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Labs / Shell Command Scanner

  • Daily Challenge
  • Released 12 Aug 2025

🔧 Can you turn system diagnostics into complete server control?

💻 Master command injection techniques through system administration tools
⚡ Learn to exploit unsafe command execution in enterprise applications
🎯 Command injection vulnerabilities affect 15% of web applications in production
🚀 Develop advanced penetration testing skills for real-world security assessments

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Flags
1
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Daily Challenge
Solution Available
Pro Exclusive
Start Lab Environment
~1-2 min setup
AWS dedicated
Private instance
Industry standard
Daily Challenge

Shell Command Scanner - Challenge Description

Challenge Overview

Welcome to the Enterprise Shell Command Scanner! This powerful system administration tool is designed to help network administrators execute diagnostic commands on remote systems. The scanner provides a user-friendly interface for running various shell commands to gather system information, check network connectivity, and perform security assessments across your infrastructure.

Learning Objectives

  • Master command injection attack techniques and vectors
  • Learn to exploit unsafe system command execution in web applications
  • Practice bypassing input validation and filtering mechanisms
  • Understand the critical security risks of executing user-controlled commands

Challenge Details

The Shell Command Scanner features a dropdown menu with pre-approved commands for system diagnostics. However, the application's implementation contains critical security flaws that allow attackers to execute arbitrary system commands. Your mission is to identify these vulnerabilities, bypass the security controls, and use command injection techniques to retrieve the hidden flag from the server.

Technical Background

Command injection vulnerabilities occur when applications execute system commands using user-supplied data without proper validation or sanitization. Attackers can exploit these flaws by injecting shell metacharacters and command separators to execute additional commands beyond what the application intended, potentially leading to complete system compromise.