Metasploit Revealed: Secrets of the Expert Pentester

The technology behind a browser autopwn attack

Autopwn refers to the automatic exploitation of the target. The autopwn module sets up most of the browser-based exploits in listening mode by automatically configuring them one after the other. Then, it waits for an incoming connection and launches a set of matching exploits, depending upon the victim's browser. Therefore, irrespective of the browser a victim is using, if there are vulnerabilities in the browser, the autopwn script attacks it automatically with the matching exploit modules.

Let's understand the workings of this attack vector in detail using the following diagram:

In the preceding ...