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Guide: How to Install Active Directory in Windows Server 2019 Using PowerShell

In a previous article, I showed you how to install Active Directory (AD), the first domain controller (DC) in a new forest and domain, using Server Manager in Windows Server 2019. But if you’re not afraid of the command line, there’s a much quicker way to get Active Directory up and running in Windows Server. In this article, I’ll show you how to configure AD using PowerShell.

There are two steps to installing AD in Windows Server 2019. The first is to install the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) server role. The second step is to configure your server as a domain controller. An AD domain must have at least one DC. Your server will be the first DC in a new AD forest and domain.

To complete the instructions below, you will need to have an account with administrator privileges in Windows Server 2019. I will also assume that you are using Windows Server 2019 with the Desktop Experience role installed. If you are using Server Core, the instructions vary a little but are more or less the same.

Active Directory prerequisites

Before you install your first domain controller in the new AD domain, there are a couple of things you should do to prepare the server. While it’s not absolutely necessary, I recommend giving the computer a name that makes it easy to identify. For example, I usually call the first domain controller in a new domain DC1. Secondly, you’ll need to set a static IP address and configure the network adapter’s DNS server.

Let’s start by renaming the server.

Log in to Windows Server 2019 as an administrator.
Open the Start menu and click the Windows PowerShell
In the PowerShell window, run the command below and press ENTER. Replace ‘DC1’ with the name that you would like to use for your domain controller.

Rename-Computer -NewName DC1

Restart the server.

Once the server has rebooted, we can configure the network adapter. Your DC will need to communicate with other devices on the local network, so it’s important to speak to whoever oversees your network and get them to provide you with a static IP address that isn’t already in use. On my network, I will assign a static IP address of 192.168.1.10/24 and the default gateway is 192.168.1.1.

Log in to Windows Server 2019 as an administrator.
Open the Start menu and click the Windows PowerShell
In the PowerShell window, run the New-NetIPAddress command below and press ENTER. Replace the values for IPAddress, DefaultGateway, and PrefixLength to those provided by your network administrator.

New-NetIPAddress –IPAddress 192.168.1.10 -DefaultGateway 192.168.1.1 -PrefixLength 24 -InterfaceIndex (Get-NetAdapter).InterfaceIndex

The above command is designed to work on servers that have only one network adapter installed. If you have more than one adapter, you’ll need to enter the interface number instead of (Get-NetAdapter).InterfaceIndex. You can get the interface index number (ifIndex) for each adapter using Get-NetAdapter.

Now configure the adapter’s DNS settings. We’ll set the preferred DNS server to be our domain controller’s IP address because the domain controller will also perform the function of DNS server for the domain. So, replace 192.168.1.10 with the same IP address you configured for the adapter. Run Set-DNSClientServerAddress as shown, and press ENTER.

Set-DNSClientServerAddress –InterfaceIndex (Get-NetAdapter).InterfaceIndex –ServerAddresses 192.168.1.10

Again, the command is designed to work on servers that have only one network adapter installed. If you have more than one adapter, you’ll need to enter the interface number instead of (Get-NetAdapter).InterfaceIndex.

How to Install Active Directory in Windows Server 2019 Using PowerShell (Image Credit: Russell Smith)

Install the Active Directory Domain Services role

The next step is to install the AD DS server role. It’s easy to do using the Install-WindowsFeature cmdlet as shown below. If you are using Server Core, remove the -IncludeManagementTools parameter.

Install-WindowsFeature -name AD-Domain-Services -IncludeManagementTools

Once the AD DS server role is installed, you’ll get a message in the PowerShell window. The Success column should read True.

Configure the first domain controller in a new Active Directory forest

Before you continue, you should decide on a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) for your new domain. I’m going to use ad.contoso.com in this example. Where ‘ad’ is the name of my new domain and contoso.com is the top-level domain (TLD). You should make sure that you own the public TLD. In this example, I should own the contoso.com domain name. AD in the FQDN defines my internal DNS namespace for Active Directory.

To configure Windows Server 2019 as a domain controller, run Install-ADDSForest as shown in the example below. Replace ad.contoso.com with your chosen FQDN. DomainNetBIOSName is usually set to the part of your FQDN that identifies your internal AD DNS namespace. So, the part that comes to the left of the first period. In this case, ‘ad’.

Install-ADDSForest -DomainName ad.contoso.com -DomainNetBIOSName AD -InstallDNS

You should note that Install-ADDSForest is only used when you are installing the first domain controller in a new AD forest. Install-ADDSDomain and Install-ADDSDomainController are used respectively to create a new domain in an existing forest and install a new DC in an existing AD domain.

DomainName and DomainNetBIOSName are the only two compulsory parameters for the Install-ADDSForest cmdlet. If you want to explore what other options you can configure, run the command line below:

Get-Help Install-ADDSForest

When you run the Install-ADDSForest cmdlet, you’ll be prompted to enter a password for Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM). Or Safe Mode password as it’s sometimes referred to. Enter a password and confirm it when prompted.

You’ll then see a message:

The target server will be configured as a domain controller and restarted when this operation is complete.

Do you want to continue with this operation?

Type y in the PowerShell window and press ENTER to confirm that you want to configure the server as a domain controller.

As AD is configured, you’ll see some yellow warnings appear in the PowerShell window. They are normal and you can safely ignore them. The server will automatically reboot. Once Windows Server has rebooted, you will need to log in with the domain administrator account. The domain administrator account is assigned the same password as the built-in administrator account.

On the sign-in page, type administrator in the User name field. Type the password for the administrator account, which is the same as the password for the previous built-in administrator account, and press ENTER.

And that is it! You are now logged in to your AD domain’s first domain controller. You can access Server Manager from the Start menu. In Server Manager, click the Tools menu and then select Active Directory Users and Computers to start managing your domain.

Source :
https://petri.com/how-to-install-active-directory-in-windows-server-2019-using-powershell/

Active Directory: harden the security of your environment

In this tutorial dedicated to Active Directory and security, I will give you some tips to harden the level of security in order to be less vulnerable to attacks.

The different configuration points, which will be discussed, simply allow attacks to be made more difficult and longer internally, in no way will they guarantee that you are invulnerable.

What you need to know is that your first ally is time, the more “difficult” and longer it will be, the more likely you are that the attacker(s) will move on.

Before applying the settings, they should be tested in a restricted environment so as not to create more problems, especially on Active Directory environments that are several years old.

Disable SMBv1 support

One of the first points is to disable support for the SMBv1 protocol on all computers (servers and client workstations).

Since Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019, SMBv1 support is disabled by default.

To find out if the SMBv1 protocol is enabled, use the following command:

Get-SmbServerConfiguration | Select EnableSMB1Protocol

Before disabling SMBv1, it is possible to check if it is still used on a server.

To do this, use the command below:

Get-SmbSession | Select-Object -Property ClientComputerName, ClientUserName, Dialect

This command returns the device IP address, username, and SMB version used to access the shares.

If you have “old” equipment (copiers, scanners …), it is possible that they do not support a higher version of SMB.

It is also possible to enable SMBv1 access auditing:

Set-SmbServerConfiguration -AuditSmb1Access $true

Once activated, you must search for events with ID 3000 in the log: Microsoft-Windows-SMBServer\Audit.

To disable the SMBv1 protocol, there are several solutions.

