Red Teaming
Malware Analysis
Reverse ASUS RT-AC5300
Downloading firmware
In this laboratory, we are going to use the model: RT-AC5300 firmware.
Routers ASUS - Escolha o seu Router ASUS e o seu operador de internet (MEO, NOS ou Vodafone)
Actualize o firmware do seu Router ASUS
ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 | Gaming Networking｜ROG - Republic of Gamers｜ROG Global
ROG
Extracting the firmware
At this moment, we need to unzip the zip file and use binwalk to analyze the .trx file. Using the option "-e" we can extract all the files from the .trx file.
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unzip RT-AC5300_3.0.0.4_380_2356-g34e8f6b.trx.zip
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binwalk RT-AC5300_3.0.0.4_380_2356-g34e8f6b.trx
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binwalk -e RT-AC5300_3.0.0.4_380_2356-g34e8f6b.trx
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We can see the firmware uses little-endian, and this is probably a sign that it is using a 3x ARM version or minor.
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cd _RT-AC5300_3.0.0.4_380_2356-g34e8f6b.trx.extracted
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ls -la
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ls -la squashfs-root
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ls squashfs-root/www
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We got the WWW content
😎
After emulating it, seems like this:
ASUS Wireless Router RT-AX95Q - Network Map
User mode - Firmware emulation
Why not emulation your router firmware instead of getting a physical device?
🤓
Backing to the extracted folder from the .trx file (firmware itself), we have a file called 1C we need to analyze. We got some precious information, such as:
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//CPIO file with the /dev and rootFS
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139264 0x22000 ASCII cpio archive (SVR4 with no CRC), file name: "/dev", file name length: "0x00000005", file size: "0x00000000"
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139380 0x22074 ASCII cpio archive (SVR4 with no CRC), file name: "/dev/console", file name length: "0x0000000D", file size: "0x00000000"
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139504 0x220F0 ASCII cpio archive (SVR4 with no CRC), file name: "/root", file name length: "0x00000006", file size: "0x00000000"
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139620 0x22164 ASCII cpio archive (SVR4 with no CRC), file name: "TRAILER!!!", file name length: "0x0000000B", file size: "0x00000000"
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//Linux kernel version - it's important to full emulation
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3163712 0x304640 Linux kernel version 2.6.36
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//UNIX path - cool for searching related files/content on web
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3735664 0x390070 Unix path: /home/yau/asuswrt/release/src-rt-7.14.114.x/src/linux/linux-2.6.36/arch/arm/include/asm/dma-mapping.h
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We can confirm some details by using the Linux strings utility:
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cat 1C | strings | grep "version"
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Linux version 2.6.36.4brcmarm ([email protected]) (gcc version 4.5.3 (Buildroot 2012.02) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Mar 4 20:12:49 CST 2016
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2.6.36.4brcmarm SMP preempt mod_unload modversions ARMv7
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slabinfo - version: 2.1
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squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
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cat 1C | strings | grep "/etc/"
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/etc/init
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cat 1C | strings | grep "/root/"
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/root/initrd
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In sum, we can confirm the following details:
- Kernel version: 2.6.36.4
- gcc version 4.5.3
- Buildroot 2012.02 (used to compile the rootFS)
- ARMv7 processor - Dual Core 32-bit ARMv7 (Cortex-A9) @ 1.4GHz
- FS ini present on /etc and /root folders!😱
In fact, we should check everytime the device configuration available on the vendor page to learn about it, and get the device datasheet in order to confirm some details.
RT-AC5300 - Tech Specs｜WiFi Routers｜ASUS USA
ASUS RT-AC5300 - TechInfoDepot
Using qemu-arm approach
Per-process emulation is useful when only one binary needs to be emulated. To this that, next install full dependencies:
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sudo apt-get install qemu
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sudo apt-get install qemu-utils
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sudo apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-clients libvirt-daemon-system bridge-utils
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sudo adduser kali libvirt
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sudo adduser kali kvm
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sudo apt install qemu-system-arm
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sudo apt install qemu-user
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The user-mode emulation can be made by using the following command:
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cd squashfs-root/usr/sbin
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qemu-arm -L <prefix> ./httpd
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or
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qemu-arm-static ./httpd
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The
-L option is important for when the binary links to external dependencies such as uCLibc or encryption libraries. It tells the dynamic linker to look for dependencies with the provided prefix.We can get the following error:
qemu-arm: Could not open '/lib/ld-uClibc.so.0': No such file or directory
By inspecting the /lib/ folder, we can see the following:
The file "ld-uClibc.so.0" is present, so we need to just add the current dir to the qemu-arm execution. Otherwise, if the UClibc.so file has another name, we could resolve that by doing a symbolic link, e.g.: squashfs-root/lib/ld-uClibc-0.9.29.so to squashfs-root/lib/ld-uClic.so.
