Coding for Penetration Testers

Chapter 6

Manipulating Windows with PowerShell

Information in this chapter:

• Dealing with Execution Policies in PowerShell

• Penetration Testing Uses for PowerShell

• PowerShell and Metasploit

In Chapter 1, we spent a good bit of time discussing Microsoft’s PowerShell and how we can use it to develop shell scripts. Some of these scripts, if developed a bit further, could be useful for general tasks such as collecting information on hosts and the networks on which they reside. In this chapter, we will dive directly into the nitty-gritty of using PowerShell as a hacking tool.

Until fairly recently, PowerShell was not generally seen as a tool that could be used for attacks. It has a very restrictive set of permissions that limit what we can ...