ECEN4133 Project 2- Web Security Solution

Project 2: Web Security
We’ll use Github Classroom to turn in projects and form teams: https://classroom.github.com/g/ kzKXcUH2

Introduction
In this project, we provide an insecure website, and your job is to attack it by exploiting three common classes of vulnerabilities: SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cross-site request forgery (CSRF). You are also asked to exploit these problems with various flawed defenses in place. Understanding how these attacks work will help you better defend your own web applications.
Objectives
• Learn to spot common vulnerabilities in websites and to avoid them in your own projects.
• Understand the risks these problems pose and the weaknesses of naive defenses.
• Gain experience with web architecture and with HTML, JavaScript, and SQL programming.
Read this First
This project asks you to develop attacks and test them, with our permission, against a target website that we are providing for this purpose. Attempting the same kinds of attacks against other websites
Target Website
A startup named BUNGLE! is about to launch its first product—a web search engine—but their investors are nervous about security problems. Unlike the Bunglers who developed the site, you took ECEN 4133, so the investors have hired you to perform a security evaluation before it goes live.
BUNGLE! is available for you to test at https://project2.ecen4133.org/.
The site is written in Python using the Bottle web framework. Although Bottle has built-in mechanisms that help guard against some common vulnerabilities, the Bunglers have circumvented or ignored these mechanisms in several places. If you wish, you can inspect the Python source code contained in bungle.tar.gz from https://ecen4133.org/static/bungle.tar.gz, but this is not necessary to complete the project.
In addition to providing search results, the site accepts logins and tracks users’ search histories. It stores usernames, passwords, and search history in a MySQL database.
Before being granted access to the source code, you reverse engineered the site and determined that it replies to five main URLs: /, /search, /login, /logout, and /create. The function of these URLs is explained below, but if you want an additional challenge, you can skip the rest of this section and do the reverse engineering yourself.
Main page (/) The main page accepts GET requests and displays a search form. When submitted, this form issues a GET request to /search, sending the search string as the parameter “q”.
If no user is logged in, the main page also displays a form that gives the user the option of logging in or creating an account. The form issues POST requests to /login and /create.
Search results (/search) The search results page accepts GET requests and prints the search string, supplied in the “q” query parameter, along with the search results. If the user is logged in, the page also displays the user’s recent search history in a sidebar.
Note: Since actual search is not relevant to this project, you might not receive any results.
Login handler (/login) The login handler accepts POST requests and takes plaintext “username” and “password” query parameters. It checks the user database to see if a user with those credentials exists. If so, it sets a login cookie and redirects the browser to the main page. The cookie tracks which user is logged in; manipulating or forging it is not part of this project.
Logout handler (/logout) The logout handler accepts POST requests. It deletes the login cookie, if set, and redirects the browser to the main page.
Create account handler (/create) The create account handler accepts POST requests and receives plaintext “username” and “password” query parameters. It inserts the username and password into the database of users, unless a user with that username already exists. It then logs the user in and redirects the browser to the main page.
Note: The password is neither sent nor stored securely; however, none of the attacks you implement should depend on this behavior. You should choose a password that other groups
will not guess, but again, never use an important password to test an insecure site!
Guidelines
In all parts, you should implement the simplest attack you can think of that defeats the given set of defenses. In other words, do not simply attack the highest level of defense and submit that attack as your solution for all defenses. You do not need to combine the vulnerabilities, unless explicitly stated.
Although general purpose tools are permitted, you are not allowed to use tools that are designed to automatically test for vulnerabilities.
Your solutions will involve manipulating SQL statements and writing web code using HTML,
JavaScript, and the jQuery library. You should search the web for answers to basic how-to questions. There are many fine online resources for learning these tools. Here are a few that we recommend:
SQL Tutorial https://sqlzoo.net/wiki/SQL_Tutorial
SQL Statement Syntax https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/sql-statements.html
Introduction to HTML https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/HTML/Introduction
JavaScript 101 https://hsablonniere.github.io/markleft/prezas/javascript-101.html#1.0
Using jQuery Core https://learn.jquery.com/using-jquery-core/
jQuery API Reference https://api.jquery.com
HTTP Made Really Easy https://www.jmarshall.com/easy/http/
To learn more about SQL Injection, CSRF, and XSS attacks, and for tips on exploiting them, see:
https://github.com/OWASP/CheatSheetSeries https://www.owasp.org/index.php/XSS_Filter_Evasion_Cheat_Sheet
Part 1. SQL Injection
Your first goal is to demonstrate SQL injection attacks that log you in as an arbitrary user without knowing the password. In order to protect other students’ accounts, we’ve made a series of separate login forms for you to attack that aren’t part of the main BUNGLE! site. For each of the following defenses, provide inputs to the target login form that successfully log you in as the user “victim”:
1.0 No defenses
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/sqlinject/0 Submission: sql_0.txt
1.1 Simple escaping
The server escapes single quotes (') in the inputs by replacing them with two single quotes.
