# AHXR/ghost

:ghost: RAT (Remote Access Trojan) - Silent Botnet - Full Remote Command-Line Access - Download & Execute Programs - Spread Virus' & Malware

Repository: https://github.com/AHXR/ghost
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/ahxr-ghost
Language: C++
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: malware, rat, hacking, backdoor, remote, trojan, remote-access, remote-access-trojan, remote-access-tool, windows, botnet
Last push: 2021-06-03T17:21:55+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3189, "days_push": 1917, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1058, forks 226 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:25.111065+00:00)

## What it is
Ghost is a lightweight Remote Access Trojan (RAT) written in C++ that gives an attacker silent remote command-line access to Windows machines, along with hidden download-and-execute capabilities for spreading malware. It is explicitly framed as an educational project demonstrating botnet and backdoor techniques.

## Use cases
- study how remote access trojans and botnets work
- set up a command-and-control server in a malware analysis lab
- demonstrate silent remote command execution on Windows VMs
- learn C++ socket programming and Windows persistence techniques
- test antivirus and endpoint detection against a known RAT
- teach cybersecurity students about backdoor behavior

## When to choose
- you need a simple, readable C++ codebase for malware education or red-team training
- you want a minimal C2/zombie example to analyze in a sandboxed lab
- you are researching Windows startup persistence and stealth techniques

## When to avoid
- you need a legitimate remote administration tool for managing real machines - use SSH, RMM, or PowerShell remoting instead
- you want a modern, maintained framework - the last release was 2021 and it uses weak substitution-cipher encryption
- you intend to deploy it against systems you do not own - that is illegal
- you need cross-platform support - it targets Windows only

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: maintenance
- function: security, penetration-testing, networking, cli
- domain: security, penetration-testing, windows
- platform: windows, cpp, cli
- tags: rat, remote-access-trojan, botnet, backdoor, malware-research, c2-server, educational

## Member repositories
- AHXR/ghost (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:25.111065+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:57:23.400084+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/AHXR/ghost (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:25.111065+00:00, sha c0312abf96db)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.