Getting Access

TODO: description, methodology, and script prep for each section (issue #15)

  • Add description and methodology as needed for each section

  • Prep all code examples for scripting (replace IPs and ports with variables, etc.)

  • Ensure code examples' variables are appropriate for their respective programming language

Bind shells

Bind shells are used when the attacker connects directly to the victim.

socat

socat - TCP4:$victim_ip:$port

The dash - is required to transfer keyboard data back and forth between the machines.

Encrypted bind shell

To create an encrypted bind shell, first a self-signed certificate must be created. It must either be created on the victim machine, or transferred prior to using the bind shell.

openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout bind_shell.key -x509 -days 365 -out bind_shell.crt
cat bind_shell.key bind_shell.crt > bind_shell.pem

This command will create a new 2048-bit encryption key and certificate using the RSA algorithm. The certificate will be valid for 365 days. The key and certifcate information must be combined into one .pem file using cat.

Next, use socat to create the bind shell using this .pem certificate. verify=0 will be used to disable SSL verification. Since you are using SSL on port 443 you need to run the listener with sudo if the victim machine is running Linux.

Reverse Shells

Reverse shells are used when the attacker gets the victim machine to connect back to their machine. Useful when firewalls or other security devices prevent bind shells.

Reverse Shell as a Service - https://shell.now.sh

https://github.com/lukechilds/reverse-shell

Bash Reverse Shells

TCP:

UDP:

exec Reverse Shell

Python Reverse Shells

Using Socat UDP Listener

PHP Reverse Shell

PHP command injection webshell:

Ruby Reverse Shell

Telnet Reverse Shells

Netcat Reverse Shells

Socat Reverse Shell

-d increases verbosity of output

Golang Reverse Shell

Perl Reverse Shell

Awk Reverse Shell

NodeJS Reverse Shell

JavaScript Reverse Shell

Java Reverse Shell

C Reverse Shell

XTERM Reverse Shell

Meterpreter Reverse Shells

  • Linux Non-Staged reverse TCP

  • Linux Staged reverse TCP

Upgrading remote shells

After catching a shell through netcat, you are placed in a shell that has very limited functionality. If the remote machine has python or python3 installed you can easily upgrade to a fully functional TTY shell.

Note: To check if the shell is a TTY shell use the tty command.

Upgrade to fully interactive shell (python example):

When using some shells such as zsh or fish on the attacking machine your shell will break after you try to upgrade it using this method. Some of the things I have found that help mitigate this are:

  1. Use rlwrap nc -lvnp when setting up your listener,

  2. make sure not to put a space in your python pty command after the import,

  3. type stty size;stty raw -echo;fg all on one line.

Finally, as a last resort, you could just switch to bash instead when setting up your nc listener.

Other Languages:

Using "Script" to upgrade to a TTY

Upgrade from a basic shell to a bash TTY using script.

Using “Expect” To Get A TTY

If you’re lucky enough to have the Expect language installed just a few lines of code will get you a good enough TTY to run useful tools such as “ssh”, “su” and “login”.

Using socat

Another option is to upload the binary for socat to the victim machine and magically get a fully interactive shell. Download the appropriate binaries from https://github.com/andrew-d/static-binaries. Socat needs to be on both machines for this to work.

socat one-liner

This one-liner can be injected wherever you can get command injection for an instant reverse shell. Point the path to the binary to your local http server if internet access is limited on the victim.

Misc unsorted

Bash

Some versions of bash can send you a reverse shell (this was tested on Ubuntu 10.10):

  • Works more reliably when prefixed with bash -c (thanks Ippsec!)

PERL

Here’s a shorter, feature-free version of the perl-reverse-shell:

There’s also an alternative PERL revere shell here. (broken link?)

Python

This was tested under Linux / Python 2.7:

PHP

This code assumes that the TCP connection uses file descriptor 3. This worked on my test system. If it doesn’t work, try 4, 5, 6…

If you want a .php file to upload, see the more featureful and robust php-reverse-shell.

Ruby

Netcat

Netcat is rarely present on production systems and even if it is there are several version of netcat, some of which don’t support the -e option.

If you have the wrong version of netcat installed, Jeff Price points out here that you might still be able to get your reverse shell back like this:

Java

xterm

One of the simplest forms of reverse shell is an xterm session. The following command should be run on the server. It will try to connect back to you (10.0.0.1) on TCP port 6001.

To catch the incoming xterm, start an X-Server (:1 – which listens on TCP port 6001). One way to do this is with Xnest (to be run on your system):

You’ll need to authorize the target to connect to you (command also run on your host):

Resources

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