
Hacking Windows 10: How to Steal & Decrypt Passwords Stored in Chrome & Firefox Remotely
Passwords stored in web browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are a gold mine for hackers. An attacker with backdoor access to a compromised computer can easily dump and decrypt data stored in web browsers. So, you'll want to think twice before hitting "Save" next time you enter a new password.
Hacking Windows 10: How to Break into Somebody's Computer Without a Password (Exploiting the System)
After a hacker has configured Metasploit on a remote private server, created a resource script for automation, and created a simple payload, he or she can begin the process of remotely controlling someone's Windows 10 computer with just a few moments of physical access — even if the computer is off.
Hacking Windows 10: How to Break into Somebody's Computer Without a Password (Setting Up the Payload)
A powered-off Windows 10 laptop can be compromised in less than three minutes. With just a few keystrokes, it's possible for a hacker to remove all antivirus software, create a backdoor, and capture webcam images and passwords, among other highly sensitive personal data.
How To: Hack WPA & WPA2 Wi-Fi Passwords with a Pixie-Dust Attack Using Airgeddon
Design flaws in many routers can allow hackers to steal Wi-Fi credentials, even if WPA or WPA2 encryption is used with a strong password. While this tactic used to take up to 8 hours, the newer WPS Pixie-Dust attack can crack networks in seconds. To do this, a modern wireless attack framework called Airgeddon is used to find vulnerable networks, and then Bully is used to crack them.
How To: Stealthfully Sniff Wi-Fi Activity Without Connecting to a Target Router
Identifying vulnerable devices and services on a target router can be difficult without leaving logs and other traces of an active attacker on the network. However, there is a way to covertly decrypt and view Wi-Fi activity without ever connecting to the wireless network.
How To: Hack Open Hotel, Airplane & Coffee Shop Wi-Fi with MAC Address Spoofing
After finding and monitoring nearby wireless access points and devices connected to them, hackers can use this information to bypass some types of security, like the kind used for Wi-Fi hotspots in coffee shops, hotels, and in flights high above the ground. By swapping their MAC address for that of someone already connected, a hacker can bypass the MAC filter and connect freely.
How To: Use SELinux Targeted Policy to Secure Your Hosts
Hackers often rely on lazy system admins and unpatched vulnerabilities to get access to a host. Keeping intruders off of our machines requires us to update daily, only run the services we need, and read the code, among other things, but we can still make mistakes. Luckily for us, we can limit the damage caused by those mistakes by running SELinux.
Exploit Development: How to Defeat a Non-Executable Stack with ret2libc
After a long hiatus, we shall once again emerge from the shadowy depths of the internet to build an exploit. This time, we'll be looking at how to defeat a non-executable stack by using the ret2libc technique — a lean, mean, and brilliant way of exploiting a stack overflow vulnerability.
How To: The White Hat's Guide to Choosing a Virtual Private Server
Conducting phishing campaigns and hosting Metasploit sessions from a trusted VPS is important to any professional security researcher, pentester, or white hat hacker. However, the options are quite limited since most providers have zero-tolerance policies for any kind of hacking, good or bad. After researching dozens of products, we came out with 5 potentials that are ideal for Null Byte readers.
How To: Hack Anyone's Wi-Fi Password Using a Birthday Card, Part 2 (Executing the Attack)
In the previous article, we learned how to set up our VPS, configure our PHP server, and developed an in-depth understanding of how the payload works. With all that taken care of, we can get into disguising our payload to appear as an image and crafting the note in the greeting card being delivered to our intended target.