📔
📔
📔
📔
HackTricks - Boitatech
Search
⌃K
Comment on page

143,993 - Pentesting IMAP

Internet Message Access Protocol

As its name implies, IMAP allows you to access your email messages wherever you are; much of the time, it is accessed via the Internet. Basically, email messages are stored on servers. Whenever you check your inbox, your email client contacts the server to connect you with your messages. When you read an email message using IMAP, you aren't actually downloading or storing it on your computer; instead, you are reading it off of the server. As a result, it's possible to check your email from several different devices without missing a thing.
By default, the IMAP protocol works on two ports:
  • Port 143 - this is the default IMAP non-encrypted port
  • Port 993 - this is the port you need to use if you want to connect using IMAP securely
PORT STATE SERVICE REASON
143/tcp open imap syn-ack
nc -nv <IP> 143
openssl s_client -connect <IP>:993 -quiet

NTLM Auth - Information disclosure

If the server supports NTLM auth (Windows) you can obtain sensitive info (versions):
root@kali: telnet example.com 143
* OK The Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 service is ready.
>> a1 AUTHENTICATE NTLM
+
>> TlRMTVNTUAABAAAAB4IIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=
+ TlRMTVNTUAACAAAACgAKADgAAAAFgooCBqqVKFrKPCMAAAAAAAAAAEgASABCAAAABgOAJQAAAA9JAEkAUwAwADEAAgAKAEkASQBTADAAMQABAAoASQBJAFMAMAAxAAQACgBJAEkAUwAwADEAAwAKAEkASQBTADAAMQAHAAgAHwMI0VPy1QEAAAAA
Or automate this with nmap plugin imap-ntlm-info.nse

Syntax

Login
A1 LOGIN username password
Values can be quoted to enclose spaces and special characters. A " must then be escape with a \
A1 LOGIN "username" "password"
​
List Folders/Mailboxes
A1 LIST "" *
A1 LIST INBOX *
A1 LIST "Archive" *
​
Create new Folder/Mailbox
A1 CREATE INBOX.Archive.2012
A1 CREATE "To Read"
​
Delete Folder/Mailbox
A1 DELETE INBOX.Archive.2012
A1 DELETE "To Read"
​
Rename Folder/Mailbox
A1 RENAME "INBOX.One" "INBOX.Two"
​
List Subscribed Mailboxes
A1 LSUB "" *
​
Status of Mailbox (There are more flags than the ones listed)
A1 STATUS INBOX (MESSAGES UNSEEN RECENT)
​
Select a mailbox
A1 SELECT INBOX
​
List messages
A1 FETCH 1:* (FLAGS)
A1 UID FETCH 1:* (FLAGS)
​
Retrieve Message Content
A1 FETCH 2 body[text]
A1 FETCH 2 all
A1 UID FETCH 102 (UID RFC822.SIZE BODY.PEEK[])
​
Close Mailbox
A1 CLOSE
​
Logout
A1 LOGOUT
From here​

Evolution

apt install evolution

CURL

Basic navigation is possible with CURL, but the documentation is light on details so checking the source is recommended for precise details.
  1. 1.
    Listing mailboxes (imap command LIST "" "*")
    $ curl -k 'imaps://1.2.3.4/' --user user:pass
  2. 2.
    Listing messages in a mailbox (imap command SELECT INBOX and then SEARCH ALL)
    $ curl -k 'imaps://1.2.3.4/INBOX?ALL' --user user:pass
    The result of this search is a list of message indicies.
    Its also possible to provide more complex search terms. e.g. searching for drafts with password in mail body:
    $ curl -k 'imaps://1.2.3.4/Drafts?TEXT password' --user user:pass
    A nice overview of the search terms possible is located here.
  3. 3.
    Downloading a message (imap command SELECT Drafts and then FETCH 1 BODY[])
    $ curl -k 'imaps://1.2.3.4/Drafts;MAILINDEX=1' --user user:pass
    The mail index will be the same index returned from the search operation.
It is also possible to use UID (unique id) to access messages, however it is less conveniant as the search command needs to be manually formatted. E.g.
$ curl -k 'imaps://1.2.3.4/INBOX' -X 'UID SEARCH ALL' --user user:pass
$ curl -k 'imaps://1.2.3.4/INBOX;UID=1' --user user:pass
Also, possible to download just parts of a message, e.g. subject and sender of first 5 messages (the -v is required to see the subject and sender):
$ curl -k 'imaps://1.2.3.4/INBOX' -X 'FETCH 1:5 BODY[HEADER.FIELDS (SUBJECT FROM)]' --user user:pass -v 2>&1 | grep '^<'
Although, its probably cleaner to just write a little for loop:
for m in {1..5}; do
echo $m
curl "imap://1.2.3.4/INBOX;MAILINDEX=$m;SECTION=HEADER.FIELDS%20(SUBJECT%20FROM)" --user user:pass
done

Shodan

  • port:143 CAPABILITY
  • port:993 CAPABILITY

HackTricks Automatic Commands

Protocol_Name: IMAP #Protocol Abbreviation if there is one.
Port_Number: 143,993 #Comma separated if there is more than one.
Protocol_Description: Internet Message Access Protocol #Protocol Abbreviation Spelled out
​
Entry_1:
Name: Notes
Description: Notes for WHOIS
Note: |
As its name implies, IMAP allows you to access your email messages wherever you are; much of the time, it is accessed via the Internet. Basically, email messages are stored on servers. Whenever you check your inbox, your email client contacts the server to connect you with your messages. When you read an email message using IMAP, you aren't actually downloading or storing it on your computer; instead, you are reading it off of the server. As a result, it's possible to check your email from several different devices without missing a thing.
​
https://book.hacktricks.xyz/pentesting/pentesting-imap
​
Entry_2:
Name: Banner Grab
Description: Banner Grab 143
Command: nc -nv {IP} 143
​
Entry_3:
Name: Secure Banner Grab
Description: Banner Grab 993
Command: openssl s_client -connect {IP}:993 -quiet
Pentesting - Previous
139,445 - Pentesting SMB
Next - Pentesting
161,162,10161,10162/udp - Pentesting SNMP
Last modified 2yr ago