Exploitable PHP functions

I'm trying to build a list of functions that can be used for arbitrary code execution. The purpose isn't to list functions that should be blacklisted or otherwise disallowed. Rather, I'd like to have a grep -able list of red-flag keywords handy when searching a compromised server for back-doors.

The idea is that if you want to build a multi-purpose malicious PHP script -- such as a "web shell" script like c99 or r57 -- you're going to have to use one or more of a relatively small set of functions somewhere in the file in order to allow the user to execute arbitrary code. Searching for those those functions helps you more quickly narrow down a haystack of tens-of-thousands of PHP files to a relatively small set of scripts that require closer examination.

Clearly, for example, any of the following would be considered malicious (or terrible coding):

<? eval($_GET['cmd']); ?>

<? system($_GET['cmd']); ?>

<? preg_replace('/.*/e',$_POST['code']); ?>

and so forth.

Searching through a compromised website the other day, I didn't notice a piece of malicious code because I didn't realize preg_replace could be made dangerous by the use of the /e flag (which, seriously? Why is that even there?). Are there any others that I missed?

Here's my list so far:

Shell Execute

  • system
  • exec
  • popen
  • backtick operator
  • pcntl_exec
  • PHP Execute

  • eval
  • preg_replace (with /e modifier)
  • create_function
  • include [ _once ] / require [ _once ] (see mario's answer for exploit details)
  • It might also be useful to have a list of functions that are capable of modifying files, but I imagine 99% of the time exploit code will contain at least one of the functions above. But if you have a list of all the functions capable of editing or outputting files, post it and I'll include it here. (And I'm not counting mysql_execute , since that's part of another class of exploit.)


    To build this list I used 2 sources. A Study In Scarlet and RATS. I have also added some of my own to the mix and people on this thread have helped out.

    Edit: After posting this list I contacted the founder of RIPS and as of now this tools searches PHP code for the use of every function in this list.

    Most of these function calls are classified as Sinks. When a tainted variable (like $_REQUEST) is passed to a sink function, then you have a vulnerability. Programs like RATS and RIPS use grep like functionality to identify all sinks in an application. This means that programmers should take extra care when using these functions, but if they where all banned then you wouldn't be able to get much done.

    "With great power comes great responsibility."

    --Stan Lee

    Command Execution

    exec           - Returns last line of commands output
    passthru       - Passes commands output directly to the browser
    system         - Passes commands output directly to the browser and returns last line
    shell_exec     - Returns commands output
    `` (backticks) - Same as shell_exec()
    popen          - Opens read or write pipe to process of a command
    proc_open      - Similar to popen() but greater degree of control
    pcntl_exec     - Executes a program
    

    PHP Code Execution

    Apart from eval there are other ways to execute PHP code: include / require can be used for remote code execution in the form of Local File Include and Remote File Include vulnerabilities.

    eval()
    assert()  - identical to eval()
    preg_replace('/.*/e',...) - /e does an eval() on the match
    create_function()
    include()
    include_once()
    require()
    require_once()
    $_GET['func_name']($_GET['argument']);
    $func = new ReflectionFunction($_GET['func_name']); $func->invoke(); or $func->invokeArgs(array());
    

    List of functions which accept callbacks

    These functions accept a string parameter which could be used to call a function of the attacker's choice. Depending on the function the attacker may or may not have the ability to pass a parameter. In that case an Information Disclosure function like phpinfo() could be used.

    Function                     => Position of callback arguments
    'ob_start'                   =>  0,
    'array_diff_uassoc'          => -1,
    'array_diff_ukey'            => -1,
    'array_filter'               =>  1,
    'array_intersect_uassoc'     => -1,
    'array_intersect_ukey'       => -1,
    'array_map'                  =>  0,
    'array_reduce'               =>  1,
    'array_udiff_assoc'          => -1,
    'array_udiff_uassoc'         => array(-1, -2),
    'array_udiff'                => -1,
    'array_uintersect_assoc'     => -1,
    'array_uintersect_uassoc'    => array(-1, -2),
    'array_uintersect'           => -1,
    'array_walk_recursive'       =>  1,
    'array_walk'                 =>  1,
    'assert_options'             =>  1,
    'uasort'                     =>  1,
    'uksort'                     =>  1,
    'usort'                      =>  1,
    'preg_replace_callback'      =>  1,
    'spl_autoload_register'      =>  0,
    'iterator_apply'             =>  1,
    'call_user_func'             =>  0,
    'call_user_func_array'       =>  0,
    'register_shutdown_function' =>  0,
    'register_tick_function'     =>  0,
    'set_error_handler'          =>  0,
    'set_exception_handler'      =>  0,
    'session_set_save_handler'   => array(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5),
    'sqlite_create_aggregate'    => array(2, 3),
    'sqlite_create_function'     =>  2,
    

