| name | performing-red-team-with-covenant |
| description | Conduct red team operations using the Covenant C2 framework for authorized adversary simulation, including listener setup, grunt deployment, task execution, and lateral movement tracking. |
| domain | cybersecurity |
| subdomain | red-team |
| tags | ["red-team","c2","covenant","adversary-simulation","penetration-testing"] |
| version | 1.0 |
| author | mahipal |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
| nist_csf | ["ID.RA-01","GV.OV-02","DE.AE-07"] |
Performing Red Team Operations with Covenant C2
Overview
Covenant is a collaborative .NET C2 framework for red teamers that provides a Swagger-documented REST API for managing listeners, launchers, grunts (agents), and tasks. This skill covers automating Covenant operations through its API for authorized red team engagements: creating HTTP/HTTPS listeners, generating binary and PowerShell launchers, deploying grunts, executing tasks on compromised hosts, and tracking lateral movement.
When to Use
- When conducting security assessments that involve performing red team with covenant
- When following incident response procedures for related security events
- When performing scheduled security testing or auditing activities
- When validating security controls through hands-on testing
Most Often Missed & How to Confirm
- Launcher/Grunt staging choice matters: pick the launcher (Binary/PowerShell/MSBuild/InstallUtil) that fits the delivery and the host's defenses — a missing check-in is usually a staging/evasion failure, not a dead C2.
- OPSEC on the profile: tune jitter/delay and use a custom HTTP profile (realistic URIs, headers, Host); default Covenant profiles are heavily signatured.
- Evasion: expect AMSI/ETW to block in-memory .NET — apply an AMSI bypass/obfuscation and confirm the launcher actually executed.
- Comms paths: verify the listener bind/port, egress (proxy-aware HTTP, or an SMB named-pipe Grunt for internal pivots), and that any redirector forwards correctly.
- Confirm a hit: an active Grunt appears in the Covenant dashboard with periodic check-ins and a
Task (e.g. whoami) returns output. Don't conclude failure until listener/profile/egress reachability is verified and you've confirmed AV/AMSI did not kill the launcher.
Prerequisites
- Covenant C2 server deployed (Docker or .NET 6)
- Python 3.9+ with
requests library
- Covenant API token (obtained via /api/users/login)
- Written authorization for red team engagement
- Isolated lab or authorized target environment
Steps
Step 1: Authenticate to Covenant API
Obtain a JWT token by posting credentials to /api/users/login endpoint.
Step 2: Create Listener
Configure an HTTP or HTTPS listener with callback URLs and bind address.
Step 3: Generate Launcher
Create a binary, PowerShell, or MSBuild launcher tied to the listener for grunt deployment.
Step 4: Deploy and Manage Grunts
