Bug Title: nginx webdav copy/move method directory traversal Program: nginx Version: nginx/0.7.61 - other versions may also be affected Website: http://sysoev.ru/nginx/ Severity: Low Date discovered: 23 September 2009
The webdav component has to be enabled and the user has to have permission to use the COPY or MOVE methods. Description: nginx ("Engine X", written by Igor Sysoev) has the ability to be used as a webdav publishing server. With webdav you can for example copy or move files from one to a different location. The move and copy methods require a "Destination:" HTTP header. The destination header contains information about where the file should be placed. By using characters like "../" the attacker can traverse down the directory tree and place files outside the webroot. This is an insecure behaviour of the nginx webdav module and can be especially dangerous when nginx is used in a virtual hosting environment. nginx runs as the user nobody per default so normally this bug is not a big deal since an attacker may only be allowed to write files to /tmp/ or nobody owned directories. The severity is low because this attack requires webdav "upload" permissions. Here is a sample request for the bug: COPY /index.html HTTP/1.1 Host: localhost Destination: http://localhost/../../../../../../../tmp/nginx.html Thanks for your time, Kingcope - kco...@googlemail.com