Introduction
So far, we have laid more emphasis on the exploitation phase in which we tried out various techniques and exploits to compromise our target. In this chapter, we will focus on Meterpreter, the most advanced payload in Metasploit, and what we can do after we have exploited the target machine. Meterpreter provides us with many features that can ease our task of exploring the target machine. We have already seen how to use Meterpreter in previous chapters but in the following chapters, we will understand Meterpreter in detail, as well as how to use it as a potential tool for the post-exploitation phase.
We have been using payloads in order to achieve specific results, but they have a major disadvantage. Payloads work by creating new processes in the compromised system. This can trigger alarms in antivirus programs and can be caught easily. Also, a payload is limited to perform only some specific tasks or execute specific commands that the shell can run. To overcome these difficulties...