Have FTP but no ssh? Web Shell to the rescue!

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.