Security Basics: MonkeyShell: using XML-RPC for access to a remote shell

[Abe Usher <securitylist () sharp-ideas net>]

Security pundits have been warning about the dangers implicit with Web
services for years. A good starting point for understanding the security
issues related to Web services can be found at:
http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid26_gci872720,00.html

Of course to really understand the security risks posed by Web services,
you need to understand the basics of Web services. Enter an application
I wrote called "Monkey Shell."

MonkeyShell is a simple open source Python application that uses
extensible markup language remote procedure calls (XML-RPC) to execute
commands through a remote system shell.

I kept the code terse (less than 100 lines total) so that it can be
studied easily.  It is similar to netcat except instead of "shell
shoveling" data through a raw TCP connection, it wraps data in XML and
transports it over HTTP.

MonkeyShell is freely available at:
http://www.sharp-ideas.net/

Cheers,
Abe Usher, CISSP