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Hacking For Beginners – Manthan Desai 2010
What is in a path?
The first default security measure that you will encounter is that fact that PowerShell won’t run scripts that are in the
current folder. This is so that malicious scripts attempting to intercept cmdlets and command names will fail.
For example, if you wanted to run a script named Example.ps1 from the C:\scripts folder, you would need to include the
full path to the script, even if you were in the C:\scripts folder within PowerShell. Figure 1 illustrates what happens when
you just try to run Example.ps1 without a path.
Figure 1: Scripts must include the path to the script to run successfully
Now, look at what happens when you run the script including the path to the script, as shown in Figure 2.
Why am I Restricted?
Figure 2: When the path is included with the script, the script runs without a hitch
Another default setting that is directly related to security is the fact that all scripts must be run interactively. This is a
security measure that ensures that PowerShell scripts cannot be executed from a script based virus. This means that you
must be at the PowerShell interface and run the script in real time for it to function.
This default setting is associated with the Execution Policy setting within PowerShell. The Execution Policy by default is set
to Restricted, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: The Execution Policy by default is set to Restricted to secure the execution of remote PowerShell scripts
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