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In msfvenom, what does it mean exactly when I specify the format to C or Python? And what is the format 'raw' for? I know, when the format is psh-cmd it runs in the command prompt, and when it is exe it runs as a normal executable, but what about the others?

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  • If you run those formats, you will see that C and python will produce code in those formats...
    – schroeder ♦
    Sep 24, 2016 at 21:06

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There are 2 formats in msfvenom. Executable formats and transform formats (see Metasploit unleashed). The first one will create an executable of some sort. exe will create a Windows executable. Elf will create a Linux executable. Psh will create a powershell script you can execute right away. And so on. The transform formats format the payload in the given format so that you can include it in a program of the same format. if you provide "C" here you will get an array of unsigned char. Up to you to use it in your C source code. You will most probably use the transform-format when writing an exploit and sending the payload over the network. If the exploit is written in ruby you'll want the payload as ruby array. I just tried format "raw": It seems to output the payload as pure binary executable code. Don't know what one would use that for, didn't happen to me yet.

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  • Thank you, for what I understood the raw format is when I want to pipe the output to encode it again with a different encoder, that is the only use I found for it. But thank you for the explanation, I understand now
    – pedro santos
    Sep 25, 2016 at 13:32
  • The raw format is also useful payload types that are already ascii text by their nature, like python/meterpreter/reverse_tcp which is python code.
    – egypt
    Feb 6, 2017 at 23:13

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