How to send an HTTP request using Rex::Proto::Http::Client

The Rex library (Ruby Extension Library) is the most fundamental piece of the Metasploit Framework architecture. Modules normally do not interact with Rex directly, instead they depend on the framework core and its mixins for better code sharing. If you are a Metasploit module developer, the lib/msf/core directory should be more than enough for most of your needs. If you are writing a module that speaks HTTP, then the Msf::Exploit::Remote::HttpClient mixin (which is found in lib/msf/core/exploit/http/client) is most likely the one you want.

However, in some scenarios, you actually can't use the HttpClient mixin. The most common is actually when writing a form-based login module using the LoginScanner API. If you find yourself in that situation, use Rex::Proto::Http::Client.

Initializing Rex::Proto::Http::Client

The Rex::Proto::Http::Client initializer creates a new HTTP client instance, and the most important piece is this:

def initialize(host, port = 80, context = {}, ssl = nil, ssl_version = nil, proxies = nil, username = '', password = '')

As you can use, only the host argument is required, the rest are optional. But let's go over all of them right quick:

Argument name	Data type	Description
host	String	Target host IP
port	Fixnum	Target host port
context	Hash	Determines what is responsible for requesting that a socket can be created
ssl	Boolean	True to enable it
ssl_version	String	SSL2, SSL3, or TLS1
proxies	String	Configure a proxy
username	String	Username for automatic authentication
password	String	Password for automatic authentication

Code example of initialing Rex::Proto::Http::Client:

cli = Rex::Proto::Http::Client.new(rhost, rport, {}, true, 8181, proxies, 'username', 'password')

Making an HTTP request

Even though our main topic of this documentation is about Rex::Proto::Http::Client, it does not know how to make HTTP requests. Instead, Rex::Proto::Http::ClientRequest is actually the mother of all Metasploit's HTTP requests.

So how does Rex::Proto::Http::ClientRequest give birth to an HTTP request? Well, you see son, it all begins when Rex::Proto::Http::Client asks for one with either the #request_cgi or the #request_raw method. The difference is that if #request_cgi is used, the request is meant to be CGI compatible, and in most cases this is what you want. If #request_raw is used, technically it means less options, less CGI compatible.

A raw HTTP request supports the following options:

Option/key name	Data type	Description
query	String	Raw GET query string
data	String	Raw POST data string
encode	Boolean	URI encoding
uri	String	Raw URI string
uri_encode_count	Fixnum	Number of times to encode
uri_full_url	Boolean	Full URL
uri_dir_fake_relative	Boolean	Enable fake relative URL
ssl	Boolean	True to use https://, otherwise http://
agent	String	User-Agent. Default is: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)
method	String	HTTP method
method_random_valid	Boolean	A random HTTP method: GET, POST, or HEAD
method_random_invalid	Boolean	A random string as an HTTP method
method_random_case	Boolean	A random string with casings as an HTTP method
pad_method_uri_count	Fixnum	Number of spaces
pad_method_uri_type	String	Either a space, or a tab, or Apache specific
uri_fake_params_start	Boolean	Appends '/%3fa=b/../'
uri_fake_end	Boolean	Appends '/%20HTTP/1.0/../../'
pad_uri_version_count	Fixnum	Number of spaces between the URI and the version
pad_uri_version_type	String	Either a space, or a tab, or Apache specific
proto	String	Protocol
version	String	Version
version_random_valid	Boolean	A random version between 1.0 or 1.1
version_random_invalid	Boolean	A random numeric string for the version
version_random_case	Boolean	A string with random casings for the version
vhost	String	Host header
port	Fixnum	Port for the host header
authorization	String	The authorization header
cookie	String	The cookie header
connection	String	The connection header
pad_fake_headers	Fixnum	Number of fake alphanumeric headers
headers	Hash	A hash of custom headers. Safer than raw_headers
raw_headers	String	A string of raw headers
ctype	String	Content type
chunked_size	Fixnum	Body chunk size. Will also set Transfer-Encoding and Content-Length to ""

An example of using #request_raw's options:

# cli is a Rex::Proto::Http::Client object
req = cli.request_raw({
	'uri'    =>'/test.php',
	'method' => 'POST',
	'data'   => 'A=B'
})

If the number of options #request_raw supports doesn't blow you mind, don't be disappointed. #request_cgi inherits all the above, and more:

Option/key name	Data type	Description
pad_get_params	Boolean	Enable padding for GET parameters
pad_get_params_count	Fixnum	Number of random GET parameters. You also need pad_get_params for this
vars_get	Hash	A hash of GET parameters
encode_params	Boolean	Enable URI encoding for GET or POST parameters
pad_post_params	Boolean	Enable padding for POST parameters
pad_post_params_count	Fixnum	Number of random POST parameters. You also need pad_post_params for this

An example of using one of #request_cgi options:

# cli is a Rex::Proto::Http::Client object
req = cli.request_cgi({
	'uri'      =>'/test.php',
	'vars_get' => {
		'param1' => 'value',
		'param2' => 'value'
	}
})

Sending an HTTP request

Here are examples of how to actually speak to an HTTP server with either #request_cgi or #request_raw:

#request_cgi

cli = Rex::Proto::Http::Client.new(rhost),
cli.connect
req = cli.request_cgi({'uri'=>'/'})
res = cli.send_recv(req)
cli.close

#request_raw

cli = Rex::Proto::Http::Client.new(rhost),
cli.connect
req = cli.request_raw({'uri'=>'/'})
res = cli.send_recv(req)
cli.close

Configuring advanced options

URI Parsing

Rex::Proto::Http::Client actually does not support URI parsing, so for URI format validation and normalization, you are on your own, and you should probably do it.

For URI format validation, we recommend using Ruby's URI module. You can use HttpClient's #target_uri method as an example.

For URI normalization, we recommend HttpClient's #normalize_uri method as an example.

Full Example