There are many times a web shell can come in handy, such as  running a non-shell OS or if you have FTP but non SSH.  Web shell to the rescue!  The top three I could find are b374k-shell, ajaxshell, and shellinabox.  b374k-shell is my favorite, because it is all-around better than ajaxshell, and it doesn’t require compilation like shellinabox.  So enter b374k-shell a php web app that emulates some core capabilities of a shell.  Here is my review.

Features:

1. A web-app that is a self-contained php file
2. Password protected – stores a hash of your password within the php file
3. Secure if you have https configured
4. basic shell
5. file browser, with options to
   • upload
   • edit
   • download
   • create
   • delete
   • rename
   • hex view
   • compress
   • decompress
   • copy
   • paste
   • chmod
   • limited bulk operations
6. process manager
7. system info browser
8. php/python/ruby/perl/gcc evaluator
9. db shells

Limitations:

1. Can’t sshfs
2. Bulk upload/download
3. Basic editor with no syntax highlighting
4. Works on mobile, but isn’t optimized for mobile

Conclusion:  It isn’t as good as ssh, but it’s super cool and can do everything you need it to for web development.