What is a Remote Command Execution (RCE) Vulnerability?

Do you ever fear for the security of your system? Did you know that a hacker can access your device remotely? This is called an RCE.

A remote command execution vulnerability occurs when an attacker can execute code on a vulnerable system with either the privileges of that system or some other user on that system.

It's essential to understand how these vulnerabilities work so you can take steps to protect your systems from being exploited using them! That's what this article is all about.

So whenever you're ready to dive deep into the world of elusive cyber attacks, keep reading.

Remote Command Execution Vulnerability

Remote Command Execution: What Is It

It's essential to understand how these vulnerabilities work. This is so you can take steps to protect your systems from being exploited using them! Prevention is the best method of protection against any aftermath.

So, what exactly does the RCE mean? The praxis of a remote command execution goes far beyond the actual process. There are many moving variables involved.

Let’s break it down into three main components:

Attacker

This person exploits the vulnerability and gains access to something they don't have permission for. This is done by running their code (i.e., code they wrote) called "shellcode". This gives them control over parts of memory in our process space.

The shellcode will allow them access to all kinds of things like files, registry keys, processes, and services. An attacker can be a single person or a team of people. Usually, an attack can be traced to the one performing it.

However, an efficient hacker will leave no trace or at least attempt to cover it. On the other hand, an efficient pentester will be able to trace even those who are trying hard to hide.

Vulnerable System

This machine has a vulnerability on it. Thus, allowing an unauthorized user to access a resource or information using some exploit. For instance, buffer overflows, race conditions, and input validation issues, among others.

On this kind of attack script, kiddies will typically use scanners that search for known vulnerabilities. They will look for exploits from the known vulnerabilities to access a system. This can provide them with administrator privileges.

In general, any system is vulnerable. If there is code involved, there are vulnerabilities involved. They just might not be evident or discovered yet.

Thus, it's important to use a vulnerability scanner that is regularly updated and has a large database of potential finds.

Resource Accessed

These are the things that are being accessed by the attacker when they exploit your system. This can be anything from files to registry keys, processes, and services on a machine with an RCE vulnerability.

A script kiddie uses automated scanners that search for known vulnerabilities then exploit them. They will then use the information to get into a vulnerable system.

Keep in mind that even a reckless hacker can be a big issue. This is due to the fact that they don't really know what they are doing. Thus, they can harm your systems to such a degree that you might have trouble recovering.

Buffer Overflows as a Means to Perform RCE

A buffer overflow occurs when an application or service receives input that is larger than it can store.

When this happens, one will write all of the data over parts of the memory in your system, which could contain other helpful information (i.e., passwords). This allows attackers to run their code on your machine and gain access to anything they want!

Let's take a look at how this would work for you:

You've got some web server software installed on your machine like IIS, Apache.

The attacker sends too much data through one of the services running there. Thus, causing them to overwrite part of their memory with their shellcode giving them RCE. This them complete control over our vulnerable remote computer! 

Furthermore, you can see how this would also be a problem on services like FTP, SMTP, and DNS if you had them running locally. There are many different ways to exploit buffer overflow vulnerabilities in applications which include:

Format String Attack

This allows an attacker to control the format string sent from a service or even directly from user input.

The example below shows how it works when exploited using print ():   message = "AAAA%x" //where x is some value that gets written into memory by our code print(message) == 0x41414141 .

What will happen here is %x will cause whatever number we send through there to get stored at 'AAA' then used as part of the following function call later on.

This will allow the attacker to overwrite anything they want in memory with their data (i.e., shellcode).

Integer Overflows

When you declare an integer variable, it's usually by default of type long, which means that it can hold a negative or positive value up to around /- 32,000 or 64,000, depending on how your system is configured.

An example below shows what happens when you define an unsigned 16-bit number: uint16_t myNUM = 0xAAAA.

We would expect this to be 65536, but instead, we get 4294967295!   

This is because when you declare an integer variable, by default, it's signed, meaning that it can be negative or positive. If we store 65536 in this unsigned 16-bit field, what will happen here is the top byte (0xAAAA) will get stored as 0, and the bottom byte (0xFFF) turned into 255 which gives us 4294967295!

This makes sense considering our number was "65536," but instead of storing each digit, integers are represented using binary, so only one bit at a time gets allocated for them. If your code doesn't check to ensure no overflows occur, then bad things could happen...

