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Socat

⚖️ Dual Use · C

Socat (SOcket CAT) is a command-line utility that establishes two bidirectional byte streams and transfers data between them. It's like an extended version of netcat with support for SSL, IPv6, SOCKS4 proxying, and dozens of address types. Socat can create virtual serial connections, tunnel traffic through SSL, act as a simple TCP forwarder, and much more. It's a sysadmin essential that doubles as a powerful offensive tool for port forwarding, bind/reverse shells, and encrypted tunnels.

Installation

$ apt install socat

Use Cases

  • Encrypted tunnel creation between hosts
  • Port forwarding and traffic relaying
  • Bind and reverse shell stabilization
  • Virtual serial port connections
  • SSL wrapping for unencrypted protocols

Tags

relaysockettunnelingsslnetworking

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