sqlmapproject/sqlmap · error · SqlmapGenericException

timeout occurred while attempting to open a remote session

Error message

timeout occurred while attempting to open a remote session

What it means

Watchdog timeout in _controlMsfCmd: METASPLOIT_SESSION_TIMEOUT seconds elapsed after launching the metasploit console without the 'Meterpreter session N opened' banner appearing in its output, so no remote session could be established. Typically a blocked callback, wrong payload, or unresponsive target.

Solutions

1. Retry the takeover; msf session establishment is often transient
2. Verify network reachability between target and handler (firewalls, egress filters)
3. Increase the session timeout constant if the link is slow

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/takeover/metasploit.py:570 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• Timeouts: ETIMEDOUT, deadlines, and hung requests — what actually expires when a request times out.

AI-assisted analysis of sqlmapproject/sqlmap@0a35b20e39 (2026-08-26). Data as JSON: /api/errors/02908d618fb795a1. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at lib/takeover/metasploit.py:570

                timeout = time.time() - start_time > METASPLOIT_SESSION_TIMEOUT

                if not initialized:
                    match = re.search(b"Meterpreter session ([\\d]+) opened", out)

                    if match:
                        self._loadMetExtensions(proc, match.group(1))

                        if "shell" in self.payloadStr:
                            send_all(proc, "whoami\n" if Backend.isOs(OS.WINDOWS) else "uname -a ; id\n")
                            time.sleep(2)

                        initialized = True
                    elif timeout:
                        proc.kill()
                        errMsg = "timeout occurred while attempting "
                        errMsg += "to open a remote session"
                        raise SqlmapGenericException(errMsg)

            except select.error as ex:
                # Reference: https://github.com/andymccurdy/redis-py/pull/743/commits/2b59b25bb08ea09e98aede1b1f23a270fc085a9f
                if ex.args[0] == errno.EINTR:
                    continue
                else:
                    return proc.returncode
            except (EOFError, IOError):
                return proc.returncode
            except KeyboardInterrupt:
                pass

    def createMsfShellcode(self, exitfunc, format, extra, encode):
        infoMsg = "creating Metasploit Framework multi-stage shellcode "
        logger.info(infoMsg)

        self._randStr = randomStr(lowercase=True)
        self._shellcodeFilePath = os.path.join(conf.outputPath, "tmpm%s" % self._randStr)

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