Skip to content

Craft CMS vulnerable to Remote Code Execution via unrestricted file extension

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 19, 2023 in craftcms/cms • Updated Nov 4, 2023

Package

composer craftcms/cms (Composer)

Affected versions

>= 4.0.0, < 4.4.6

Patched versions

4.4.6

Description

Summary

Unrestricted file extension lead to a potential Remote Code Execution
(Authenticated, ALLOW_ADMIN_CHANGES=true)

Details

Vulnerability Cause :

If the name parameter value is not empty string('') in the View.php's doesTemplateExist() -> resolveTemplate() -> _resolveTemplateInternal() -> _resolveTemplate() function, it returns directly without extension verification, so that arbitrary extension files are rendered as twig templates (even if they are not extensions set in defaultTemplateExtensions = ['html', 'twig'])

    /**
     * Searches for a template files, and returns the first match if there is one.
     *
     * @param string $basePath The base path to be looking in.
     * @param string $name The name of the template to be looking for.
     * @param bool $publicOnly Whether to only look for public templates (template paths that don’t start with the private template trigger).
     * @return string|null The matching file path, or `null`.
     */
    private function _resolveTemplate(string $basePath, string $name, bool $publicOnly): ?string
    {
        // Normalize the path and name
        $basePath = FileHelper::normalizePath($basePath);
        $name = trim(FileHelper::normalizePath($name), '/');

        // $name could be an empty string (e.g. to load the homepage template)
        if ($name !== '') {
            if ($publicOnly && preg_match(sprintf('/(^|\/)%s/', preg_quote($this->_privateTemplateTrigger, '/')), $name)) {
                return null;
            }

            // Maybe $name is already the full file path
            $testPath = $basePath . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $name;

            if (is_file($testPath)) {
                return $testPath;
            }

            foreach ($this->_defaultTemplateExtensions as $extension) {
                $testPath = $basePath . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $name . '.' . $extension;

                if (is_file($testPath)) {
                    return $testPath;
                }
            }
        }

        foreach ($this->_indexTemplateFilenames as $filename) {
            foreach ($this->_defaultTemplateExtensions as $extension) {
                $testPath = $basePath . ($name !== '' ? DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $name : '') . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $filename . '.' . $extension;

                if (is_file($testPath)) {
                    return $testPath;
                }
            }
        }

        return null;
    }

When attacker with admin privileges on the DEV or Misconfigured STG, PROD, they can exploit this vulnerability to remote code execution (ALLOW_ADMIN_CHANGES=true)

PoC

Step 1) Create a new filesystem. Base Path: /var/www/html/templates
1

Step 2) Create a new asset volume. Asset Filesystem: template
2

Step 3) Upload poc file( .txt , .js , .json , etc ) with twig template rce payload

{{'<pre>'}}
{{1337*1337}}
{{['cat /etc/passwd']|map('passthru')|join}}
{{['id;pwd;ls -altr /']|map('passthru')|join}}

7
5

Step 4) Create a new global set with template layout. The template filename is poc.js
8

Step 5) When access global menu or /admin/global/test, poc.js is rendered as a template file and RCE confirmed
9

Step 6) RCE can be confirmed on other menus(Entries, Categories) where the template file is loaded.
10
11

Poc Environment) ALLOW_ADMIN_CHANGES=true, defaultTemplateExtensions=['html','twig']
0
13
14

Impact

Take control of vulnerable systems, Data exfiltrations, Malware execution, Pivoting, etc.

Additionally, there are 371 domains using CraftCMS exposed on Shodan, and among them, 33 servers have "stage" or "dev" included in their hostnames.

although the vulnerability is exploitable only in the authenticated users, configuration with ALLOW_ADMIN_CHANGES=true, there is still a potential security threat (Remote Code Execution)

2023-03-31 10 29 53

Remediation

Recommend taking measures by referring to https://github.com/craftcms/cms-ghsa-9f84-5wpf-3vcf/pull/1

            // Maybe $name is already the full file path
            $testPath = $basePath . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $name;

            if (is_file($testPath)) {
                // Remedation: Verify template file extension, before return
                $fileExt = pathinfo($testPath, PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
                $isDisallowed = false;

                if (isset($fileExt)) {
                    $isDisallowed = !in_array($fileExt, $this->_defaultTemplateExtensions);

                    if($isDisallowed) {
                        return null;
                    } else {
                        return $testPath;
                    }
                }
            }

remediation

References

@angrybrad angrybrad published to craftcms/cms May 19, 2023
Published by the National Vulnerability Database May 19, 2023
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 22, 2023
Reviewed May 22, 2023
Last updated Nov 4, 2023

Severity

High

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
High
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:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS score

0.231%
(62nd percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2023-32679

GHSA ID

GHSA-vqxf-r9ph-cc9c

Source code

Credits

Loading Checking history
See something to contribute? Suggest improvements for this vulnerability.