Error: undefined method `config' for nil:NilClass when loading meterpreter extensions

[honeyfairy]

My Environment
Kali Linux 2016 Latest (apt-get and dist upgrade today)
MSF Latest (updated today)
Payload: Veil-Evasion generated reverse_https
Running MSFconsole in a TMUX session, over PuTTy

Error below:

meterpreter > use espia extapi incognito kiwi lanattacks mimikatz powershell priv python sniffer stdapi
Loading extension espia...success.
Loading extension extapi...success.
Loading extension incognito...success.
Loading extension kiwi...

  .#####.   mimikatz 2.0 alpha (x86/win32) release "Kiwi en C"
 .## ^ ##.
 ## / \ ##  /* * *
 ## \ / ##   Benjamin DELPY `gentilkiwi` ( benjamin@gentilkiwi.com )
 '## v ##'   http://blog.gentilkiwi.com/mimikatz             (oe.eo)
  '#####'    Ported to Metasploit by OJ Reeves `TheColonial` * * */


[-] Failed to load extension: undefined method `config' for nil:NilClass
Loading extension lanattacks...success.
Loading extension mimikatz...
[-] Failed to load extension: undefined method `config' for nil:NilClass
Loading extension powershell...success.
[-] The 'priv' extension has already been loaded.
Loading extension python...
[-] Failed to load extension: No response was received to the core_loadlib request.
Loading extension sniffer...[-] Failed to load extension: undefined method `config' for nil:NilClass

[-] Failed to load extension: No response was received to the core_enumextcmd request.
Loading extension stdapi...
[-] Failed to load extension: No response was received to the core_enumextcmd request.
meterpreter > [-] Failed to load extension: undefined method `config' for nil:NilClass
[-] Parse error: Unmatched double quote: "[-] Failed to load extension: undefined method `config' for nil:NilClass"
meterpreter >

[nixawk]

Could you show the target os information ? I've tried to reproduced it on windows x64, but failed.

[wchen-r7]

In your msfcnosole, please do:

setg LogLevel 3

And then go ahead and trigger then same error again. There should be a backtrace log in ~/.msf4/logs/framework.log, could you please post that?

[wchen-r7]

We ran into a similar problem internally. Difficult to reproduce.

According to @egypt, this has been a known issue since 2005. If the stdapi extension fails to load (or not quick enough), then session.sys ends up being nil. Although it doesn't kill the session, without stdapi it's pretty much useless.

[bcook-r7]

I have reproduced some of these errors simply by introducing additional delay on the network. In this case, I enabled the OS X "Network Link Conditioner", and set the network to 3G (780KB down, 330KB up). The extension loading requests would then randomly fail:

Loading extension espia...
[-] Failed to load extension: No response was received to the core_enumextcmd request.
Loading extension extapi...success.
Loading extension kiwi...

  .#####.   mimikatz 2.0 alpha (x86/win32) release "Kiwi en C"
 .## ^ ##.
 ## / \ ##  /* * *
 ## \ / ##   Benjamin DELPY `gentilkiwi` ( benjamin@gentilkiwi.com )
 '## v ##'   http://blog.gentilkiwi.com/mimikatz             (oe.eo)
  '#####'    Ported to Metasploit by OJ Reeves `TheColonial` * * */


[!] Loaded x86 Kiwi on an x64 architecture.
success.
Loading extension lanattacks...success.
Loading extension mimikatz...
[!] Loaded x86 Mimikatz on an x64 architecture.
success.
Loading extension powershell...success.
[-] The 'priv' extension has already been loaded.
Loading extension python...
[-] Failed to load extension: No response was received to the core_loadlib request.
Loading extension sniffer...
[-] Failed to load extension: No response was received to the core_enumextcmd request.
[-] The 'stdapi' extension has already been loaded.

Possibly due to fixed timeouts for loading. If that is the case, we should perhaps look at a progressive mechanism where we reset the timer as long as progress continues to be made on the download of the extension.

[shankara-n]

Is there any workaround for this?

[github-actions]

Hi!

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[github-actions]

Hi again!

It’s been 60 days since anything happened on this issue, so we are going to close it.
Please keep in mind that I’m only a robot, so if I’ve closed this issue in error please feel free to reopen this issue or create a new one if you need anything else.

As a friendly reminder: the best way to see this issue, or any other, fixed is to open a Pull Request.