Using the Man-In-The-Middle Framework (MITMf) to Bypass HTTPS Strict Transport Security (HSTS)

This exercise will familiarize you with the Man-In-The-Middle framework (MITMf) and how an attacker might use this toolset to attack clients on your network. The particular attack we will be performing in this exercise will be bypassing the HSTS policy.

The MITMf is a collection of tools, written into an easy to use framework by byt3bl33d3r, which an attacker can use to simplify the construction and execution of Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attacks. It provides the user with a modular and extensible framework which they can adapt to suit their own needs and carry out a variety of MITM attacks with ease. It includes its own DNS, HTTP and SMB servers to carry out attack features.

You will use MITMf to bypass HTTPS Strict Transport Security (HSTS) in this lab.

This lab is part of a series on cyber network security.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this lab you will be able to:

• Demonstrate how an attacker could use the MITMf to perform a protocol downgrade attack and bypass HSTS.

Intended Audience

This lab is intended for:

• Cyber and network security specialists

Prerequisites

You should possess:

• A basic understanding of Windows operating system environments