    Information Disclosure

    Most of these function calls are not sinks. But rather it maybe a vulnerability if any of the data returned is viewable to an attacker. If an attacker can see phpinfo() it is definitely a vulnerability.

    phpinfo
    posix_mkfifo
    posix_getlogin
    posix_ttyname
    getenv
    get_current_user
    proc_get_status
    get_cfg_var
    disk_free_space
    disk_total_space
    diskfreespace
    getcwd
    getlastmo
    getmygid
    getmyinode
    getmypid
    getmyuid
    

    Other

    extract - Opens the door for register_globals attacks (see study in scarlet).
    parse_str -  works like extract if only one argument is given.  
    putenv
    ini_set
    mail - has CRLF injection in the 3rd parameter, opens the door for spam. 
    header - on old systems CRLF injection could be used for xss or other purposes, now it is still a problem if they do a header("location: ..."); and they do not die();. The script keeps executing after a call to header(), and will still print output normally. This is nasty if you are trying to protect an administrative area. 
    proc_nice
    proc_terminate
    proc_close
    pfsockopen
    fsockopen
    apache_child_terminate
    posix_kill
    posix_mkfifo
    posix_setpgid
    posix_setsid
    posix_setuid
    

    Filesystem Functions

    According to RATS all filesystem functions in php are nasty. Some of these don't seem very useful to the attacker. Others are more useful than you might think. For instance if allow_url_fopen=On then a url can be used as a file path, so a call to copy($_GET['s'], $_GET['d']); can be used to upload a PHP script anywhere on the system. Also if a site is vulnerable to a request send via GET everyone of those file system functions can be abused to channel and attack to another host through your server.

    // open filesystem handler
    fopen
    tmpfile
    bzopen
    gzopen
    SplFileObject->__construct
    // write to filesystem (partially in combination with reading)
    chgrp
    chmod
    chown
    copy
    file_put_contents
    lchgrp
    lchown
    link
    mkdir
    move_uploaded_file
    rename
    rmdir
    symlink
    tempnam
    touch
    unlink
    imagepng   - 2nd parameter is a path.
    imagewbmp  - 2nd parameter is a path. 
    image2wbmp - 2nd parameter is a path. 
    imagejpeg  - 2nd parameter is a path.
    imagexbm   - 2nd parameter is a path.
    imagegif   - 2nd parameter is a path.
    imagegd    - 2nd parameter is a path.
    imagegd2   - 2nd parameter is a path.
    iptcembed
    ftp_get
    ftp_nb_get
    // read from filesystem
    file_exists
    file_get_contents
    file
    fileatime
    filectime
    filegroup
    fileinode
    filemtime
    fileowner
    fileperms
    filesize
    filetype
    glob
    is_dir
    is_executable
    is_file
    is_link
    is_readable
    is_uploaded_file
    is_writable
    is_writeable
    linkinfo
    lstat
    parse_ini_file
    pathinfo
    readfile
    readlink
    realpath
    stat
    gzfile
    readgzfile
    getimagesize
    imagecreatefromgif
    imagecreatefromjpeg
    imagecreatefrompng
    imagecreatefromwbmp
    imagecreatefromxbm
    imagecreatefromxpm
    ftp_put
    ftp_nb_put
    exif_read_data
    read_exif_data
    exif_thumbnail
    exif_imagetype
    hash_file
    hash_hmac_file
    hash_update_file
    md5_file
    sha1_file
    highlight_file
    show_source
    php_strip_whitespace
    get_meta_tags
    

    You'd have to scan for include($tmp) and require(HTTP_REFERER) and *_once as well. If an exploit script can write to a temporary file, it could just include that later. Basically a two-step eval.

    And it's even possible to hide remote code with workarounds like:

     include("data:text/plain;base64,$_GET[code]");
    

    Also, if your webserver has already been compromised you will not always see unencoded evil. Often the exploit shell is gzip-encoded. Think of include("zlib:script2.png.gz"); No eval here, still same effect.


    This is not an answer per se, but here's something interesting:

    $y = str_replace('z', 'e', 'zxzc');
    $y("malicious code");
    

    In the same spirit, call_user_func_array() can be used to execute obfuscated functions.

    链接地址: http://www.djcxy.com/p/16690.html

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