Penelope is a powerful shell handler built as a modern netcat replacement for RCE exploitation, aiming to simplify, accelerate, and optimize post-exploitation workflows.

Table of Contents

• 📥 Install
• ⚙️ Features
  • 🖥️ Session Features
  • 🌍 Global Features
  • 🧩 Modules
• 💻 Usage
  • ▶️ Sample Typical Usage
  • 🎬 Demonstrating Random Usage
  • 🖲️ Main Menu Commands
  • ⚡ Command Line Options
• 📝 TODO
• ❓ FAQ
• 🙌 Thanks to the early birds

Install

Penelope can be run on all Unix-based systems (Linux, macOS, FreeBSD etc) and requires Python 3.6+

It requires no installation as it uses only Python’s standard library - just download and execute the script:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brightio/penelope/refs/heads/main/penelope.py && python3 penelope.py

For a more streamlined setup, it can be installed using pipx:

pipx install git+https://github.com/brightio/penelope

Features

Session Features

Description	Unix with Python>=2.3	Unix without Python>=2.3	Windows
Auto-upgrade shell	PTY	PTY(*)	readline
Real-time terminal resize	✅	✅	❌
Logging shell activity	✅	✅	✅
Download remote files/folders	✅	✅	✅
Upload local/HTTP files/folders	✅	✅	✅
In-memory local/HTTP script execution with real-time output downloading	✅	❌	❌
Local port forwarding	✅	❌	❌
Spawn shells on multiple tabs and/or hosts	✅	✅	❌
Maintain X amount of active shells per host no matter what	✅	✅	❌

(*) opens a second TCP connection

Global Features

• Streamline interaction with the targets via modules
• Multiple sessions
• Multiple listeners
• Serve files/folders via HTTP (-s switch)
• Can be imported by python3 exploits and get shell on the same terminal (see Extras)

Modules

Meterpreter module demonstration

Penelope can work in conjunction with metasploit exploits by disabling the default handler with set DisablePayloadHandler True

Usage

Sample Typical Usage

penelope                          # Listening for reverse shells on 0.0.0.0:4444
penelope -p 5555                  # Listening for reverse shells on 0.0.0.0:5555
penelope -p 4444,5555             # Listening for reverse shells on 0.0.0.0:4444 and 0.0.0.0:5555
penelope -i eth0 -p 5555          # Listening for reverse shells on eth0:5555
penelope -a                       # Listening for reverse shells on 0.0.0.0:4444 and show sample reverse shell payloads

penelope -c target -p 3333        # Connect to a bind shell on target:3333

penelope ssh user@target          # Get a reverse shell from target on local port 4444
penelope -p 5555 ssh user@target  # Get a reverse shell from target on local port 5555
penelope -i eth0 -p 5555 -- ssh -l user -p 2222 target  # Get a reverse shell from target on eth0, local port 5555 (use -- if ssh needs switches)

penelope -s <File/Folder>         # Share a file or folder via HTTP

Demonstrating Random Usage

As shown in the below video, within only a few seconds we have easily:

1. A fully functional auto-resizable PTY shell while logging every interaction with the target
2. Execute the lastest version of Linpeas on the target without touching the disk and get the output on a local file in realtime
3. One more PTY shell in another tab
4. Uploaded the latest versions of LinPEAS and linux-smart-enumeration
5. Uploaded a local folder with custom scripts
6. Uploaded an exploit-db exploit directly from URL
7. Downloaded and opened locally a remote file
8. Downloaded the remote /etc directory
9. For every shell that may be killed for some reason, automatically a new one is spawned. This gives us a kind of persistence with the target

penelope_sample_usage.mp4

Main Menu Commands

Some Notes:

• By default you need to press F12 to detach the PTY shell and go to the Main Menu. If the upgrade was not possible the you ended up with a basic shell, you can detach it with Ctrl+C. This also prevents the accidental killing of the shell.
• The Main Menu supports TAB completion and also short commands. For example instead of interact 1 you can just type i 1.

