Skip to content
KitploitKITPLOIT
ToolsBlog
Submit
ToolsBlog
Submit

Hacking, PenTest, and Cybersecurity Tools for Your Security Arsenal!

Kitploit is a directory of hacking, cybersecurity, and pentesting tools. Discover the latest project updates to find vulnerabilities, analyze systems, automate testing, and strengthen your security.

··Feeds·Contact·Privacy·© 2026 Kitploit

Tool Directory

Categories

View all categories
Loading categories
Tools/GitHubGitHub/ztgrace/sticky_keys_hunter
Vulnerability AnalysisPost-ExploitationPenetration TestingRemote Access Tool
GitHubztgrace/sticky_keys_hunter

sticky_keys_hunter

A script to test an RDP host for sticky keys and utilman backdoor.

View Repository
2635219 years agoReviewed by Kitploit

Most Popular

View all →

Discover the most used tools by our community.

Explore all tools

Browse our collection of tools

View all tools →
Share

Sticky Keys Hunter

This POC bash script tests for sticky keys and utilman backdoors. The script will connect to an RDP server, send both the sticky keys and utilman triggers and screenshot the result.

This script was written to prove a theory I had about detecting these backdoors in a blackbox fashion, and hasn't been updated since I wrote my blog post, Hunting Sticky Keys Backdoors. However, @DennisMald and @notmedic furthered this research and released the Sticky Keys Slayer tool at their DEF CON 24 presentation, Sticky Keys To The Kingdom. Check out their tool as it has many improvements over this POC script.

How does it work?

  1. Connects to RDP using rdesktop
  2. Sends shift 5 times using xdotool to trigger sethc.exe backdoors
  3. Sends Windows+u using xdotool to trigger utilman.exe backdoors
  4. Takes screenshot
  5. Kills RDP connection

Prerequisites

  1. Linux host running an X server
  2. The following packages: xdotool imagemagick rdesktop bc 3. Debian/Ubuntu/Kali install: apt-get install xdotool imagemagick rdesktop bc
  3. Screen cannot be locked during this process or all of the screenshots will turn out black

Usage

Scan a single host: ./stickyKeysHunter.sh 192.168.1.10

Scan Multiple hosts: for i in $(cat list.txt); do ./stickyKeysHunter.sh "${i}"; done

TODO

  1. Automatically analyze screenshots with OCR or image processing to identify backdoors.
  2. Speed up/multithread the tool.
Download Tool