So, the final qemu command is the following:
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qemu-arm -L . usr/sbin/httpd
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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Generating SSL certificate...
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1068532656:error:02001002:system library:fopen:No such file or directory:bss_file.c:391:fopen('/etc/cert.pem','r')
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1068532656:error:20074002:BIO routines:FILE_CTRL:system lib:bss_file.c:393:
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1068532656:error:140DC002:SSL routines:SSL_CTX_use_certificate_chain_file:system lib:ssl_rsa.c:682:
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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Generating SSL certificate...
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1068532656:error:02001002:system library:fopen:No such file or directory:bss_file.c:391:fopen('/etc/cert.pem','r')
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1068532656:error:20074002:BIO routines:FILE_CTRL:system lib:bss_file.c:393:
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1068532656:error:140DC002:SSL routines:SSL_CTX_use_certificate_chain_file:system lib:ssl_rsa.c:682:
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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/dev/nvram: Permission denied
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Using qemu-user-static approach
Another way to emulate the process is to perform a cross-architectural chroot with QEMU.
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[email protected]:~$ sudo apt-get install binfmt-support qemu qemu-user-static debootstrap
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You can also download the target qemu-user static file pre-compiled from GitHub
😼
Release v6.0.0-1 · multiarch/qemu-user-static
GitHub
Next, we copy the
qemu-arm-static binary to the rootFS directory of the firmware. We then chroot into the firmware root and obtain a working shell:1
which qemu-arm-static 130 ⨯
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/usr/bin/qemu-arm-static
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cp /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static squashfs-root/
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cd squashfs-root/
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sudo chroot . ./qemu-arm-static /bin/sh
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This is possible due to QEMU registering with the kernel during installation to handle binaries with certain magic bytes via the
binfmt_misc mechanism. We can try to run the httpd service, getting some errors - of course, because the /etc/ folder is not mounted, NVRAM system is not present - but we will just workaround this later!
😎
This is the best method to test a single binary or feature in a short period of time without losing a lot of hours configuring and preparing the environment.
Next, we can start e.g., telnetd service inside our emulated environment ;)
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---inside chroot FS----
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/usr/sbin # telnetd
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called setup()
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/usr/sbin #
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---Guest machine---
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└─$ netstat -antp
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Active Internet connections (servers and established)
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Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State PID/Program name
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tcp6 0 0 :::23 :::* LISTEN -
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Emulation NVRAM
In the previous user emulation scenarios, we found problems to emulate correctly the NVRAM. In this way, we can use hooks in a simple library to intercept calls to libnvram using LD_PRELOAD.
You can simply access this project on GitHub, compiling the C files with the target arch (ARM) or just download the arm version from releases.
GitHub - firmadyne/libnvram: NVRAM emulator
GitHub
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wget https://github.com/firmadyne/libnvram/releases/download/v1.0/libnvram.so.armel
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mkdir -p squashfs-root/firmadyne/
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cp libnvram.so /firmadyne/libnvram.so
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mkdir -p /firmadyne/libnvram/ mkdir -p /firmadyne/libnvram.override/
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sudo chroot . ./qemu-arm-static /bin/sh
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export LD_PRELOAD="/firmadyne/libnvram.so"
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httpd
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You can also compile the nvram file using a cross-compiler for ARM architectures.
