# Strange command in .bash_history: I=poiu

## trikmik

I saw this command in my bash history:

```
i=poiu
```

I don't think i did that, or maybe by accident pressing my keyboard..

Does anyone knows what that command is related to?

[i][Moderator note: added Strange command in .bash_history:  to original poster's title of I=poiu to clarify the point of the thread. -Hu]/i]

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## trikmik

When i type something Random in bash:

```
djdjdjv
```

The output is; -bash: djdjdjv: command not found

I=poiu 

Turns out nothing, so this command must do something?

I was upgrading gentoo ~amd64 Systemd and when the upgrades was done, the last command used was twice the i=poiu

All i can think of is something like;

I=(insert)p(Point)o(of)i(intrest)(u)you

That emerge might leaked to bash, if that is possible..

I would like to know what this command is, and how it got in bash history twice in a row.

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## Section_8

I don't see anything like that in my command history.  Maybe the reason it doesn't get a "command not found" error is because it has the syntax of a bash assignment statement.  Any command of the form "x=y" I enter also does nothing.Last edited by Section_8 on Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## trikmik

Yes, but the question remains how that command came in bash history?

I do not think it was me accidently pressing Keys, because it was twice in a row.

*Edit* if i did accidently pressed x=y wich indeed prints nothing, how did it show up in bash history twice like:

I=poiu

I=poiu

I was home alone during the install and was taking a shower with the box having root open and connected to the internet running emerge, did i got hacked?

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## Hu

As Section_8 says, this is a valid bash input.  It sets variable I (or i, depending on capitalization; you have used both in the thread) to value poiu.  That variable has no inherent meaning to bash, so someone running bash must have entered it.  On a qwerty keyboard (as well as on azerty keyboards), poiu occupy adjacent keys in a line running right-to-left, which could explain the choice of letters.

As for whether you got hacked, we have insufficient information to answer that.  If you did, whoever did it was exceptionally bad at it.  Did you have sshd running on an Internet-accessible port?  What install media did you use?  Was sshd configured to permit root login?

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## trikmik

Thank you for your input.

If poiu has no meaning, and it is indeed in line on keyboard, i must have accidently hit my keyboard while compiling, and this alone is not a sign of a owned box.

Thanks thread solved

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