PHP Lightweight file transfer server

As part of my pentesting operations, I developed this PHP server which comes as a replacement for the classic python -m SimpleHTTPServer, which lacks the ability to upload files.

Requirements

This has been tested in PHP 7.4 (CLI). Install it before use:

• In RPM-based distros (Fedora, RedHat, CentOS...): sudo dnf install php-cli
• In DEB-based distros (Ubuntu, Debian, Kali...): sudo apt install php-cli

Usage

Server launch

Launch using php -c php.ini -S 0.0.0.0:<listening_port>. If you use a listening_port which value is less than 1024, you must start the server using sudo. You can do this for the classic port 80, so you don't need to specify ports when calling the server URL. The launch script is programmed to do just that. You can use that for convenience.

File downloads

You can browse the files using http://<your_ip>. All files have the following URL: http://<your_ip>/files/<file_name>. If you want to download a file using Powershell, call:

(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile(
  'http://<your_ip>/files/<file_name>', '<file_name>')

File uploads

Powershell

To upload files, call the root of the web server with multipart/form-data capabilities. For instance, using Powershell's System.Net.WebClient:

(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).UploadFile('http://<your_ip>/', '<file_name>')

Alternatively, you can use:

(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).UploadFile(
  'http://<your_ip>/', (Get-Item '<file_name>').FullName)

Unix-type OS

To upload files using cURL, launch:

curl -F file=@<file_name> http://<your_ip>/

If httpie is available, use:

http -f POST http://<your_ip>/ file@<file_name>