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wget https://uclibc.org/downloads/binaries/0.9.30.1/cross-compiler-armv5l.tar.bz2
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tar xjf cross-compiler-armv5l.tar.bz2
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git clone https://github.com/firmadyne/libnvram.git
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cd libnvram
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../cross-compiler-armv5l/bin/armv5l-gcc nvram.c -o nvram -shared -ldl
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cp nvram ../../_RT-AC5300_3.0.0.4_380_2356-g34e8f6b.trx.extracted/squashfs-root/firmadyne
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mv nvram libnvram.so
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sudo chroot . ./qemu-arm-static /bin/sh
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export LD_PRELOAD="/firmadyne/libnvram.so"
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httpd
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It works
😋
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sudo chroot . ./qemu-arm-static /bin/sh
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export LD_PRELOAD="/firmadyne/libnvram.so"
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httpd
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Hook functions
If we need to hook any function, LD_PRELOAD is our best friend.
For example, the next hook will emulate the native open file call from gclib.
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#define _GNU_SOURCE
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#include <stdio.h>
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#include <dlfcn.h>
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typedef FILE *(*fopen_t)(const char *pathname, const char *mode);
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fopen_t real_fopen;
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FILE *fopen(const char *pathname, const char *mode) {
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fprintf(stderr, "called fopen(%s, %s)\n", pathname, mode);
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return real_fopen(pathname, mode);
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}
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__attribute__((constructor)) static void setup(void) {
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real_fopen = dlsym(RTLD_NEXT, "fopen");
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fprintf(stderr, "called setup()\n");
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}
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We can compile it onto ARM using a cross compiler:
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wget https://uclibc.org/downloads/binaries/0.9.30.1/cross-compiler-armv5l.tar.bz2
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tar xjf cross-compiler-armv5l.tar.bz2
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cross-compiler-armv5l/bin/armv5l-gcc hook.c -o hooks.so -shared -ldl
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sudo chroot . ./qemu-arm-static /bin/sh
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export LD_PRELOAD="/firmadyne/libnvram.so /hooks.so"
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httpd
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Even though we don't have the
/etc/rc.d or /etc/init.d to run the appropriate RC script to kick off the userland services, we were able to execute single binaries, which can give us some input about the device operation, or even finding vulnerabilities at this level.
Firmware full emulation
To do this, we can use Buildroot 2012.02 to create your rootFS and compile kernel version 2.6.36.
Index of /downloads
To compile it, you can use a normal Linux distribution (Kali Linux), or try to use an old version of ubuntu 16.4.
Ubuntu 16.04.7 LTS (Xenial Xerus)
To start using buildroot, you need to compile the manual and learn about it.
For this ASUS router, the best configs are the following:
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make menuconfig
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board config name:
u-boot/boards.cfg at master · lentinj/u-boot
GitHub
To choose the right kernel defconfig:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/arm/configs
git.kernel.org
or accessing: output/build/linux-2.6.36.4/arch/arm/configs
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acs5k_defconfig mv78xx0_defconfig
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acs5k_tiny_defconfig mx1_defconfig
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afeb9260_defconfig mx21_defconfig
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am200epdkit_defconfig mx27_defconfig
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ams_delta_defconfig mx31pdk_defconfig
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ap4evb_defconfig mx3_defconfig
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assabet_defconfig mx51_defconfig
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at572d940hfek_defconfig n770_defconfig
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at91cap9adk_defconfig n8x0_defconfig
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at91rm9200dk_defconfig neocore926_defconfig
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at91rm9200ek_defconfig neponset_defconfig
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at91sam9260ek_defconfig netwinder_defconfig
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at91sam9261ek_defconfig netx_defconfig
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at91sam9263ek_defconfig nhk8815_defconfig
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at91sam9g20ek_defconfig ns9xxx_defconfig
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at91sam9rlek_defconfig nuc910_defconfig
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ateb9200_defconfig nuc950_defconfig
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badge4_defconfig nuc960_defconfig
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bcmring_defconfig omap3_defconfig
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cam60_defconfig omap_4430sdp_defconfig
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carmeva_defconfig omap_generic_1510_defconfig
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cerfcube_defconfig omap_generic_1610_defconfig
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cm_x2xx_defconfig omap_generic_1710_defconfig
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cm_x300_defconfig omap_generic_2420_defconfig
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cns3420vb_defconfig omap_h2_1610_defconfig
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colibri_pxa270_defconfig omap_innovator_1510_defconfig
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colibri_pxa300_defconfig omap_innovator_1610_defconfig
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collie_defconfig omap_osk_5912_defconfig