Disable the SMBv1 protocol, this solution is effective immediately and does not require a restart (Windows 8.1 / Server 2012R2 or newer):

Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EnableSMB1Protocol $false

To disable the SMBv1 protocol on later versions of Windows (7, Vista, Server 2008 and Server 2008R2), modify the registry:

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters" SMB1 -Type DWORD -Value 0 -Force

To take an account a restart is necessary.

For Windows 8.1 / Server 2012R2, it is also possible to uninstall the SMBv1 protocol support, here a restart is necessary:

Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName SMB1Protocol

I also wrote a tutorial on disabling SMBv1 protocol (Server/Client) by group policy: https://rdr-it.com/en/gpo-disabled-smbv1/

Enable signing on the SMB protocol

In order to “protect” against Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, it is possible to activate the signature on SMB protocol exchanges.

SMB signing works with SMBv2 and SMBv3.

The configuration of the signature can be done:

at the client level
at the server level

From the moment one of the two negotiates the signature, the SMB flow will be signed.

The configuration is done at the level of group policies: Computer configuration / Windows settings / Security settings / Security options. The two parameters to activate:

Microsoft network client: digitally sign communications (always)
Microsoft network server: digitally sign communications (always)

Again, I advise you to test on a few computers before applying this to your entire fleet, for my part, I had problems with RDS servers in terms of access to shares.

For more information I invite you to read this page : https://docs.microsoft.com/fr-fr/windows/security/threat-protection/security-policy-settings/microsoft-network-client-digitally-sign-communications-always.

Disable LM and NTLMv1 authentication

Still in the “old” protocols, it is necessary to disable the LM and NTLMv1 protocols which have password hashes that are very easy to brute force.

Once again, deactivation can be done by group policy at: Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Security Options

You need to configure the parameter: Network Security: LAN Manager Authentication Level.

To do this, check Define this policy parameter and select: Send NTLM version 2 responses only\Refuse LM and NTLM

This setting is in an ideal world, if NTLMv1 should still be used, use this setting to disable LM: Only send NTLMv2 responses\Refuse LM

If you must use this parameter, NTLMv1 HASHes can still circulate on the network and are vulnerable to brute force attacks faster than NTLMv2.

It is possible to audit NTLM traffic by enabling settings to identify where NTMLv1 is being used

Network Security: Restrict NTLM: Audit Incoming NTLM Traffic
Network Security: Restrict NTLM: NTLM authentication in this domain

The NTLM configuration allows quite a bit of flexibility in terms of configuring it and adding exceptions.

Disable LLMNR and NBT-NS

LLMNR (Link-Local Multicast Name Resolution) and NBT-NS (Netbios Name Service) are two broadcast/multicast name resolution “protocols” that are enabled by default, they are used when dns name resolution fails.

If you use Wireshark type software to listen to the network, you will see that there is a lot of LLMNR and NBT-NS traffic.

The main danger of LLMNR and NBT-NS is that it is easy to send a false response with another computer in order to retrieve an NTLM hash of the requesting client.

Below are screenshots of the responder which allows you to respond to LLMNR and NBT-NS requests

Now we will see how to deactivate LLMNR and NBT-NS

Disable LLMNR

Good news, LLMNR is disabled by group policy in configuring the DNS client of computers.

To disable LLMNR, you must enable the Disable multicast name resolution setting located at: Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Network / DNS Client.

After applying the GPO on the computers in the domain, they will no longer use LLMNR.

If you have non-domain computers, it will be necessary to do this on them.

Disable NBT-NS

Here it gets a little complicated because NBT-NS is configured at the NIC level and there is no applicable group policy. The good news is that for client computers (mainly workstations), it is possible to do this by an option on the DHCP server.

At the options level (extended or server), option 001 Microsoft Options for disabling NetBios must be configured in the Microsoft Windows 2000 Option vendor class. The value 0x2 must be entered to disable NBT-NS.

For computers that are not in automatic addressing, Netbios must be disabled on the network card(s).

Open network card properties.

Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties.

From the General tab, click on Advanced.

Go to the WINS tab, and select Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

Close the different ones by validating the configuration.

It is possible to disable Netbios by GPO using a PowerShell script run at startup.

Here is the script:

ps-disable-netbios.ps1 248 Bytes

1234

# Get network cards
$regkey = "HKLM:SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\NetBT\Parameters\Interfaces"
# Disable Netbios on each
Get-ChildItem $regkey |foreach { Set-ItemProperty -Path "$regkey\$($_.pschildname)" -Name NetbiosOptions -Value 2 -Verbose}

Some additional tracks

Here are some additional tips:

Deploy LAPS on computers and servers in order to have different local administrator passwords.
Sign your DNS zone (DNSSEC)
Regularly audit privileged accounts.

It is also important to follow some simple “hygiene” rules:

Limit privileged account usage (domain admins)
Do not use domain admin accounts on workstations
Update servers and computers regularly
Update applications (Web server, database, etc.)
Make sure you have up-to-date antivirus
Learn about security bulletins

Regarding the last point that I will address, it is passwords, for domain administrator accounts, privileged long passwords (20 to 30 characters) which will take much longer to be “brute-forced” than an 8-character password even with complexity.

Don’t forget to audit your Active Directory for free with Ping Castle.CategoriesActive DirectoryTagsActive Directory, Security

Source :
https://rdr-it.com/en/active-directory-harden-the-security-of-your-environment/

Active Directory: Add a Domain Controller to PowerShell

Table Of Contents

Introduction

In this tutorial, we will see how to add an Active Directory domain controller to an existing domain using PowerShell.

To do this through the GUI, I invite you to read this article: Add an AD DS Domain Controller to an Existing Domain. (fr)

Adding a domain controller to PowerShell is done in two command lines, which saves time….

Prerequisites

On the server that is going to be promoted domain controller, it is necessary:

A fixed IP address.
Configure an existing domain controller as a DNS server on the network adapter.
Make sure the ping of the domain name answers.

Dans le cas d’ajout où vous ajoutez un contrôleur de domaine sur une autre plage IP et que vous en novice, je vous conseille avant la lecture du l’article pour le faire en mode graphique et l’article suivant : Active Directory : configuration multi sites, sous réseau et réplication.

Installing the ADDS role in PowerShell

From a Powershell command prompt launched as administrator enter:

Install-WindowsFeature AD-Domain-Services -IncludeManagementTools

Wait during the installation ….

The AD DS role is installed:

Domain Controller Promotion in PowerShell

Always from a Powershell command prompt enter:

Install-ADDSDomainController -DomainName "domain.tld" -InstallDns:$true -Credential (Get-Credential "DOMAIN\administratreur")

Enter the password of the account passed as a parameter in the login window, then in the Powershell console enter the password of the directory recovery mode and confirm the promotion as a domain controller.

Wait during the promotion operation ….

After the operation completes, the following message appears and the server restarts.

At reboot the server is domain control.

Complements

There are 3 different Powershell commands that allow promotion as a domain control. Each of the commands is to be used in a particular case:

Install-ADDSForest : which is used for creating a new Active Directory forest.
Install-ADDSDomain : which is used to create a domain in an Active Directory forest (adding a child domain).
Install-ADDSDomainController : which is used to add an Active Directory domain controller to an existing domain.

CategoriesActive DirectoryTagsActive Directory, Domain

Source :
https://rdr-it.com/en/active-directory-add-a-domain-controller-to-powershell/

Rename a computer in PowerShell

Rename-Computer command in PowerShell renames the local computer or remote computer name.

Rename-Computer cmdlet in PowerShell has a New-Name parameter to specify a new name for the target computer ( local or remote computer).

In this article, we will discuss how to rename a computer in PowerShell with examples.

