curl file:///etc/hosts
Interpreted meaning:
Checking how a server handles various HTTP headers and file transfers. curl-url-file-3A-2F-2F-2F
It looks like you've provided a string that appears to be an encoded or malformed version of something like curl-url-file:/// . curl-url-file-3A-2F-2F-2F
. Systems often "escape" special characters like colons and slashes to prevent them from being misinterpreted as command code, resulting in these hexadecimal strings. command line curl-url-file-3A-2F-2F-2F
: If a URL is improperly formatted or contains illegal characters, typically returns Exit Code 3 ("URL using bad/illegal format"). Stack Overflow Example Scenarios Fetching a local file curl file:///etc/passwd