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corgi_defconfig omap_perseus2_730_defconfig
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cpu9260_defconfig onearm_defconfig
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cpu9g20_defconfig orion5x_defconfig
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cpuat91_defconfig palmte_defconfig
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csb337_defconfig palmtt_defconfig
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csb637_defconfig palmz71_defconfig
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da8xx_omapl_defconfig palmz72_defconfig
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davinci_all_defconfig pcm027_defconfig
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dove_defconfig picotux200_defconfig
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ebsa110_defconfig pleb_defconfig
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ecbat91_defconfig pnx4008_defconfig
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edb7211_defconfig pxa168_defconfig
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em_x270_defconfig pxa255-idp_defconfig
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ep93xx_defconfig pxa3xx_defconfig
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eseries_pxa_defconfig pxa910_defconfig
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ezx_defconfig qil-a9260_defconfig
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footbridge_defconfig raumfeld_defconfig
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fortunet_defconfig realview_defconfig
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g3evm_defconfig realview-smp_defconfig
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g4evm_defconfig rpc_defconfig
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h3600_defconfig s3c2410_defconfig
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h5000_defconfig s3c6400_defconfig
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h7201_defconfig s5p6440_defconfig
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h7202_defconfig s5p6442_defconfig
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hackkit_defconfig s5pc100_defconfig
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htcherald_defconfig s5pv210_defconfig
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imote2_defconfig sam9_l9260_defconfig
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integrator_defconfig shannon_defconfig
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iop13xx_defconfig shark_defconfig
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iop32x_defconfig simpad_defconfig
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iop33x_defconfig spear300_defconfig
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ixp2000_defconfig spear310_defconfig
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ixp23xx_defconfig spear320_defconfig
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ixp4xx_defconfig spear600_defconfig
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jornada720_defconfig spitz_defconfig
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kafa_defconfig stamp9g20_defconfig
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kb9202_defconfig stmp378x_defconfig
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kirkwood_defconfig stmp37xx_defconfig
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ks8695_defconfig sx1_defconfig
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lart_defconfig tct_hammer_defconfig
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loki_defconfig trizeps4_defconfig
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lpd270_defconfig u300_defconfig
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lpd7a400_defconfig u8500_defconfig
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lpd7a404_defconfig usb-a9260_defconfig
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lubbock_defconfig usb-a9263_defconfig
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magician_defconfig versatile_defconfig
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mainstone_defconfig viper_defconfig
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mini2440_defconfig xcep_defconfig
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mmp2_defconfig yl9200_defconfig
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msm_defconfig zeus_defconfig
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To start the compilation process: make all or using a specific GCC version: make HOSTCC=gcc-4
Fixing kernel crashes or dependencies
"gets" undeclared here
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In file included from clean-temp.h:22:0,
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from clean-temp.c:23:
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./stdio.h:477:1: error: 'gets' undeclared here (not in a function)
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_GL_WARN_ON_USE (gets, "gets is a security hole - use fgets instead");
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^
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Fix
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find . -name stdio.in.h
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./output/build/host-m4-1.4.16/lib/stdio.in.h
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sed -i -e '/gets is a/d' lib/stdio.in.h
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textinfo incompatibilities with GCC documentation
This is frustrating me too, I cannot install texinfo, because texinfo is compatible with the tex documentation for this version of the compiler I have to use, which is what's breaking the documentation in the first place.
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/home/ubuntu/buildroot-2012.02/output/toolchain/gcc-4.5.3/gcc/doc/service.texi:6: warning: node prev `Service' in menu `Trouble' and in sectioning `Bugs' differ
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/home/ubuntu/buildroot-2012.02/output/toolchain/gcc-4.5.3/gcc/doc/service.texi:6: warning: node up `Service' in menu `Bugs' and in sectioning `Top' differ
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Makefile:4052: recipe for target 'doc/gcc.info' failed
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make[2]: *** [doc/gcc.info] Error 1
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make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/ubuntu/buildroot-2012.02/output/toolchain/gcc-4.5.3-initial/gcc'
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Makefile:5027: recipe for target 'all-gcc' failed
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make[1]: *** [all-gcc] Error 2
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make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/ubuntu/buildroot-2012.02/output/toolchain/gcc-4.5.3-initial'
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Instead of editing files, when I run make I pass the argument MAKEINFO.
