Veeam – retrive saved passwords from VBR

Posted on by Jesper Ramsgaard

Ever needed to retrieve a saved Veeam password? I did – Found the process for it on the Veeam forum.

  • Open SQL Studio as administrator and connect to the Veeam DB instance
  • Run query from below on the VeeamBackup database
SELECT TOP (1000) [id]
,[user_name]
,[password]
,[usn]
,[description]
,[visible]
,[change_time_utc]
FROM [VeeamBackup].[dbo].[Credentials]
Query the Veeam DB for all stored credentials to backup infrastructure components

Get the password hash from the results (match the description to the one you need). Then run PowerShell below with the hash you grabbed.

Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup\Veeam.Backup.Common.dll"
$encoded = 'AQAAANCM....RhQ'
[Veeam.Backup.Common.ProtectedStorage]::GetLocalString($encoded)
Password revealed and ready to use

Conclusion:

Is this a security problem? Depends, but it will give you a reminder of how important it is to keep your Veeam VBR server safe. Never domain join and have the firewall closed as much as possible. If a malicious person comes by your Veeam server they can grab the keys for the rest of your infrastructure, including your backup of cause. In most cases that would mean game over.

Faster and more scripted way:

$instance = (Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication" -name SqlInstanceName).SqlInstanceName
$server = (Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication" -name SqlServerName).SqlServerName
$result = Invoke-Sqlcmd -Query "SELECT TOP (1000) [user_name],[password],[description] FROM [VeeamBackup].[dbo].[Credentials]" -ServerInstance "$server\$instance"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup\Veeam.Backup.Common.dll"
$result | ForEach-Object { [Veeam.Backup.Common.ProtectedStorage]::GetLocalString($($_.password))}

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Jesper Ramsgaard

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