In Meterpreter, what is the role of Encoders?

• A. They encrypt the entire payload for stealth.
• B. They transform the exploit and payload to avoid filtered characters.
• C. They compress sessions.
• D. They deploy additional shells.

Answer: (B)

Encoders are used to make the payload survive delivery through systems that restrict or corrupt certain byte sequences. They transform the payload into a safe, encoded form and attach a small decoder that runs on the target to rebuild the original payload in memory. This helps bypass filters, bad characters, and basic signature checks, increasing the chances that the payload is delivered and executed.

They aren’t about encrypting the payload for secrecy, nor about compressing sessions or deploying extra shells. The key idea is encoding the payload so it can pass through constrained channels and be decoded on the target.