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Server-side Template Injection (SSTI) mitigation bypass via incorrect filtering of double backslash

High
rhukster published GHSA-9436-3gmp-4f53 Jul 18, 2023

Package

No package listed

Affected versions

<=1.7.42.1

Patched versions

1.7.42.2

Description

Summary

The fix for SSTI using |map, |filter and |reduce twigs implemented in the commit 71bbed1 introduces bypass of the denylist due to incorrect return value from isDangerousFunction(), which allows to execute the payload prepending double backslash (\\)

Details

The isDangerousFunction() check in version 1.7.42 and onwards retuns false value instead of true when the \ symbol is found in the $name.

...
        if (strpos($name, "\\") !== false) {
            return false;
        }

        if (in_array($name, $commandExecutionFunctions)) {
            return true;
        }
...

Based on the code where the function is used, it is expected that any dangerous condition would return true

    /**
     * @param Environment $env
     * @param array $array
     * @param callable|string $arrow
     * @return array|CallbackFilterIterator
     * @throws RuntimeError
     */
    function mapFunc(Environment $env, $array, $arrow)
    {
        if (!$arrow instanceof \Closure && !is_string($arrow) || Utils::isDangerousFunction($arrow)) {
            throw new RuntimeError('Twig |map("' . $arrow . '") is not allowed.');
	}

when |map('\system') is used in the malicious payload, the single backslash is dropped prior to reaching strpos($name, '\\') check, thus $name variable already has no backslash, and the command is blacklisted because it reaches the if (in_array($name, $commandExecutionFunctions)) { validation step.

However if |map('\\system') is used (i.e. double backslash), then the strpos($name, "\\") !== false takes effect, and isDangerousFunction() returns false , in which case the RuntimeError is not generated, and blacklist is bypassed leading to code execution.

Exploit Conditions

This vulnerability can be exploited if the attacker has access to:

  1. an Administrator account, or
  2. a non-administrator, user account that has Admin panel access and Create/Update page permissions

Steps to reproduce

  1. Log in to Grav Admin using an administrator account.
  2. Navigate to Accounts > Add, and ensure that the following permissions are assigned when creating a new low-privileged user:
    • Login to Admin - Allowed
    • Page Update - Allowed
  3. Log out of Grav Admin
  4. Login using the account created in step 2.
  5. Choose Pages -> Home
  6. Click the Advanced tab and select the checkbox beside Twig to ensure that Twig processing is enabled for the modified webpage.
  7. Under the Content tab, insert the following payload within the editor:
    {{ ['id'] | map('\\system') | join() }}
  8. Click the Preview button. Observe that the output of the id shell command is returned in the preview.

Mitigation

diff --git a/system/src/Grav/Common/Utils.php b/system/src/Grav/Common/Utils.php
index 2f121bbe3..7b267cd0f 100644
--- a/system/src/Grav/Common/Utils.php
+++ b/system/src/Grav/Common/Utils.php
@@ -2069,7 +2069,7 @@ abstract class Utils
         }
 
         if (strpos($name, "\\") !== false) {
-            return false;
+            return true;
         }
 
         if (in_array($name, $commandExecutionFunctions)) {
                                                                         

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

CVE ID

CVE-2023-37897

Weaknesses

Credits