Kali Linux

EvilTree : A Remake Of The Classic “Tree” Command

EvilTree is a standalone python3 remake of the classic “tree” command with the additional feature of searching for user provided keywords/regex in files, highlighting those that contain matches. Created for two main reasons:

  • While searching for secrets in files of nested directory structures, being able to visualize which files contain user provided keywords/regex patterns and where those files are located in the hierarchy of folders, provides a significant advantage.
  • “tree” is an amazing tool for analyzing directory structures. It’s really handy to have a standalone alternative of the command for post-exploitation enumeration as it is not pre-installed on every linux distro and is kind of limited on Windows (compared to the UNIX version).

Usage Examples

Example #1: Running a regex that essentially matches strings similar to: password = something against /var/www

Example #2: Using comma separated keywords instead of regex:

Disclaimer: Only tested on Windows 10 Pro.

Further Options & Usage Tips

Notable features:

  • Regex -x search actually returns a unique list of all matched patterns in a file. Be careful when combining it with -v (–verbose), try to be specific and limit the length of chars to match.
  • You can search keywords/regex in binary files as well by providing option -b.
  • You can use this tool as the classic “tree” command if you do not provide keywords -k and regex -x values. This is useful in case you have gained a limited shell on a machine and want to have “tree” with colored output to look around.
  • There’s a list variable filetype_blacklist in eviltree.py which can be used to exclude certain file extensions from content search. By default, it excludes the following: gz, zip, tar, rar, 7z, bz2, xz, deb, img, iso, vmdk, dll, ovf, ova.
  • A quite useful feature is the -i (–interesting-only) option. It instructs eviltree to list only files with matching keywords/regex content, significantly reducing the output length:

Useful keywords/regex patterns

  • Regex to look for passwords: -x ".{0,3}passw.{0,3}[=]{1}.{0,18}"
  • Keywords to look for sensitive info: -k passw,db_,admin,account,user,token
R K

Recent Posts

How Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) Work

General Working of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) A Web Application Firewall (WAF) acts as…

4 days ago

How to Send POST Requests Using curl in Linux

How to Send POST Requests Using curl in Linux If you work with APIs, servers,…

5 days ago

What Does chmod 777 Mean in Linux

If you are a Linux user, you have probably seen commands like chmod 777 while…

5 days ago

How to Undo and Redo in Vim or Vi

Vim and Vi are among the most powerful text editors in the Linux world. They…

5 days ago

How to Unzip and Extract Files in Linux

Working with compressed files is a common task for any Linux user. Whether you are…

5 days ago

Free Email Lookup Tools and Reverse Email Search Resources

In the digital era, an email address can reveal much more than just a contact…

5 days ago