Reverse Shell Source Code: Windows APIs, Socket Setup, and Process I/O

Summary

The video breaks down a Windows C reverse shell, explaining Winsock initialization, IPv4/TCP connection setup, process creation, redirecting standard I/O to the socket, cleanup, IDA inspection, and 32-bit versus 64-bit compilation.

Key points

The walkthrough explains WSAStartup initialization and creating a socket with Windows Winsock APIs.
It configures an IPv4/TCP endpoint and describes converting the address and port to network byte order.
The code connects the socket to a remote endpoint and uses CreateProcess to launch command.exe.
The process startup settings redirect standard input, output, and error to the socket; the video also discusses hiding the window.
The shell continues in a loop until terminated, followed by socket and process cleanup.
IDA is used to inspect compiled values, and the video distinguishes 64-bit from 32-bit compilation environments.

Article Details

Topics: [00:36] Windows headers, Winsock setup, and endpoint configuration
[02:17] Winsock initialization, socket creation, and IPv4/TCP values
[07:32] Configuring the destination address and network byte order
[10:02] Connecting the socket and preparing process startup settings
[12:04] Redirecting standard handles and creating the command shell
[14:30] Shell termination, cleanup, and process handles
[15:45] Inspecting compiled code with IDA and comparing 32-bit and 64-bit builds

MITRE ATT&CK

T1059.003 · Windows Command ShellThe described code launches command.exe as a Windows command shell.T1095 · Non-Application Layer ProtocolThe described reverse shell uses a TCP socket to connect to a remote endpoint and carry shell input and output.

Products

Microsoft Windows[00:15] Windows environment as well as some

Tools

IDA[15:56] program using something like IDA and