APT Simulator

APT Simulator is a Windows Batch script that uses a set of tools and output files to make a system look as if it was compromised. In contrast to other adversary simulation tools, APT Simulator is deisgned to make the application as simple as possible. You don't need to run a web server, database or any agents on set of virtual machines. Just download the prepared archive, extract and run the contained Batch file as Administrator. Running APT Simulator takes less than a minute of your time.

Use Cases

POCs: Endpoint detection agents / compromise assessment tools
Test your security monitoring's detection capabilities
Test your SOCs response on a threat that isn't EICAR or a port scan
Prepare an environment for digital forensics classes

Motives

Customers tested our scanners in a POC and sent us a complaint that our scanners didn't report on programs that they had installed on their test systems. They had installed an Nmap, dropped a PsExec.exe in the Downloads folder and placed on EICAR test virus on the user's Desktop. That was the moment when I decided to build a tool that simulates a real threat in a more appropriate way.

Why Batch?

Because it's simple: Everyone can read, modify or extend it
It runs on every Windows system without any prerequisites
It is closest to a real attacker working on the command line

Focus

The focus of this tool is to simulate adversary activity, not malware. See the Advanced Solutions section for advanced tools to simulate adversary and malware activity.

Getting Started

Download the latest release from the "release" section
Extract the package on a demo system (Password: apt)
Start a cmd.exe as Administrator
Navigate to the extracted program folder and run APTSimulator.bat

Avoiding Early Detection

The batch script extracts the tools and shells from an encrypted 7z archive at runtime. Do not download the master repo using the "download as ZIP" button. Instead use the official release from the release section.

AV Excluder

APT Simulator contains a module named "AVExcluder" that tries to register the used %APTDIR% as AV exclusion in typical AV solutions. As I do not have access to all of the AV software products in the market, please report errors or add new exclusions as pull requests.

Extending the Test Cases

Since version 0.4 it is pretty easy to extend the test sets by adding a single .bat file to one of the test-set category folders.

E.g. If you want to write a simple test case for "privilege escalation", that uses a tool named "privesc.exe", clone the repo and do the following:

Add your tool to the toolset folder
Write a new batch script privesc-1.bat and add it to the ./test-sets/privilege-escalation folder
Run build_pack.bat
Add your test case to the table and test sets section in the README.md
Create a pull request

Tool and File Extraction

If you script includes a tool, web shell, auxiliary or output file, place them in the folders ./toolset or ./workfiles. Running the build script build_pack.bat will include them in the encrypted archives enc-toolset.7z and enc-files.7z.

Extract a Tool

"%ZIP%" e -p%PASS% %TOOLARCH% -aoa -o%APTDIR% toolset\tool.exe > NUL

Extract a File

"%ZIP%" e -p%PASS% %FILEARCH% -aoa -o%APTDIR% workfile\tool-output.txt > NUL

Detection

The following table shows the different test cases and the expected detection results.

AV = Antivirus
NIDS = Network Intrusion Detection System
EDR = Endpoint Detection and Response
SM = Security Monitoring
CA = Compromise Assessment

Test Case	AV	NIDS	EDR	SM	CA
Collect Local Files					X
C2 Connects	(X)	X	X	X
DNS Cache 1 (Cache Injection)	(X)	X		X	X
Malicious User Agents (Malware, RATs)		X	X	X
Ncat Back Connect (Drop & Exec)	X		X	X	X
WMI Backdoor C2			X	X	X
LSASS Dump (with Procdump)			X	X	X
Mimikatz 1 (Drop & Exec)	X		X	X	X
WCE 1 (Eventlog entries)			X	X	X
Active Guest Account Admin			X	X	X
Fake System File (Drop & Exec)			X	X	X
Hosts File (AV/Win Update blocks)	(X)		X		X
Obfuscated JS Dropper	(X)	X	X	X	X
Obfuscation (RAR with JPG ext)					(X)
Nbtscan Discovery (Scan & Output)		X	X	(X)	X
Recon Activity (Typical Commands)			X	X	X
PsExec (Drop & Exec)			X	X	X
Remote Execution Tool (Drop)	(X)				X
At Job			X	X	X
RUN Key Entry Creation			X	X	X
Scheduled Task Creation			X	X	X
StickyKey Backdoor			X		X
UserInitMprLogonScript Persistence			(X)	X	X
Web Shells	X		(X)		X
WMI Backdoor			X		X

