brightio/penelope

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

2031 stars · 235 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded

Penelope is a modern reverse shell handler for penetration testers and CTF players, serving as a more capable alternative to basic netcat listeners. Built entirely with Python's standard library, it adds automatic PTY upgrades, multi-session management, activity logging, file transfers, and helper modules.

Use cases

• catch reverse shells during CTF challenges
• replace netcat listener with a better shell handler
• auto-upgrade shells to a fully interactive PTY
• manage multiple reverse shell sessions across hosts
• upload and download files to compromised targets
• log shell activity during penetration tests
• generate reverse shell payloads
• maintain persistent shells that respawn on death

When to choose

• you need a feature-rich netcat replacement for catching reverse shells
• you want automatic PTY/readline upgrades without manual stty tricks
• you're doing CTFs (HackTheBox, TryHackMe, OSCP) or pentest engagements
• you need session management, logging, and file transfer in one tool
• you want a zero-dependency Python script that runs anywhere

When to avoid

• you need a Windows-native handler with full feature parity (Windows support is experimental)
• you're looking for a full exploitation framework like Metasploit
• you only need a simple one-shot listener for a quick test
• you need a GUI-based shell management tool

Facets

cli-tool · maturity active

cli security networking developer-tools security penetration-testing developer-tools python cli reverse-shell shell-handler ctf-tools pty penetration-testing hackthebox oscp netcat-alternative command-line linux macos

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