Let’s understand Rename-Computer cmdlet in PowerShell to rename a local computer or remote computer with examples.

Table of Contents hide

1 Rename-Computer Syntax

2 Rename a Local Computer

3 Rename a Remote computer

4 PowerShell Rename a Computer on Domain

5 Conclusion

Rename-Computer Syntax

It renames a computer name to a specified new name.

Syntax:

Rename-Computer

[-ComputerName <String>]

[-PassThru]

[-DomainCredential <PSCredential>]

[-LocalCredential <PSCredential>]

[-NewName] <String>

[-Force]

[-Restart]

[-WsmanAuthentication <String>]

[-WhatIf]

[-Confirm]

[<CommonParameters>]

Parameters:

-ComputerName

Parameter renames the remote computer in PowerShell. The default is the local computer.

To rename a remote computer, specify the IP address, the domain name of the remote computer, or the NetBIOS name.

To specify the local computer name, use localhost, dot (.).

-NewName

It specifies a new name for a computer. This parameter is mandatory to rename a computer. The name may contain alphanumeric, hyphens (-).

-Restart

It specifies restart is required after the computer is renamed. Restart is required to reflect the changes.

-DomainCredential

It specifies a user account that has permission to connect to a remote computer in the domain and renames a computer joined in the domain with explicit credentials.

Use Domain\User or use the Get-Credential cmdlet to get user credentials.

-Force

The Force parameter forces the command to execute without user confirmation.

Let’s understand rename-computer cmdlet in PowerShell with examples.

Rename a Local Computer

To rename a local computer, use the rename-computer cmdlet in PowerShell as below

Rename-Computer -NewName “IN-CORP101” -Restart

In the above PowerShell, rename-computer renames a local computer name to IN-CORP101 specified by the NewName parameter. It will restart the local computer to reflect the change after the computer rename.

Rename a Remote computer

To rename a remote computer, use rename-computer cmdlet in PowerShell as below

Rename-Computer -ComputerName “IN-CORP01” -NewName “IN-CORP02” -Restart

In the above PowerShell script, rename-computer cmdlet renames a remote computer name. ComputerName parameter specify remote computer name and NewName parameter specify a new name for the computer.

After the computer is renamed, the remote computer will restart to reflect changes.

PowerShell Rename a Computer on Domain

To rename a computer on the domain, the user must have permission to connect to the domain. For explicit credentials, use Get-Credential cmdlet in PowerShell.

Let’s rename the computer on the domain using the rename-computer cmdlet in PowerShell.

Rename-Computer -ComputerName “EU-COPR10” -NewName “EU-CORP20” -DomainCredential ShellGeek\Admin -Force

In the above PowerShell script, Rename-Computer cmdlet renames a remote computer joined on a domain.

ComputerName specifies the remote computer name, NewName parameter specifies a new name for the computer.

DomainCredential parameter specify domain user ShellGeek\Admin who has permission to connect to the domain computer and rename a computer on the domain.

Conclusion

I hope the above article to rename a computer in PowerShell will help you to rename a local computer or remote computer.

Rename-Computer cmdlet in PowerShell doesn’t have a parameter that takes the input value and returns ComputerChangeInfo an object if you specify -PassThru a parameter else return does not return any value.

You can find more topics about PowerShell Active Directory commands and PowerShell basics on the ShellGeek home page.CategoriesPowerShell TipsTagsrename-computer

Using GetEnumerator in PowerShell to Read Data

How to Get Drivers Version Using PowerShell

Source :
https://shellgeek.com/rename-a-computer-in-powershell/

Get Domain name using PowerShell and CMD

In a large organization, its very quite common to have many domain and child domain names. While performing task automation for set of computers in domain, its best practice to get domain name of a computer.

In this article, I will explain how to get domain name using PowerShell script and command line (CMD)

Get-WmiObject class in PowerShell management library find the domain name for computer and wmic command-line utility to get domain name using command line (cmd)

Let’s understand how to get domain name in PowerShell and command line with below examples.

Table of Contents hide

1 PowerShell Get Domain name

2 Using Get-AdDomainController to get domain name

3 Get Domain Distinguished Name in PowerShell

4 Get FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name)

5 Get Domain Name using Command Line

6 Find Domain Name using SystemInfo in CMD

7 Conclusion

PowerShell Get Domain name

You can use Get-WmiObject class in PowerShell.Management gets WMI classes in the root namespace of computer and get domain name for a computer

Get-WmiObject -Namespace root\cimv2 -Class Win32_ComputerSystem | Select Name, Domain

In the above PowerShell script, Get-WmiObject gets the WMI classes in the root\cimv2 namespace of computer and uses Win32_ComputerSystem to get computer system information.

Second command select Name and Domain name of a computer.

Output of above command to get domain name of a computer as below

Using Get-AdDomainController to get domain name

PowerShell Get-AdDomainController cmdlet in Active Directory get one or more domain controllers based on search criteria.

You can get domain name of a computer in active directory using PowerShell Get-AdDomainController cmdlet as below

Get-ADDomainController -Identity “ENGG-PRO” | Select-Object Name, Domain

In the above PowerShell script, Get-AdDomainController command get domain controller specified by name of server object

Second command, select name and domain name, output as below

PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-ADDomainController -Identity "ENGG-PRO" | Select-Object Name, Domain

Name     Domain
----     ------
ENGG-PRO SHELLPRO.LOCAL


PS C:\Windows\system32>

Get Domain Distinguished Name in PowerShell

You can get domain distinguished name for current logged in user in active directory using PowerShell as below

Get-ADDomain -Current LoggedOnUser

PowerShell Get-ADDomain cmdlet find domain name in active directory for current logged on user.

Output of above command to get domain distinguished name as below

PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-ADDomain -Current LoggedOnUser


AllowedDNSSuffixes                 : {}
ChildDomains                       : {}
ComputersContainer                 : CN=Computers,DC=SHELLPRO,DC=LOCAL
DeletedObjectsContainer            : CN=Deleted Objects,DC=SHELLPRO,DC=LOCAL
DistinguishedName                  : DC=SHELLPRO,DC=LOCAL
DNSRoot                            : SHELLPRO.LOCAL

Get FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name)

In the PowerShell, there are environment variable which contains FQDN ( fully qualified domain name) of a computer.

These variables are $env:USERDNSDomain and $env:$USERDomain

$env:USERDNSDomain variable contains FQDN ( fully qualified domain name) of domain or DNS name

$env:USERDomain variable contains NetBIOS domain name.

# Get Domain name using $env:USERDNSDoman

# Get FQDN – Fully Qualified Domain Name or DNS name

$env:USERDNSDOMAIN

#Get NetBios Domain name

$env:USERDOMAIN

Output of above environment variable to get domain name are as below

Find Domain Name using env:USERDNSDOMAIN

Get Domain Name using Command Line

You can use wmic command-line utility to get domain name using command line.

Run below command in cmd to retrieve domain name

wmic computersystem get domain

Output of above command to find domain name using cmd as below

C:\Windows\system32>wmic computersystem get domain
Domain
SHELLPRO.LOCAL

Find Domain Name using SystemInfo in CMD

You can get domain name using systeminfo which contains detailed information about computer system and operating system, run below command

systeminfo | findstr /B /C:”Domain”

Above SystemInfo command gets domain name of a computer joined to. Output of above command as below

C:\Windows\system32>systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"Domain"
Domain:                    SHELLPRO.LOCAL

Conclusion

In the above article, we have learned how to get domain of a computer using PowerShell and command line.

