Mixins and Plugins

A Quick Diversion into Ruby

• Every Class only has one parent.

• A class may include many Modules.

• Modules can add new methods.

• Modules can overload old methods.

• Metasploit modules inherit Msf::Module and include mixins to add features.

Metasploit Mixins

• Mixins include one class into another (Inclusion). This is different to inheritance.

• Mixins can override a class’ methods and change behavior.

• Mixins can add new features and allows modules to have different ‘flavors’.

class MyParent
     def woof
          puts “woof!”
     end
end

class MyClass > MyParent
end

object = MyClass.new
object.woof() => “woof!”

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module MyMixin
     def woof
          puts “hijacked the woof method!”
     end
end

class MyBetterClass > MyClass
     include MyMixin
end

Metasploit Plugins

• Plugins work directly with the API.

• Plugins hook into the event subsystem.

• They automate specific tasks that would be tedious to do manually.

• Plugins only work in the msfconsole.

• Plugins can add new console commands and extend the overall Framework functionality.

References

Metasploit Mixins and Plugins | Offensive Securityoffsectraining