xeca: PowerShell Payload Generator

xeca is a project that creates encrypted PowerShell payloads for offensive purposes.

Creating position independent shellcode from DLL files is also possible.

Install

Firstly ensure that rust is installed, then build the project with the following command:

cargo build

How It Works

1. Identify and encrypt the payload. Load encrypted payload into a powershell script and save to a file named “launch.txt”
2. The key to decrypt the payload is saved to a file named “safe.txt”
3. Execute “launch.txt” on a remote host
   • The script will call back to the attacker defined web server to retrieve the decryption key “safe.txt”
   • Decrypt the payload in memory
   • Execute the intended payload in memory

Mitigations

If users must have access to programs such as powershell.exe, consider minimising security risks with Just Enough Administration and PowerShell Logging. Application control policies can be deployed via a whitelisting technology such as AppLocker.

Examples

Covenant

Covenant .NET assembly donut payload.

Empire

Empire PowerShell payload.

Merlin

Merlin DLL payload.

Sliver

Sliver Shellcode payload.