Use Get-WmiObject to get domain name of a computer using PowerShell. Using Get-AdDomainController get domain name in active directory.

wmic and SystemInfo command-line tool are useful to get domain name in cmd.

You can find more topics about PowerShell Active Directory commands and PowerShell basics on ShellGeek home page.CategoriesPowerShell TipsTagsGet domain name, Get-AdDomainController

Get-ComputerInfo – Get Computer Multiple Properties

Enable-AdAccount in Active Directory using PowerShell

Source :
https://shellgeek.com/get-domain-name-using-powershell-and-cmd/

How to Solve Hyper-V Cannot Delete Checkpoint | 3 Solutions

Case: Hyper-V snapshot no delete option

My Hyper-V host is Server 2012 R2. I have a virtual machine (Server 2012 R2) with a checkpoint. When I right click on the checkpoint, there is no “Delete checkpoint… ” option. I need to delete this checkpoint so that it is merged with the parent VHDX. What is the best method for doing this?

– Question from social.technet.microsoft.com

Have you ever encountered the situation where your Hyper-V cannot delete checkpoint because of “Delete” option missing? Right-clicking on the Hyper-V checkpoint, there are only “Settings”, “Export”, “Rename” and “Help” options left, why would this happen?

There are many reasons may cause Hyper-V snapshot delete option not available, such as connection error with the host, or a backup tool failure. The most likely scenario is that the checkpoint created by a third-party tool was not deleted properly by the same tool.

More specifically, the checkpoints and associated .AVHDX files should be merged and deleted at the end of a backup – only the newer .AVHDX files should be kept. However, sometimes the checkpoints may be corrupted because the VM is in a locked or backed up state, or some other reason is preventing the deletion and merging. In this case, you may find the delete option missing, and Hyper-V cannot delete this checkpoint.

How to fix this? I will provide you 3 proven solutions, you can try them one by one. *They also work for cleaning up after a failed Hyper-V checkpoint.

How to solve Hyper-V cannot delete checkpoint (3 solutions)

When you are unable to delete checkpoint in Hyper-V, you can first try some regular troubleshooting means. If they cannot solve this issue, don’t worry, there are still some alternatives can help you delete Hyper-V checkpoint properly. I will cover all of them below.

Solution 1. Troubleshooting steps that you should try first

Before taking other measures, you can try some simple ways in Hyper-V Manager to see if you can make snapshot removal work. That is:

Right-click on the host name in Hyper-V Manager and select Refresh.

Close and restart the Hyper-V Manager.
Highlight the target checkpoint and use the [Delete] key on the keyboard. It should pop up a window confirming whether to delete the checkpoint or not.

If none of these ways can help, then you may need to try delete checkpoint Hyper-V with PowerShell.

Solution 2. Properly delete Hyper-V checkpoint with PowerShell

Hyper-V PowerShell module is a bundle of cmdlets for creating, configuring and managing Microsoft Hyper-V hosts and virtual machines. It can be more a time efficient method than using GUI. You can use it remove any Hyper-V checkpoint that has no delete option.

Launch Windows PowerShell as administrator on the Hyper-V host, input and execute the following command to delete the checkpoint:

Get-VMSnapshot -VMName <VMName> | Remove-VMSnapshot

Delete Hyper-V checkpoint via PowerShell

Note:

1. You need to replace <VMName> with your target virtual machine name.

2. If you need to specify a host, you can add a parameter of -ComputerName. The command looks like:

Get-VMSnapshot -ComputerName <ComputerName> -VMName <VMName> | Remove-VMSnapshot

3. If you want to delete a specified checkpoint, you can first run the command to get the checkpoint name:

Get-VMSnapshot -ComputerName <ComputerName> -VMName <VMName>

Then use the name to delete the specified checkpoint, the command will be like:

Get-VMSnapshot -VMName <VMName> -Name <CheckpointName> | Remove-VMSnapshot

Once the command succeeded, you can see the merge progress for the particular VM. It may take some time depending on the snapshot size. After that, you should be able to modify the virtual machine configuration again.

If this method still cannot delete your Hyper-V checkpoint, turn to the next one.

Solution 3. Export and import Hyper-V VM to resolve checkpoint cannot delete

You can try Hyper-V export VM and import as suggested by some other users, which are also said can be used to solve the problem.

1. Launch Hyper-V Manager. Right-click on the name of the target checkpoint, and select Export…

2. In the pop-up window, click Browse to specify a network share as the storage destination to the exported files. And then click Export.

3. Right-click on the host name and select Import Virtual Machine… Click Next on the pop-up wizard.

4. On Locate Folder page, click Browse… to specify the folder containing the exported VM files. Click Next to continue.

5. On Select Virtual Machine page, select the virtual machine to import, then click Next.

4. On Choose Import Type page, choose the type of import to perform:

Register the virtual machine in-place (use the existing unique ID): use the exported files in-place, and when the import has completed, the export files become the running state files and can’t be removed. The ID will be the same as the exported one.
Restore the virtual machine (use the existing unique ID): restore the VM to the specified or default location, with the same ID as the exported one. When the import has completed, the exported files remain intact and can be removed or imported again.
Copy the virtual machine (create a new unique ID): restore the VM to the specified or default location, and create a new unique ID. Which means the exported files remain intact and can be removed or imported again, and you can import the VM to the same host multiple times.

Click Next to continue.

5. Choose the second or the third option, the wizard will add 2 more pages for selecting storage.

On Choose Destination page, you can check Store the virtual machine in a different location option, and click Browse… to specify Virtual machine configuration folder, Checkpoint store, and Smart paging folder. Leave the option unchecked the wizard will import the files to default Hyper-V folders. Then click Next.

6. On Choose Storage Folders page, you can click Browse… to specify where you want to store the imported virtual hard disks for this VM, or leave the default location unchanged. Then click Next.

7. On Summary page, review the settings and click Finish to start restore.

Furthere reading: FAQ about Hyper-V delete checkpoint

The above describes how to solve the problem that the delete option disappears and the hyper-v checkpoint cannot be deleted. Besides, many users may have some other confusion about checkpoints. I have compiled some common questions and their answers here.

Q: Where are checkpoints stored on a Hyper-V host?

In general, the default location for storing checkpoint configuration files is:

%systemroot%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Snapshots

And the default locations for storing AVHDX files (checkpoint storages) are:

Windows Server 2012R2 / Windows 8.1: C:UsersPublicDocumentsHyper-VVirtual Hard Disks

Windows Server 2012 / Windows 8: C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsHyper-VNew Virtual MachineVirtual Hard Disks

Q: Can you directly delete checkpoint files (.avhdx)?

Whenever a checkpoint is deleted, Hyper-V merges the .vhdx and .avhdx files automatically, and the .avhdx files should be removed from the disk after the Hyper-V checkpoint merging process is complete. So a proper checkpoint deletion does not result in data loss.

It’s not a good idea to delete the .avhdx file in VM folder directly, because it may cause the checkpoint tree to fail.

The normal steps to delete a checkpoint is:

Open the Hyper-V Manager -> Select the virtual machine for which you need to remove checkpoints -> Locate the Checkpoints tab -> Right-click on the desired checkpoint -> click “Delete Checkpoint”. If asked to confirm the action, make sure the checkpoint is correct and click “Delete” again.

Note if you need to delete all subsequent checkpoints, right-click the earliest checkpoint and click “Delete Checkpoint Subtree”.

