CAPEC-252: PHP Local File Inclusion
The attacker loads and executes an arbitrary local PHP file on a target machine. The attacker could use this to try to load old versions of PHP files that have known vulnerabilities, to load PHP files that the attacker placed on the local machine during a prior attack, or to otherwise change the functionality of the targeted application in unexpected ways.
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Overview
CAPEC-252 (PHP Local File Inclusion) is a detailed-level attack pattern catalogued by MITRE in the Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC). It describes a recurring method attackers use to exploit software weaknesses.
How the attack works
The phases an attacker typically follows to carry out this attack.
- Step 1Explore
[Survey application] Using a browser or an automated tool, an adversary follows all public links on a web site. They record all the links they find. The adversary is looking for URLs that show PHP file inclusion is used, which can look something like "http://vulnerable-website/file.php?file=index.php".
- Use a spidering tool to follow and record all links. Make special note of any links that include parameters in the URL.
- Use a proxy tool to record all links visited during a manual traversal of the web application. Make special note of any links that include parameters in the URL. Manual traversal of this type is frequently necessary to identify forms that are GET method forms rather than POST forms.
- Use a browser to manually explore the website and analyze how it is constructed. Many browser's plugins are available to facilitate the analysis or automate the URL discovery.
- Step 2Experiment
[Attempt variations on input parameters] Once the adversary finds a vulnerable URL that takes file input, they attempt a variety of path traversal techniques to attempt to get the application to display the contents of a local file, or execute a different PHP file already stored locally on the server.