One minor point about this. I think it should be pointed out what this does. It basically overrides the
MAKEINFO variable predefined by GNU make, which normally points to the program to call in order to get makeinfo invoked. So by setting it to true you are effectively replacing calls to makeinfo by calls to /bin/true (can be seen with make -npf /dev/null |grep ^MAKEINFO).Fix
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make MAKEINFO=true
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Can't use 'defined(@array)'
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Can't use 'defined(@array)' (Maybe you should just omit the defined()?) at kernel/timeconst.pl line 373.
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/home/ubuntu/buildroot-2012.02/output/build/linux-3.2.6/kernel/Makefile:141: recipe for target 'kernel/timeconst.h' failed
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make[2]: *** [kernel/timeconst.h] Error 255
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Makefile:945: recipe for target 'kernel' failed
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make[1]: *** [kernel] Error 2
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make[1]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
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make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/ubuntu/buildroot-2012.02/output/build/linux-3.2.6'
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package/Makefile.package.in:393: recipe for target '/home/ubuntu/buildroot-2012.02/output/build/linux-3.2.6/.stamp_built' failed
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make: *** [/home/ubuntu/buildroot-2012.02/output/build/linux-3.2.6/.stamp_built] Error 2
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Fix
Can’t use ‘defined(@array)’ (Maybe you should just omit the defined()?) at kernel/timeconst.pl line 373 has prompted where is the delicate error message, open timeconst.pl to see (under the kerner directory).
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cd output/build/linux-3.2.6/kernel/
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vim timeconst.pl
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/!defined(@val))
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change this (line 373):
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372 @val = @{$canned_values{$hz}};
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373 if (!defined(@val)) {
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374 @val = compute_values($hz);
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375 }
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376 output($hz, @val);
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by:
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372 @val = @{$canned_values{$hz}};
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373 if ([email protected]) {
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374 @val = compute_values($hz);
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375 }
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376 output($hz, @val);
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Compile kernel error: Can't use'defined(@array)' (Maybe you should just omit the defined()?) at kernel/timeconst.pl - Programmer Sought
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make
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Compiling everything is a long journey, you can also test more recent kernel versions and so on to avoid some errors when you are building your environment for emulation.
At the end, you will get something like this on your output/images folder:
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-rw-r--r-- 1 kali kali 62914560 Jul 27 18:30 rootfs.ext2
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-rw-r--r-- 1 kali kali 1437696 Jul 27 18:30 rootfs.squashfs
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-rw-r--r-- 1 kali kali 4085760 Jul 27 18:30 rootfs.tar
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-rwxr-xr-x 1 kali kali 446 Jul 27 18:30 start-qemu.sh
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-rwxr-xr-x 1 kali kali 8880 Jul 27 18:27 versatile-pb.dtb
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-rw-r--r-- 1 kali kali 2871872 Jul 27 18:27 zImage
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Now, it's time to start your qemu emulator:
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qemu-system-arm -M versatilepb -kernel zImage -dtb versatile-pb.dtb -drive file=rootfs.ext2,if=scsi,format=raw -append "rootwait root=/dev/sda console=ttyAMA0,115200"
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Finally, merge the rootfs (host + router), and exploit it like a baws
😉
Using docker containers and relax to emulate your firmware 👾
👾
Other options instead of using qemu are docker containers.
Docker Hub
GitHub - digiampietro/buildroot-armv7: A set of scripts, configuration files and Buildroot external tree to setup a Qemu emulation environment to run and reverse engineer the *Netgear DVA 5592* executables. This environment uses Docker, Buildroot and Qemu to emulate a board with an ARMv7 Cortex A9 processor, Linux kernel 3.4.11-rt19, uClibc 0.9.33.2, and old versions of other libraries.
GitHub
Docker Hub
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docker pull kelvinlawson/arm-cortex
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sudo docker run --privileged=true --name=firmware -p 2221:22 -p 8888:80 -p 4443:443 -p 2223:23 -it 8d319a850335
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shell$: cd /sbin
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shell$: ./preninit
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Resources
Zero Day Initiative — MindShaRE: How to “Just Emulate It With QEMU”
Zero Day Initiative
Emulating Embedded Linux Systems with QEMU | Novetta Nexus
Novetta
Emulating Arm Firmware
Azeria-Labs
Buildroot - Making Embedded Linux Easy
Zero Day Initiative — Blog
Zero Day Initiative
Last modified 5mo ago
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