If you find some orphaned Hyper-V AVHDX files in the VM folder, but no snapshots on that VM, this may be because incomplete deletion or merging, you can refer to: delete Hyper-V AVHDX file without checkpoints.

Q: Hyper-V checkpoint delete vs merge

A checkpoint is any new change or save between the old state and the present, it stops writing to the actual disk and writes to the change disk.

Once you are satisfied and delete the checkpoint, the changes are written back/merged to the actual disk and are write enabled again. Therefore, deleting a checkpoint and merging a checkpoint are actually the same thing.

If you don’t want the changes, you just need to revert them and any changes since the checkpoint will be deleted.

Q: Can Hyper-V checkpoints be used as regular backup means?

The answer is NO. VM snapshot and backup are different from each other. Microsoft’s Hyper-V checkpoint is not a replacement of backup.

When you create a backup, you are creating a copy of your virtual machine. It stores complete data of VM. Backups in Hyper-V can be used to restore a whole VM and do not affect the performance.

When you create a checkpoint, you are creating a differencing disk based on the original virtual machine hard disk. If the original disk is damaged, the child disk is easy to be lost or damaged as well. All changes made after the checkpoint are re-directed to the child disk and leaves the original virtual machine disk read-only.

Meanwhile, checkpoints are running out of the memory of disk with a rapid speed, which will gradually to the poor performance of your virtual machines.

In short, Hyper-V checkpoint is just a secure “undo” button. If you want to test something quickly and restore the VM to a stable state, checkpoint in Hyper-V is convenient and fast to execute the process. But, if you want long-term and independent protection for VMs, you still need to find effective Hyper-V backup solution.

Better option for long-term protection: Image-based VM backup

As mentioned above, if you are looking for long-term data protection and the ability to quickly restore VMs to a usable state in the event of a disaster, then you are more suited to an image-based VM backup solution.

Here I’d like to introduce you AOMEI Cyber Backup, this free Hyper-V backup solution is designed to protect virtual machines from any data threats, whether you are using Hyper-V in Microsoft Windows Server 2022 / 2019 / 2016 / 2012 R2, Microsoft Windows 11 / 10 / 8 / 8.1 or Hyper-V Server 2019 / 2016 / 2012 R2.

You can use the software to simplify Hyper-V backup and management. If offers you the following benefits:

Easy-to-use: User-friendly interface to complete backup and restore process based on several clicks.
Perpetual Free: No time limit for AOMEI Cyber Backup Free Edition to protect up to multiple virtual machines.
Auto Backup Schedule: Schedule backups for multiple VMs at once and auto run it without powering off VMs.
Centralized Management: Create and manage Hyper-V VM backups from the central console without installing Agent on each VM.
Flexible Backup Strategy: Flexibly tracking data and store backups to different storages.
Role Assignment: allows one administrator to create sub-accounts with limited privileges.

Please hit the button below to download and use AOMEI Cyber Backup for free:

Download FreewareVMware ESXi & Hyper-V

Secure Download

*You can choose to install this VM backup software on either Windows or Linux system.

3 easy steps to perform free VM backup:

1. Open AOMEI Cyber Backup web client, and access to Source Device >> Hyper-V >> Add Hyper-V to bind your Hyper-V host, then enter the required information and click Confirm.

2. Access to Backup Task >> Create New Task to configure your Hyper-V backup task. In the opened wizard, you can select Hyper-V virtual machines to back up, the storages to save the backups.

Also, you can configure Schedule to select backup method as full / incremental backup, and specify the backup frequency on basis of daily / weekly / monthly to automatically run the Hyper-V backup task.

3. Start Backup: click Start Backup and select Add the schedule and start backup now, or Add the schedule only.

When completing the Hyper-V backup solution, you can monitor the backing up process on the main interface, and you can also check the Backup Log to see if there are any errors that result in your backup failure.

When you want to Restore a VM from the backup, you can select any backup version from the history, and Restore to original location easily.

✍While the Free Edition covers most of the VM backup needs, you can also upgrade to enjoy:

Backup Cleanup: Specify retention policy to delete old VM backups automatically, thus saving storage space.
Restore to new location: Make a clone of a virtual machine in the same or another datastore/host, without reinstalling or configuring a new VM.

Summary

If you find your Hyper-V snapshot no delete option, I summarized several ways to solve the problem Hyper-V cannot delete checkpoint in this article. Hope it could be helpful to you.

Besides this, you may encounter some other issues, such as Hyper-V VM running slow, stuck at restoring or saved state, Hyper-V VM no internet, failed to change state, etc. To prevent your virtual machines from getting all kinds of errors and eventual crashes, it’s always recommended to back up your VMs that are loaded with important data.

Source :
https://www.ubackup.com/enterprise-backup/hyper-v-cannot-delete-checkpoint.html

Microsoft: Edge update will disable Internet Explorer in February

Microsoft announced today that a future Microsoft Edge update would permanently disable the Internet Explorer 11 desktop web browser on some Windows 10 systems in February.

This comes after a previous warning from June 15, the day Internet Explorer reached its end of support, when the company told customers that the legacy web browser would get disabled via a Windows update.

“The out-of-support Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) desktop application is scheduled to be permanently disabled on certain versions of Windows 10 devices on February 14, 2023, through a Microsoft Edge update, not a Windows update as previously communicated,” Redmond said on Friday.

“All remaining devices that have not already been redirected from IE11 to Microsoft Edge are scheduled to be redirected with the Microsoft Edge update scheduled for February 14, 2023.”

Enterprise admins are advised to transition from IE11 to Microsoft Edge with IE mode and remove IE visual references from the Start Menu and the Windows taskbar with the Disable IE policy before February 14 to avoid “business disruption at scale when users lose access to IE11-dependent applications.”

Next year’s May non-security preview release and the June Windows monthly security update are also designed to remove them in environments where admins will not act before IE11 gets permanently disabled.

BleepingComputer previously reported that Internet Explorer would redirect users to the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge when launching the Internet Explorer 11 desktop applications.

Starting in October 2020, IE11 has been automatically launching Microsoft Edge when visiting incompatible sites. The list of incompatible sites (managed by Microsoft) contains 7,562 domains belonging to a long list of high-profile online platforms and services, including Facebook, Instagram, Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, Twitter, and many others.

During the redirection process, users’ data (including settings, passwords, and favorites) will be imported into Microsoft Edge to make the switch easier.

Internet Explorer still around for some time

Even though officially retired from multiple Windows 10 versions on the semi-annual channel (SAC) servicing channel and not shipping with Windows 11, IE11 will still be available on Windows 7 ESU, Windows 8.1, and versions of Windows 10 LTSC client, IoT, and Server.

The web browser will continue receiving technical support and security updates on systems running these Windows versions for the lifecycle of the Windows version it runs on.

https://static.btloader.com/safeFrame.html?upapi=true

https://adb5d1a713f0e7e82b19eac0580a4435.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html?upapi=true

Microsoft has been urging customers to switch to Microsoft Edge with IE mode for years as it enables backward compatibility and will be supported through at least 2029—you can learn more about IE mode and how to make the switch in this getting started guide.

To enable IE mode in Microsoft Edge, you have to go to edge://settings/defaultbrowser, toggle on the ‘Allow sites to be reloaded in Internet Explorer‘ option, and restart the browser.

Microsoft first announced plans to ditch support for IE11 in Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 in August 2020, with an official retirement announcement issued in May 2021.

Microsoft discontinued IE support in Teams in November 2020 and also ended support across Microsoft 365 apps and services in August 2021.

