PayloadsAllTheThings/Web Cache Deception

Web Cache Deception

Web Cache Deception (WCD) is a security vulnerability that occurs when a web server or caching proxy misinterprets a client's request for a web resource and subsequently serves a different resource, which may often be more sensitive or private, after caching it.

Summary

• Tools
• Exploit
  • Methodology - Caching Sensitive Data
  • Methodology - Caching Custom JavaScript
• CloudFlare Caching
• Labs
• References

Tools

• PortSwigger/param-miner

  This extension identifies hidden, unlinked parameters. It's particularly useful for finding web cache poisoning vulnerabilities.

Exploit

Example of Web Cache Deception:

Imagine an attacker lures a logged-in victim into accessing http://www.example.com/home.php/non-existent.css

1. The victim's browser requests the resource http://www.example.com/home.php/non-existent.css
2. The requested resource is searched for in the cache server, but it's not found (resource not in cache).
3. The request is then forwarded to the main server.
4. The main server returns the content of http://www.example.com/home.php, most probably with HTTP caching headers that instruct not to cache this page.
5. The response passes through the cache server.
6. The cache server identifies that the file has a CSS extension.
7. Under the cache directory, the cache server creates a directory named home.php and caches the imposter "CSS" file (non-existent.css) inside it.
8. When the attacker requests http://www.example.com/home.php/non-existent.css, the request is sent to the cache server, and the cache server returns the cached file with the victim's sensitive home.php data.

Methodology - Caching Sensitive Data

Example 1 - Web Cache Deception on PayPal Home Page

1. Normal browsing, visit home : https://www.example.com/myaccount/home/
2. Open the malicious link : https://www.example.com/myaccount/home/malicious.css
3. The page is displayed as /home and the cache is saving the page
4. Open a private tab with the previous URL : https://www.example.com/myaccount/home/malicous.css
5. The content of the cache is displayed

Video of the attack by Omer Gil - Web Cache Deception Attack in PayPal Home Page

Example 2 - Web Cache Deception on OpenAI

1. Attacker crafts a dedicated .css path of the /api/auth/session endpoint.
2. Attacker distributes the link
3. Victims visit the legitimate link.
4. Response is cached.
5. Attacker harvests JWT Credentials.

Methodology - Caching Custom JavaScript

1. Find an un-keyed input for a Cache Poisoning

   Values: User-Agent
   Values: Cookie
   Header: X-Forwarded-Host
   Header: X-Host
   Header: X-Forwarded-Server
   Header: X-Forwarded-Scheme (header; also in combination with X-Forwarded-Host)
   Header: X-Original-URL (Symfony)
   Header: X-Rewrite-URL (Symfony)
   

2. Cache poisoning attack - Example for X-Forwarded-Host un-keyed input (remember to use a buster to only cache this webpage instead of the main page of the website)

   GET /test?buster=123 HTTP/1.1
   Host: target.com
   X-Forwarded-Host: test"><script>alert(1)</script>
   
   HTTP/1.1 200 OK
   Cache-Control: public, no-cache
   [..]
   <meta property="og:image" content="https://test"><script>alert(1)</script>">
   

Tricks

The following URL format are a good starting point to check for "cache" feature.

• https://example.com/app/conversation/.js?test
• https://example.com/app/conversation/;.js
• https://example.com/home.php/non-existent.css

CloudFlare Caching

CloudFlare caches the resource when the Cache-Control header is set to public and max-age is greater than 0.

• The Cloudflare CDN does not cache HTML by default
• Cloudflare only caches based on file extension and not by MIME type: cloudflare/default-cache-behavior

In Cloudflare CDN, one can implement a Cache Deception Armor, it is not enabled by default. When the Cache Deception Armor is enabled, the rule will verify a URL's extension matches the returned Content-Type.

CloudFlare has a list of default extensions that gets cached behind their Load Balancers.

7Z	CSV	GIF	MIDI	PNG	TIF	ZIP
AVI	DOC	GZ	MKV	PPT	TIFF	ZST
AVIF	DOCX	ICO	MP3	PPTX	TTF	CSS
APK	DMG	ISO	MP4	PS	WEBM	FLAC
BIN	EJS	JAR	OGG	RAR	WEBP	MID
BMP	EOT	JPG	OTF	SVG	WOFF	PLS
BZ2	EPS	JPEG	PDF	SVGZ	WOFF2	TAR
CLASS	EXE	JS	PICT	SWF	XLS	XLSX

Exceptions and bypasses:

• If the returned Content-Type is application/octet-stream, the extension does not matter because that is typically a signal to instruct the browser to save the asset instead of to display it.
• Cloudflare allows .jpg to be served as image/webp or .gif as video/webm and other cases that we think are unlikely to be attacks.
• Bypassing Cache Deception Armor using .avif extension file - fixed

Labs

• PortSwigger Labs for Web cache deception

References

• Web Cache Deception Attack - Omer Gil
• Practical Web Cache Poisoning - James Kettle @albinowax
• Web Cache Entanglement: Novel Pathways to Poisoning - James Kettle @albinowax
• Web Cache Deception Attack leads to user info disclosure - Kunal pandey - Feb 25
• Web cache poisoning - Web Security Academy learning materials
  • Exploiting cache design flaws
  • Exploiting cache implementation flaws
• OpenAI Account Takeover - @naglinagli - Mar 24, 2023
• Shockwave Identifies Web Cache Deception and Account Takeover Vulnerability affecting OpenAI's ChatGPT - Gal Nagli
• Cache Deception Armor - Cloudflare
• How I Test For Web Cache Vulnerabilities + Tips And Tricks - bombon - Jul 21, 2022