It happens all the time with C/C and other low-level programming languages where you don't have to initialize or declare a variable before using it.

You can use them on the fly as long as they're not read from somewhere else; an attacker might be able to overwrite essential things in memory without us knowing about it!

Other Remote Command Execution Examples

There are other ways to exploit remote command execution vulnerabilities, like manipulating file paths or using special characters in specific commands.

Imagine you had a program running on your machine, and it took the username as part of an argument when starting up. If someone could manipulate this to get "; rm -rf /," then they could send it through there. It was causing us problems! 

Using basic shell scripts can be dangerous because we don't know behind the scenes until it's too late.

This is why developers need to think about security throughout development, so these things don't happen by accident.  It often occurs enough even with big companies where one little vulnerability might lead them down a path of destruction!

As you've seen here, remote command execution vulnerabilities can lead to devastating results, and if you don't know how they work, it's easy for something like this to slip past your QA team or even the client!

If someone were able to exploit these types of things, then not only do we lose our data, but they might be able to take over our entire system.

Preventing Remote Command Execution Vulnerabilities

To prevent this type of attack, you need to make sure that all software, including operating systems, web browsers, applications, and utilities, are patched regularly, if not immediately after patches become available, because these types of attacks typically require some patch or update before successful exploitation occurs making it critical to keep systems up-to-date at all times!

To prevent this type of attack, you need to ensure that all software, including operating systems, web browsers, and applications, are patched regularly, if not immediately after patches become available.

The other critical thing is having a good security solution installed on your system, such as an antivirus or penetration testing tool like Metasploit. This will be able to detect vulnerabilities in the wild when they're used against you before someone can exploit them.

Thus, allowing you time to patch those holes quickly without worrying about getting influenced by anyone else who knows about these types of attacks.

This is because it's already been done for them, letting attackers get into vulnerable machines using exploits easier than ever before, making Windows users especially at risk from RCEs today due to their prevalence across multiple platforms! It is critical to keep systems up-to-date and have a good security solution in place at all times.

Having either an antivirus or penetration testing tool like Metasploit installed on your system will allow you time to patch vulnerabilities when they're detected so attackers can't exploit them! It is essential for Windows users in particular due to their prevalence across multiple platforms today.

What to Check After a Hacker Has Performed This Attack

After a hacker has performed this type of attack, they have gained access to your machine and can do whatever they want. This means that you need to check what kind of information was accessed by them to determine if it is essential or not!

It would help if you also changed all passwords from the breached accounts from something new to keep yourself protected since the hackers now know your old password for these accounts, which could lead to further attacks against other machines on your network.

In addition, after a hacker performs an RCE vulnerability, they gain access into your machine, allowing them to perform just about anything, including changing account passwords to ensure protection in the future because attackers know their credentials, making additional compromises much easier down the road without detection!

To check what kind of information was accessed by a hacker after performing this type of attack, it is essential to determine if the breached data is necessary or not.

In addition, all passwords from breached accounts should be changed and new ones created for additional protection going forward because attackers know their credentials, making other compromises much easier down the road without detection!

It can often be tough to detect changes after this type of attack, so it is essential to have a good security solution installed on your system.

Using a Scanner to Resolve a Vulnerability

As mentioned, prevention is the best medicine. To do this, you will need an effective scanner that can detect vulnerabilities. An RCE can be hard to see, but you need to know if your system is vulnerable.

In addition, a good security solution installed on your machine will be able to detect vulnerabilities in the wild. This allows time for patches without worrying about other issues.

A scanner is your best tool when it comes to resolving a vulnerability in your system. It's critical to keep systems up-to-date and have a good security solution in place at all times.

Your Security a Priority

By reading the blog post, you learned about remote command execution (RCE) Vulnerability and how to prevent it.

In addition, checking what kind of information was accessed by a hacker after performing this type of attack is vital. All passwords from breached accounts should be changed. New ones should be create new ones for additional protection going forward.

This is because attackers know their credentials, making other compromises much easier down the road without detection! It is critical to keep systems up-to-date and have a good security solution in place.

 

If you're interested in full-scale scanning solutions for vulnerabilities, get in touch with us, and we will happily accommodate all of your needs.