Command Execution
exec - Returns last line of commands output
passthru - Passes commands output directly to the browser
system - Passes commands output directly to the browser and returns last line
shell_exec - Returns commands output
`` (backticks) - Same as shell_exec()
popen - Opens read or write pipe to process of a command
proc_open - Similar to popen() but greater degree of control
pcntl_exec - Executes a program
PHP Code Execution
Apart from eval, here are other ways to execute PHP code: include/require can be used for remote code execution in the form of Local File Include and Remote File Include vulnerabilities.
eval()
assert() - identical to eval()
preg_replace('/.*/e',...) - /e does an eval() on the match
create_function()
include()
include_once()
require()
require_once()
$_GET['func_name']($_GET['argument']);
$func = new ReflectionFunction($_GET['func_name']); $func->invoke(); or $func->invokeArgs(array());
List of functions which accept callbacks
These functions accept a string parameter which could be used to call a function of the attacker’s choice. Depending on the function the attacker may or may not have the ability to pass a parameter. In that case an Information Disclosure function like phpinfo()could be used.
Function => Position of callback arguments
'ob_start' => 0,
'array_diff_uassoc' => -1,
'array_diff_ukey' => -1,
'array_filter' => 1,
'array_intersect_uassoc' => -1,
'array_intersect_ukey' => -1,
'array_map' => 0,
'array_reduce' => 1,
'array_udiff_assoc' => -1,
'array_udiff_uassoc' => array(-1, -2),
'array_udiff' => -1,
'array_uintersect_assoc' => -1,
'array_uintersect_uassoc' => array(-1, -2),
'array_uintersect' => -1,
'array_walk_recursive' => 1,
'array_walk' => 1,
'assert_options' => 1,
'uasort' => 1,
'uksort' => 1,
'usort' => 1,
'preg_replace_callback' => 1,
'spl_autoload_register' => 0,
'iterator_apply' => 1,
'call_user_func' => 0,
'call_user_func_array' => 0,
'register_shutdown_function' => 0,
'register_tick_function' => 0,
'set_error_handler' => 0,
'set_exception_handler' => 0,
'session_set_save_handler' => array(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5),
'sqlite_create_aggregate' => array(2, 3),
'sqlite_create_function' => 2,
Information Disclosure
Most of these function calls are not sinks. But rather it maybe a vulnerability if any of the data returned is viewable to an attacker. If an attacker can see phpinfo() it is definitely a vulnerability.
phpinfo
posix_mkfifo
posix_getlogin
posix_ttyname
getenv
get_current_user
proc_get_status
get_cfg_var
disk_free_space
disk_total_space
diskfreespace
getcwd
getlastmo
getmygid
getmyinode
getmypid
getmyuid
Other
extract - Opens the door for register_globals attacks (see study in scarlet).
parse_str - works like extract if only one argument is given.
putenv
ini_set
mail - has CRLF injection in the 3rd parameter, opens the door for spam.
header - on old systems CRLF injection could be used for xss or other purposes, now it is still a problem if they do a header("location: ..."); and they do not die();. The script keeps executing after a call to header(), and will still print output normally. This is nasty if you are trying to protect an administrative area.
proc_nice
proc_terminate
proc_close
pfsockopen
fsockopen
apache_child_terminate
posix_kill
posix_mkfifo
posix_setpgid
posix_setsid
posix_setuid
Filesystem Functions
According to RATS , ll filesystem functions in php are nasty. Some of these don’t seem very useful to the attacker. Others are more useful than you might think. For instance if allow_url_fopen=On then a url can be used as a file path, so a call to copy($_GET['s'], $_GET['d']); can be used to upload a PHP script anywhere on the system. Also if a site is vulnerable to a request send via GET everyone of those file system functions can be abused to channel and attack to another host through your server.
// open filesystem handler
fopen
tmpfile
bzopen
gzopen
SplFileObject->__construct
// write to filesystem (partially in combination with reading)
chgrp
chmod
chown
copy
file_put_contents
lchgrp
lchown
link
mkdir
move_uploaded_file
rename
rmdir
symlink
tempnam
touch
unlink
imagepng - 2nd parameter is a path.
imagewbmp - 2nd parameter is a path.
image2wbmp - 2nd parameter is a path.
imagejpeg - 2nd parameter is a path.
imagexbm - 2nd parameter is a path.
imagegif - 2nd parameter is a path.
imagegd - 2nd parameter is a path.
imagegd2 - 2nd parameter is a path.
iptcembed
ftp_get
ftp_nb_get
Reference
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3115559/exploitable-php-functions