Command Line Options

positional arguments:
  args                          Arguments for -s/--serve and SSH reverse shell modes

options:
  -p PORTS, --ports PORTS       Ports (comma separated) to listen/connect/serve, depending on -i/-c/-s options
                                (Default: 4444/5555/8000)

Reverse or Bind shell?:
  -i , --interface              Local interface/IP to listen. (Default: 0.0.0.0)
  -c , --connect                Bind shell Host

Hints:
  -a, --payloads                Show sample reverse shell payloads for active Listeners
  -l, --interfaces              List available network interfaces
  -h, --help                    show this help message and exit

Session Logging:
  -L, --no-log                  Disable session log files
  -T, --no-timestamps           Disable timestamps in logs
  -CT, --no-colored-timestamps  Disable colored timestamps in logs

Misc:
  -m , --maintain               Keep N sessions per target
  -M, --menu                    Start in the Main Menu.
  -S, --single-session          Accommodate only the first created session
  -C, --no-attach               Do not auto-attach on new sessions
  -U, --no-upgrade              Disable shell auto-upgrade
  -O, --oscp-safe               Enable OSCP-safe mode

File server:
  -s, --serve                   Run HTTP file server mode
  -prefix , --url-prefix        URL path prefix

Debug:
  -N , --no-bins                Simulate missing binaries on target (comma-separated)
  -v, --version                 Print version and exit
  -d, --debug                   Enable debug output
  -dd, --dev-mode               Enable developer mode
  -cu, --check-urls             Check hardcoded URLs health and exit

TODO

Features

• remote port forwarding
• socks & http proxy
• persistence modules
• team server
• currently spawn/script/portfwd commands are supported only on Unix shells. Those need to be implemented for Windows shells too.
• an option switch for disable all logging, not only sessions.
• main menu autocompletion for short commands
• download/upload autocompletion
• IPv6 support
• encryption
• UDP support

Known Issues

• Session logging: when executing commands on the target that feature alternate buffers like nano and they are abnormally terminated, then when 'catting' the logfile it seems corrupted. However the data are still there. Also for example when resetting the remote terminal, these escape sequences are reflected in the logs. I will need to filter specific escape sequences so as to ensure that when 'catting' the logfile, a smooth log is presented.

FAQ

► Is Penelope allowed in OSCP exam?

Yes. Penelope is allowed because its core features do not perform automatic exploitation. However, caution is required when using certain modules:

• The meterpreter module should be used only on a single target, as permitted by OSCP rules.
• The traitor module uploads Traitor, which performs automatic privilege escalation.

So as long as you know what you’re doing, there should be no issues. If you want to avoid mistakes, you can use the -O / --oscp-safe switch.

► How can I return from the remote shell to the Main Menu?

It depends on the type of shell upgrade in use:

• PTY: press F12
• Readline: send EOF (Ctrl-D)
• Raw: send SIGINT (Ctrl-C)

In any case, the correct key is always displayed when you attach to a session. For example:

► How can I change the menu key?

For example, to change the PTY escape key from F12 to Ctrl-P, put the following in ~/.penelope/peneloperc:

self.escape = {'sequence':b'\x10', 'key':'Ctrl+P'}

► How can I contribute?

Your contributions are invaluable! If you’d like to help, please report bugs, unexpected behaviors, or share new ideas. You can also submit pull requests but avoid making commits from IDEs that enforce PEP8 and unintentionally restructure the entire codebase.

► How come the name?

Penelope was the wife of Odysseus and she is known for her fidelity for him by waiting years. Since a characteristic of reverse shell handlers is waiting, this tool is named after her.

Thanks to the early birds

• Cristian Grigoriu - @crgr for inspiring me to automate the PTY upgrade process. This is how this project was born.
• Paul Taylor - @bao7uo for the idea to support bind shells.
• Longlone - @WAY29 for indicating the need for compatibility with previous versions of Python (3.6).
• Carlos Polop - @carlospolop for the idea to spawn shells on listeners on other systems.
• @darrenmartyn for indicating an alternative method to upgrade the shell to PTY using the script command.
• @bamuwe for the idea to get reverse shells via SSH.
• @strikoder for numerous enhancement ideas.
• @root-tanishq, @robertstrom, @terryf82, @RamadhanAmizudin, @furkan-enes-polatoglu, @DerekFost, @Mag1cByt3s, @nightingalephillip, @grisuno, @thinkslynk, @stavoxnetworks, @thomas-br, @joshoram80, @TheAalCh3m1st, @r3pek, @bamuwe, @six-two, @x9xhack, @dummys, @pocpayload, @anti79, @strikoder for bug reporting.
• Special thanks to @Y3llowDuck for spreading the word!