Although there are legitimate uses for reverse shells, cybercriminals also use them to penetrate protected hosts and perform operating system commands. The target machine initiates the outgoing connection in a reverse shell attack and establishes the shell session with the listening network host.įor hosts protected by a network address translation (NAT), a reverse shell may be necessary for performing maintenance remotely. Attackers can use a reverse shell if a remote host is not publicly accessible (i.e., due to firewall protection or a non-public IP). In a standard remote shell attack, attackers connect a machine they control to the target’s remote network host, requesting a shell session. This method is also commonly used in penetration tests. Therefore it is a severe security threat. Reverse shells allow attackers to open ports to the target machines, forcing communication and enabling a complete takeover of the target machine.
The goal is to connect to a remote computer and redirect the input and output connections of the target system’s shell so the attacker can access it remotely. A reverse shell, also known as a remote shell or “connect-back shell,” takes advantage of the target system’s vulnerabilities to initiate a shell session and then access the victim’s computer.
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