Black Hat Bash cover

Black Hat Bash

Creative Scripting for Hackers and Pentesters
by Dolev Farhi, Nick Aleks
Fall 2024, 344 pp.
ISBN-13: 
9781718503748
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Download Chapter 5: Vulnerability Scanning and Fuzzing

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In the hands of the penetration tester, bash scripting becomes a powerful offensive security tool. In Black Hat Bash, you’ll learn how to use bash to automate tasks, develop custom tools, uncover vulnerabilities, and execute advanced, living-off-the-land attacks against Linux servers. You’ll build a toolbox of bash scripts that will save you hours of manual work. And your only prerequisite is basic familiarity with the Linux operating system.

You’ll learn the basics of bash syntax, then set up a Kali Linux lab to apply your skills across each stage of a penetration test—from initial access to data exfiltration. Along the way, you’ll learn how to perform OS command injection, access remote machines, gather information stealthily, and navigate restricted networks to find the crown jewels. Hands-on exercises throughout will have you applying your newfound skills.

Key topics covered include:

  • Bash scripting essentials: From control structures, functions, loops, and text manipulation with grep, awk, and sed.
  • How to set up your lab: Create a hacking environment with Kali and Docker and install additional tools.
  • Reconnaissance and vulnerability scanning:  Learn how to perform host discovery, fuzzing, and port scanning using tools like Wfuzz, Nmap, and Nuclei.
  • Exploitation and privilege escalation: Establish web and reverse shells, and maintain continuous access.
  • Defense evasion and lateral movement: Audit hosts for landmines, avoid detection, and move through networks to uncover additional targets.

Whether you’re a pentester, a bug bounty hunter, or a student entering the cybersecurity field, Black Hat Bash will teach you how to automate, customize, and optimize your offensive security strategies quickly and efficiently, with no true sorcery required.

Author Bio 

Dolev Farhi is a security engineer and author of Black Hat GraphQL (No Starch Press, 2023). He is a distinguished security engineer at Palo Alto Networks, where he uses bash daily to automate security tests and sift through network and application artifacts.

Nick Aleks has served as a distinguished security engineer at TD Bank and is the chief hacking officer at ASEC. He has extensive experience using bash scripting on red teams,  in penetration tests, and in software development projects. Aleks is also coauthor of Black Hat GraphQL (No Starch Press, 2023).

Table of contents 

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Bash Basics
Chapter 2: Flow Control and Text Processing
Chapter 3: Setting Up a Hacking Lab
Chapter 4: Reconnaissance
Chapter 5: Vulnerability Scanning and Fuzzing

Chapter 6: Gaining a Web Shell
Chapter 7: Reverse Shells
Chapter 8: Local Information Gathering
Chapter 9: Privilege Escalation
Chapter 10: Persistence
Chapter 11: Network Probing and Lateral Movement 
Chapter 12: Defense Evasion and Exfiltration

Index

The chapters in red are included in this Early Access PDF.

Extra Stuff 

A repository of code and errata for this title can be found at Dolev Farhi's GitHub page.