Other Microsoft services and apps have also ended support for Internet Explorer during the last few years—a complete list is available here.

Microsoft Edge 109 is the last version to support Windows 7/8.1

Windows 10 KB5020030 preview update released with ten improvements

Microsoft fixes Windows zero-day bug exploited to push malware

Learn to automate Windows with this PowerShell three-course bundle

Microsoft November 2022 Patch Tuesday fixes 6 exploited zero-days, 68 flaws

Source :
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-edge-update-will-disable-internet-explorer-in-february/

How to Protect Your Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 with CrowdSec

Follow this step-by-step guide on installing CrowdSec on a Microsoft Exchange server to better protect against common cyberattacks and new threats.

This article is a direct translation of Florian Burnel’s article published on IT Connect. You can find the original article here.

We also have an article on installing CrowdSec on a Windows server with a tutorial on blocking brute force attacks on an RDP connection and blocking a scan of a website hosted on an IIS server.

I. Presentation

In this tutorial, we will dive into how to secure a Microsoft Exchange mail server with the CrowdSec collaborative firewall! Installing CrowdSec on a Microsoft Exchange server will allow you to protect against common attacks but also new threats.

A good example is the security breach ProxyNotShell which made headlines in October 2022: CrowdSec can detect exploit attempts and block malicious IP addresses, thanks to the fact that it contains a collection for IIS and attacks based on HTTP/HTTPS protocols. Other examples are more classic cases: brute force attacks on the Exchange webmail interface.

Due to how it functions, an Exchange server will be exposed to the Internet depending on the architecture of your IS (for example, the presence or absence of a reverse proxy). However, it must be able to communicate outward and also be reachable from the outside to send and receive emails to your users’ mailboxes.

This same server is also reachable through Webmail which allows users to check their emails from a browser. This implies the presence of an IIS web server that hosts both Webmail and Exchange Admin Center. Furthermore, when an Exchange server is compromised by a cyberattack, this mainly involves HTTP/HTTPS access: hence the interest in protecting yourself.

This article is a continuation of my first article on installing an Exchange Server 2019 server. For the installation of the Microsoft Exchange Server itself, I invite you to read my previous tutorial.

In addition, I also encourage you to restrict access to the Exchange admin center.

II. Setting up CrowdSec on Windows

A. Installing the CrowdSec Agent

I already wrote about how to install CrowdSec on Windows in a previous article, but that was the Alpha version. Now, the CrowdSec agent for Windows is available in a stable version, which means that it is ready to be implemented in production.

Note: if you have previously installed the alpha version on your server, you must uninstall it before installing this new CrowdSec version.

First, you must download the MSI package from the official CrowdSec GitHub repository.

While it is installing, the CrowdSec MSI package will perform the following actions:

Install CrowdSec itself
Integrate the Windows Collection (details are available here)
Register the CrowdSec instance with the Central API
Register the CrowdSec service within Windows (automatic start)

Once done, begin the installation. Just follow the steps without making any changes. Then, allow about 2 minutes for the Agent to fully install.

Install CrowdSec on Windows for Exchange Server

As soon as the CrowdSec Agent is in place, we have access to the “cscli” command line which allows you to manage your CrowdSec instance from it.

To list current collections:

cscli collections list

To list the current bouncers (none by default):

cscli bouncers list

CrowdSec Windows - List collections and bouncers

B. Installing the ISS Collection

On Windows, CrowdSec natively sets up the “crowdsecurity/windows“, but it is not enough to protect your Exchange server. We will need to add the IIS collection, which will also add two more collections to detect web attacks.

This collection is installed from this command:

cscli collections install crowdsecurity/iis

In just a few seconds after adding, we can list the installed collections to see the presence of the new collections.

CrowdSec Windows - Lister les collections

To justify what I said in the introduction about the ProxyNotShell vulnerability, we can look at the details of the “crowdsecurity/http-cve” collection. Here, we can see the presence of a detection scenario named “crowdsecurity/CVE-2022-41082” corresponding to this vulnerability.

cscli collections inspect crowdsecurity/http-cve

CrowdSec Windows - http-cve collection details

Let’s go to the next step.

C. Installing Windows Firewall Bouncer

Now, we must set up the “firewall” bouncer for Windows, otherwise, attacks will be detected, but not blocked. Click on the following link, then on the “Download” button to download the MSI package: https://hub.crowdsec.net/author/crowdsecurity/bouncers/cs-windows-firewall-bouncer

The installation is done in only a few clicks: just follow the wizard.

CrowdSec Windows - Installation du bouncer firewall

Once done, the command below will make it possible to see the presence of the bouncer.

cscli bouncers list

Let’s go to the next step.

D. Add IIS log support

For CrowdSec to focus on the logs generated by IIS, and by extension, corresponding to the access to the OWA and ECP portals of Exchange, we must indicate to it the paths to the log files it will analyze.

To do this, you will need to edit the following:

C:\ProgramData\CrowdSec\config\acquis.yaml

In order to add the following lines:

---
use_time_machine: true
filenames:
  - C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\*\*.log
labels:
  type: iis

You can see the presence of a “dynamic” path which is characterized by the presence of the wildcard character: “C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\*\*.log “. This value will allow CrowdSec to find and read log files located in the tree “C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\

In addition to the path to the log files, this configuration block we just added contains a parameter named use_time_machine. It is important because IIS does not write logs in real-time in the log file, but it writes new events in blocks, every minute. Thanks to this parameter, CrowdSec will read the date and time of each line to find its way and process the events chronologically, this avoids false positives.

However, if you are not using the log files, but the event viewer, you should use this piece of code and not the one mentioned above:

---
source: wineventlog
event_channel: Microsoft-IIS-Logging/Logs
event_ids:  - 6200
event_level: information
labels:  
type: iis

Save the acquired.yaml file and you can close it.

Finally, we need to restart CrowdSec. This operation is done in PowerShell with this command:

Restart-Service crowdsec

CrowdSec setup is complete! Now let’s test it!

III. Is the Exchange server protected?

A. Brute force on OWA – Webmail Exchange

There are several possible methods to perform a brute force attack on OWA. Of course, you could do this manually for testing, but you could also use something a bit more automated to simulate a brute-force attack. As for us, we will use a Bash script named “OWA BRUTE” that executes Hydra (an offensive tool compatible with many protocols to test a service’s authentication, equipment, etc. ) with specific parameters corresponding to Outlook Web Access.

The script is available on GitHub.

First, we need to install Hydra and Git. The first one is a prerequisite to use the script and perform our attack, while the second one will be used to clone the GitHub repository to get the Bash script (you can also copy and paste the script in a file…).

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install hydra git

Once this is done, we clone the GitHub project in “/home/florian”:

cd /home/florian/

git clone

Then, we create a file “users.txt” in which we indicate some names of users. You can also recover a list on the Internet.

nano /home/florian/owabrute/users.txt

In the same sense, we create a file “passwords.txt” with the passwords to test.

nano /home/florian/owabrute/passwords.txt

Then, we move to the OWA BRUTE directory to add the execution rights on the Bash script.

cd /home/florian/owabrute/

chmod +x owabrute.sh

All that remains is to launch the attack by targeting “mail.domaine.fr” and then using our previously created files.

./owabrute.sh -d mail.domaine.fr -u ./users.txt -p ./passwords.txt

‍

We can see that the script will test each combination. At the end, it will indicate if it has succeeded or not in finding a valid combination. However, CrowdSec will intervene…

We can see that the script will test each combination, in turn. In the end, it will indicate whether or not it succeeded in finding a valid combination. However, CrowdSec will intervene....