Test Sets

Collection

Collect Local Files

drops pwdump output to the working dir
drops directory listing to the working dir

Command and Control

C2 Connects

Uses Curl to access well-known C2 servers

DNS Cache 1

Looks up several well-known C2 addresses to cause DNS requests and get the addresses into the local DNS cache

Malicious User Agents

Uses malicious user agents to access web sites

Ncat Back Connect

Drops a PowerShell Ncat alternative to the working directory and runs it to back connect to a well-known attacker domain

WMI Backdoor C2

Using Matt Graeber's WMIBackdoor to contact a C2 in certain intervals

Credential Access

LSASS DUMP

Dumps LSASS process memory to a suspicious folder

Mimikatz-1

Dumps mimikatz output to working directory (fallback if other executions fail)
Run special version of mimikatz and dump output to working directory
Run Invoke-Mimikatz in memory (github download, reflection)

WCE-1

Creates Windwows Eventlog entries that look as if WCE had been executed

Defense Evasion

Active Guest Account Admin

Activates Guest user
Adds Guest user to the local administrators

Fake System File

Drops suspicious executable with system file name (svchost.exe) in %PUBLIC% folder
Runs that suspicious program in %PUBLIC% folder

Hosts

Adds entries to the local hosts file (update blocker, entries caused by malware)

JS Dropper

Runs obfuscated JavaScript code with wscript.exe and starts decoded bind shell on port 1234/tcp

Obfuscation

Drops a cloaked RAR file with JPG extension

Discovery

Nbtscan Discovery

Scanning 3 private IP address class-C subnets and dumping the output to the working directory

Recon

Executes command used by attackers to get information about a target system

Execution

PsExec

Dump a renamed version of PsExec to the working directory
Run PsExec to start a command line in LOCAL_SYSTEM context

Remote Execution Tool

Drops a remote execution tool to the working directory

Lateral Movement

No test cases yet

Persistence

At Job

Creates an at job that runs mimikatz and dumps credentials to file

RUN Key

Create a suspicious new RUN key entry that dumps "net user" output to a file

Scheduled Task

Creates a scheduled task that runs mimikatz and dumps the output to a file

Scheduled Task XML

Creates a scheduled task via XML file using Invoke-SchtasksBackdoor.ps1

Sticky Key Backdoor

Tries to replace sethc.exe with cmd.exe (a backup file is created)
Tries to register cmd.exe as debugger for sethc.exe

Web Shells

Creates a standard web root directory
Drops standard web shells to that diretory
Drops GIF obfuscated web shell to that diretory

UserInitMprLogonScript Persistence

Using the UserInitMprLogonScript key to get persistence

WMI Backdoor

Using Matt Graeber's WMIBackdoor to kill local procexp64.exe when it starts

Batch Mode

Since version 0.8.0 APTSimulator features a batch mode provided by @juju4 that allows to run it in in a scripted way e.g. via Ansible

APTSimulator.bat -b

Warning

This repo contains tools and executables that can harm your system's integrity and stability. Do only use them on non-productive test or demo systems.

Screenshots

Advanced Solutions

The CALDERA automated adversary emulation system https://github.com/mitre/caldera

Infection Monkey - An automated pentest tool https://github.com/guardicore/monkey

Flightsim - A utility to generate malicious network traffic and evaluate controls https://github.com/alphasoc/flightsim

Integrated Projects / Software

Contact

Follow and contact me on Twitter @cyb3rops

bfuzzy/APTSimulator