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@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 commented Apr 8, 2025

This PR is related to #19975
In order to reduce the memory footprint of Meterpreter on target system is necessary to be sure only necessary code is loaded inside Meterpreter.

While working on standard api split, I noticed the presence of two extensions that were loaded without the user knowladge, priv and unhook.
This PR modifies the loading logic to use a datastore option AutoLoadExtension which contains a ';' separated list of extensions to load. At the moment inside lib/msf/base/sessions/meterpreter.rb is present a code block (commented) that keep the compability of the current working logic of Meterpreter.

Since the AutoLoadExtension logic depends on the platform, the break-up of meterpreter_option.rb to platform-specific option was necessary.

Tasks:

  • meterpreter_options/common.rb
  • meterpreter_options/linux.rb
  • meterpreter_options/windows.rb
  • meterpreter_options/android.rb
  • meterpreter_options/osx.rb
  • meterpreter_options/python.rb
  • meterpreter_options/php.rb
  • meterpreter_options/java.rb
  • meterpreter_options/apple_ios.rb
  • meterpreter_options/bsd.rb
  • Remove meterpreter_options.rb

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dledda-r7 commented Apr 9, 2025

Also blocked by #19799
because need of modify: tools/modules/meterpreter_reverse.erb

To future me: modify it to have the architecutre specific MeterpreterOptions

Let's resolve the conflicts once one of them is landed.

@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 changed the title [WIP] Remove default loaded extensions on Meterpreter [WIP] MeterpreterOptions break-up and default extension loading removal Apr 9, 2025
@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 self-assigned this Apr 9, 2025
@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 added payload rn-payload-enhancement release notes for enhanced payloads labels Apr 9, 2025
@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 moved this to In Progress in Metasploit Kanban Apr 9, 2025
@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 added the blocked Blocked by one or more additional tasks label Apr 9, 2025
@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 marked this pull request as ready for review April 15, 2025 10:37
@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 changed the title [WIP] MeterpreterOptions break-up and default extension loading removal MeterpreterOptions break-up and default extension loading removal Jun 2, 2025
@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 force-pushed the feat/remove-default-extensions branch from 9c568c0 to 70bafdf Compare June 2, 2025 12:08
@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 removed the blocked Blocked by one or more additional tasks label Jun 2, 2025
@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 mentioned this pull request Jun 2, 2025
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@dledda-r7 dledda-r7 removed their assignment Jun 11, 2025
@msutovsky-r7 msutovsky-r7 self-assigned this Jun 27, 2025

extensions = datastore['AutoLoadExtensions']&.split(';') || []

# BEGIN: This should be removed on MSF 7
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@adfoster-r7 adfoster-r7 Jul 17, 2025

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Maybe we can keep this around in MSF 7 still; maybe we could just change the default behaviors in the upcoming malleable profile config file setup that we're wanting to ship so that these aren't loaded by default, and they need to be opt-in. That way we're being less detected by default, rather than fighting against these older default values

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Thanks @msutovsky-r7
Good catch!

@msutovsky-r7 msutovsky-r7 merged commit e8b441a into rapid7:master Aug 7, 2025
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msutovsky-r7 commented Aug 7, 2025

Release Notes

This introduces a change in Meterpreter options and adds more control over Meterpreter extension to user. The change adds new datastore option AutoLoadExtension, which contains a list of Meterpreter extensions to be loaded automatically in Meterpreter, separated with comma - e.g. stdapi,priv.

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4 participants