Indeed, if I look at my Exchange server, I can see that there is a new IP address blocked because of brute force (“crowdsecurity/windows-bf”). The CrowdSec agent has correctly blocked the IP address that caused this attack.

Since we are here to test, we can unblock our IP address manually:

cscli decisions delete –ip X.X.X.X

Let’s move on to a second test.

B. Scan Web on OWA

In the case where someone tries to scan your Web server, when IIS is used by Exchange, they can rely on various tools including Nikto which is used to analyze the security level of a Web server. For this example, OWA will be scanned with the Nikto tool: we will see if CrowdSec detects what is happening on the IIS server…

First of all, let’s install this tool:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nikto

Then, we launch the scan to webmail:

nikto -h https://mail.domaine.fr/owa

The analysis will take several minutes…

…Except that after a while, CrowdSec will realize that this web client is performing suspicious actions and it will decide to block it. In the example below, we can see the reason “http-sensitive-files” which means that the client tried to access sensitive files.

In this second example, where we performed a completely different action compared to the first attempt, CrowdSec also managed to detect our malicious actions.

IV. Conclusion

We have just seen how to set up the CrowdSec agent on Windows to protect a Microsoft Exchange mail server! Here, I took the example of Exchange Server 2019, but it also applies to previous versions. With these two quick, but concrete examples, we could see the efficiency of CrowdSec!

‍

I’ll also take this moment to remind you of the existence of the CrowdSec Console which allows you to follow the alerts raised by one or more CrowdSec Agents from a web-based console. To learn more about the implementation and all the functionalities, you can visit the Console page.

WRITTEN BY

Florian Burnel

Source :
https://www.crowdsec.net/blog/how-to-protect-microsoft-exchange-server-crowdsec

LockBit 3.0 ‘Black’ attacks and leaks reveal wormable capabilities and tooling

Reverse-engineering reveals close similarities to BlackMatter ransomware, with some improvements

A postmortem analysis of multiple incidents in which attackers eventually launched the latest version of LockBit ransomware (known variously as LockBit 3.0 or ‘LockBit Black’), revealed the tooling used by at least one affiliate. Sophos’ Managed Detection and Response (MDR) team has observed both ransomware affiliates and legitimate penetration testers use the same collection of tooling over the past 3 months.

Leaked data about LockBit that showed the backend controls for the ransomware also seems to indicate that the creators have begun experimenting with the use of scripting that would allow the malware to “self-spread” using Windows Group Policy Objects (GPO) or the tool PSExec, potentially making it easier for the malware to laterally move and infect computers without the need for affiliates to know how to take advantage of these features for themselves, potentially speeding up the time it takes them to deploy the ransomware and encrypt targets.

A reverse-engineering analysis of the LockBit functionality shows that the ransomware has carried over most of its functionality from LockBit 2.0 and adopted new behaviors that make it more difficult to analyze by researchers. For instance, in some cases it now requires the affiliate to use a 32-character ‘password’ in the command line of the ransomware binary when launched, or else it won’t run, though not all the samples we looked at required the password.

We also observed that the ransomware runs with LocalServiceNetworkRestricted permissions, so it does not need full Administrator-level access to do its damage (supporting observations of the malware made by other researchers).

Most notably, we’ve observed (along with other researchers) that many LockBit 3.0 features and subroutines appear to have been lifted directly from BlackMatter ransomware.

Is LockBit 3.0 just ‘improved’ BlackMatter?

Other researchers previously noted that LockBit 3.0 appears to have adopted (or heavily borrowed) several concepts and techniques from the BlackMatter ransomware family.

We dug into this ourselves, and found a number of similarities which strongly suggest that LockBit 3.0 reuses code from BlackMatter.

Anti-debugging trick

Blackmatter and Lockbit 3.0 use a specific trick to conceal their internal functions calls from researchers. In both cases, the ransomware loads/resolves a Windows DLL from its hash tables, which are based on ROT13.

It will try to get pointers from the functions it needs by searching the PEB (Process Environment Block) of the module. It will then look for a specific binary data marker in the code (0xABABABAB) at the end of the heap; if it finds this marker, it means someone is debugging the code, and it doesn’t save the pointer, so the ransomware quits.

After these checks, it will create a special stub for each API it requires. There are five different types of stubs that can be created (randomly). Each stub is a small piece of shellcode that performs API hash resolution on the fly and jumps to the API address in memory. This adds some difficulties while reversing using a debugger.

Screenshot of disassembler code — LockBit’s 0xABABABAB marker

SophosLabs has put together a CyberChef recipe for decoding these stub shellcode snippets.

Output of a CyberChef recipe — The first stub, as an example (decoded with CyberChef)

Obfuscation of strings

Many strings in both LockBit 3.0 and BlackMatter are obfuscated, resolved during runtime by pushing the obfuscated strings on to the stack and decrypting with an XOR function. In both LockBit and BlackMatter, the code to achieve this is very similar.

Georgia Tech student Chuong Dong analyzed BlackMatter and showed this feature on his blog, with the screenshot above.

By comparison, LockBit 3.0 has adopted a string obfuscation method that looks and works in a very similar fashion to BlackMatter’s function.

API resolution

LockBit uses exactly the same implementation as BlackMatter to resolve API calls, with one exception: LockBit adds an extra step in an attempt to conceal the function from debuggers.

The array of calls performs precisely the same function in LockBit 3.0.

Hiding threads

Both LockBit and BlackMatter hide threads using the NtSetInformationThread function, with the parameter ThreadHideFromDebugger. As you probably can guess, this means that the debugger doesn’t receive events related to this thread.

Printing

LockBit, like BlackMatter, sends ransom notes to available printers.

Deletion of shadow copies

Both ransomware will sabotage the infected computer’s ability to recover from file encryption by deleting the Volume Shadow Copy files.

LockBit calls the IWbemLocator::ConnectServer method to connect with the local ROOT\CIMV2 namespace and obtain the pointer to an IWbemServices object that eventually calls IWbemServices::ExecQuery to execute the WQL query.

LockBit’s method of doing this is identical to BlackMatter’s implementation, except that it adds a bit of string obfuscation to the subroutine.

Enumerating DNS hostnames

Both LockBit and BlackMatter enumerate hostnames on the network by calling NetShareEnum.

In the source code for LockBit, the function looks like it has been copied, verbatim, from BlackMatter.

Determining the operating system version

Both ransomware strains use identical code to check the OS version – even using the same return codes (although this is a natural choice, since the return codes are hexadecimal representations of the version number).

Configuration

Both ransomware contain embedded configuration data inside their binary executables. We noted that LockBit decodes its config in a similar way to BlackMatter, albeit with some small differences.

For instance, BlackMatter saves its configuration in the .rsrc section, whereas LockBit stores it in .pdata.

And LockBit uses a different linear congruential generator (LCG) algorithm for decoding.

Some researchers have speculated that the close relationship between the LockBit and BlackMatter code indicates that one or more of BlackMatter’s coders were recruited by LockBit; that LockBit bought the BlackMatter codebase; or a collaboration between developers. As we noted in our white paper on multiple attackers earlier this year, it’s not uncommon for ransomware groups to interact, either inadvertently or deliberately.

Either way, these findings are further evidence that the ransomware ecosystem is complex, and fluid. Groups reuse, borrow, or steal each other’s ideas, code, and tactics as it suits them. And, as the LockBit 3.0 leak site (containing, among other things, a bug bounty and a reward for “brilliant ideas”) suggests, that gang in particular is not averse to paying for innovation.

LockBit tooling mimics what legitimate pentesters would use

Another aspect of the way LockBit 3.0’s affiliates are deploying the ransomware shows that they’re becoming very difficult to distinguish from the work of a legitimate penetration tester – aside from the fact that legitimate penetration testers, of course, have been contracted by the targeted company beforehand, and are legally allowed to perform the pentest.

The tooling we observed the attackers using included a package from GitHub called Backstab. The primary function of Backstab is, as the name implies, to sabotage the tooling that analysts in security operations centers use to monitor for suspicious activity in real time. The utility uses Microsoft’s own Process Explorer driver (signed by Microsoft) to terminate protected anti-malware processes and disable EDR utilities. Both Sophos and other researchers have observed LockBit attackers using Cobalt Strike, which has become a nearly ubiquitous attack tool among ransomware threat actors, and directly manipulating Windows Defender to evade detection.

Further complicating the parentage of LockBit 3.0 is the fact that we also encountered attackers using a password-locked variant of the ransomware, called lbb_pass.exe , which has also been used by attackers that deploy REvil ransomware. This may suggest that there are threat actors affiliated with both groups, or that threat actors not affiliated with LockBit have taken advantage of the leaked LockBit 3.0 builder. At least one group, BlooDy, has reportedly used the builder, and if history is anything to go by, more may follow suit.

LockBit 3.0 attackers also used a number of publicly-available tools and utilities that are now commonplace among ransomware threat actors, including the anti-hooking utility GMER, a tool called AV Remover published by antimalware company ESET, and a number of PowerShell scripts designed to remove Sophos products from computers where Tamper Protection has either never been enabled, or has been disabled by the attackers after they obtained the credentials to the organization’s management console.

We also saw evidence the attackers used a tool called Netscan to probe the target’s network, and of course, the ubiquitous password-sniffer Mimikatz.

Incident response makes no distinction

Because these utilities are in widespread use, MDR and Rapid Response treats them all equally – as though an attack is underway – and immediately alerts the targets when they’re detected.

We found the attackers took advantage of less-than-ideal security measures in place on the targeted networks. As we mentioned in our Active Adversaries Report on multiple ransomware attackers, the lack of multifactor authentication (MFA) on critical internal logins (such as management consoles) permits an intruder to use tooling that can sniff or keystroke-capture administrators’ passwords and then gain access to that management console.

It’s safe to assume that experienced threat actors are at least as familiar with Sophos Central and other console tools as the legitimate users of those consoles, and they know exactly where to go to weaken or disable the endpoint protection software. In fact, in at least one incident involving a LockBit threat actor, we observed them downloading files which, from their names, appeared to be intended to remove Sophos protection: sophoscentralremoval-master.zip and sophos-removal-tool-master.zip. So protecting those admin logins is among the most critically important steps admins can take to defend their networks.

For a list of IOCs associated with LockBit 3.0, please see our GitHub.

Acknowledgments

Sophos X-Ops acknowledges the collaboration of Colin Cowie, Gabor Szappanos, Alex Vermaning, and Steeve Gaudreault in producing this report.

Source :
https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2022/11/30/lockbit-3-0-black-attacks-and-leaks-reveal-wormable-capabilities-and-tooling/

Industry 4.0: CNC Machine Security Risks Part 3

In this final installation of our three-part blog series, we lay out countermeasures that enterprises can do to protect their machines. We’ll also discuss our responsible disclosure as well as the feedback we got from the vendors we evaluated.

Countermeasures

We found that only two of the four vendors analyzed support authentication. Neither of them has authentication enabled by default, which leaves the machines vulnerable to attacks by malicious users. Enabling authentication is essential for protecting Industry 4.0 features from abuse.

Resource access control systems are important for reducing the impact of attacks. Many technologies allow access to all a controller’s resources, which can be dangerous. A correct approach is to adopt resource access control systems that grant limited access. This will help to ensure that only authorized users have access to the controller’s resources and that these resources are protected from unauthorized access.

When it comes to integrators and end users, we suggest these countermeasures:

Context-aware industrial intrusion prevention and detection systems (IPS/IDSs): These devices, which have recently seen a surge in popularity in the catalogues of security vendors, are equipped with network engines that can capture real-time traffic associated with industrial protocols to detect attacks.
Network segmentation: Correct network architecting is of great importance. As our research has revealed, all the tested machines expose interfaces that could be abused by miscreants.
Correct patching: Modern CNC machines are equipped with full-fledged operating systems and complex software, which might inevitably contain security vulnerabilities. This was indeed the case with the machines that we tested.

Responsible Disclosure

We contacted the affected vendors while tackling controllers sequentially, with our first contact in November 2021 and the last one in March 2022. The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS CERT) at Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency extended invaluable help during the discussion which we are grateful for.

disclosure-process — Table 1. A summary of our responsible disclosure process

As of this writing, all four vendors have replied to our concerns and most of them have addressed, to varying degrees, our findings in a reasonable time frame. More importantly, all of them have expressed interest in our research and have decided to improve either their documentation or their communication efforts with their machine manufacturers, with the final effort of offering end users more secure solutions.

To learn more about the security risks faced by CNC machines, download our comprehensive report here.

Source :
https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/22/l/cnc-machine-security-risks-part-3.html

Active Directory prerequisites

Install the Active Directory Domain Services role

Configure the first domain controller in a new Active Directory forest

Disable SMBv1 support

Enable signing on the SMB protocol

Disable LM and NTLMv1 authentication

Disable LLMNR and NBT-NS

Disable LLMNR

Disable NBT-NS

Some additional tracks

Introduction

Prerequisites

Installing the ADDS role in PowerShell

Domain Controller Promotion in PowerShell

Complements

Rename-Computer Syntax

Rename a Local Computer

Rename a Remote computer

PowerShell Rename a Computer on Domain

Conclusion

PowerShell Get Domain name

Using Get-AdDomainController to get domain name

Get Domain Distinguished Name in PowerShell

Get FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name)

Get Domain Name using Command Line

Find Domain Name using SystemInfo in CMD

Conclusion

Case: Hyper-V snapshot no delete option

How to solve Hyper-V cannot delete checkpoint (3 solutions)

Solution 1. Troubleshooting steps that you should try first

Solution 2. Properly delete Hyper-V checkpoint with PowerShell

Solution 3. Export and import Hyper-V VM to resolve checkpoint cannot delete

Furthere reading: FAQ about Hyper-V delete checkpoint

Q: Where are checkpoints stored on a Hyper-V host?

Q: Can you directly delete checkpoint files (.avhdx)?

Q: Hyper-V checkpoint delete vs merge

Q: Can Hyper-V checkpoints be used as regular backup means?

Better option for long-term protection: Image-based VM backup

Summary

Internet Explorer still around for some time

Related Articles:

I. Presentation

II. Setting up CrowdSec on Windows

A. Installing the CrowdSec Agent

B. Installing the ISS Collection

C. Installing Windows Firewall Bouncer

D. Add IIS log support

CrowdSec setup is complete! Now let’s test it!

III. Is the Exchange server protected?

IV. Conclusion

Is LockBit 3.0 just ‘improved’ BlackMatter?

Anti-debugging trick

Obfuscation of strings

API resolution

Hiding threads

Printing

Deletion of shadow copies

Enumerating DNS hostnames

Determining the operating system version

Configuration

LockBit tooling mimics what legitimate pentesters would use

Incident response makes no distinction

Acknowledgments