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/sqlinject/1
Submission: sql_1.txt
1.2 Escaping and Hashing
The server uses the following PHP code, which escapes the username and applies the MD5 hash function to the password.
if (isset($_POST['username']) and isset($_POST['password'])) {
$username = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['username']);
$password = md5($_POST['password'], true);
$sql_s = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='$username' and pw='$password'";
$rs = mysql_query($sql_s); if (mysql_num_rows($rs) > 0) { echo "Login successful!";
} else { echo "Incorrect username or password"; }
}
This is more difficult than the previous two defenses. You will need to write a program to produce a working exploit. You can use any language you like, but we recommend Python 3.
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/sqlinject/2
Submissions: sql_2.txt and a directory called sql_2-src/ containing any code
1.3 The SQL [Extra credit]
This target uses a different database. Your job is to use SQL injection to retrieve:
(a) The name of the database
(b) The version of the SQL server
(c) All of the names of the tables in the database
(d) A secret string hidden in the database
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/sqlinject/3 Submission: sql_3.txt
For this part, the text file you submit should start with a list of all the queries you made to learn the answers. Follow this with the values specified above, using this format:
QUERY
QUERY QUERY ...
Name: DB name
Version: DB version string
Tables: comma separated names
Secret: secret string
What to submit For 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2, when you successfully log in as victim, the server will provide a URL-encoded version of your form inputs. Submit a text file with the specified filename containing only this line. For 1.2, also submit the source code for the program you wrote by placing it in the directory sql_2-src. For 1.3, submit a text file as specified.
Part 2. Cross-site Scripting (XSS)
Your next task is to demonstrate XSS attacks against the BUNGLE! search box, which does not properly filter search terms before echoing them to the results page. For each of the defenses below, your goal is to construct a URL that, when loaded in the victim’s browser, correctly executes the specified payload. We recommend that you begin by testing with a simple payload (e.g., alert(0);), then move on to the full payload. Note that you should be able to implement the payload once, then use different means of encoding it to bypass the different defenses.
Note: jQuery is embedded on Bungle. Please do not reload it in your scripts for Part 2.
Payload
The payload (the code that the attack tries to execute) will be to steal the username and the most recent search the real user has performed on the BUNGLE! site. When a victim visits the URL you create, these stolen items should be sent to the attacker’s server for collection. For purposes of grading, your attack should report these events by loading the URL: http://localhost:31337/?stolen_user=username&last_search=last_search
You can test receiving this data by running this command at the shell in your project directory:
$ python3 -m http.server -b 127.0.0.1 31337 and observing the HTTP GET request that your payload generates in the server log.
Defenses
There are five levels of defense. In each case, you should submit the simplest attack you can find that works against that defense; you should not simply attack the highest level and submit your solution for that level for every level. Try to use a different technique for each defense. The Python code that implements each defense is shown below, along with the target URL and the filename you should submit. 2.0 No defenses
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/search?xssdefense=0 Submission: xss_0.txt
For 2.0 only, also submit a human-readable version of your payload code (as opposed to the form encoded into the URL). Save it in a file named xss_payload.html.
2.1 Remove “script” filtered = re.sub(r"(?i)script", "", input)
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/search?xssdefense=1 Submission: xss_1.txt 2.2 Remove several tags filtered = re.sub(r"(?i)script|<img|<body|<style|<meta|<embed|<object", "", input)
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/search?xssdefense=2 Submission: xss_2.txt 2.3 Remove some punctuation filtered = re.sub(r"[;'"]", "", input)
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/search?xssdefense=3 Submission: xss_3.txt 2.4 Encode < and > [Extra credit] filtered = input.replace("<", "&lt;").replace(">", "&gt;")
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/search?xssdefense=4
Submission: xss_4.txt
This challenge is hard. We think it requires finding a 0-day vuln or a bug in our code.
Part 3. Cross-site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Your final goal is to demonstrate CSRF vulnerabilities against the login form, and BUNGLE! has provided two variations of their implementation for you to test. Your goal is to construct attacks that surreptitiously cause the victim to log in to an account you control, thus allowing you to monitor the victim’s search queries by viewing the search history for this account. For each of the defenses below, create an HTML file that, when opened by a victim, logs their browser into BUNGLE! under the account “attacker” and password “l33th4x”. NOTE: the first character of the password is a letter, not a number.
Your solutions should not display evidence of an attack; the browser should just display a blank page. (If the victim later visits BUNGLE!, it will say “logged in as attacker”, but that’s fine for purposes of the project. After all, most users won’t immediately notice.)
3.0 No defenses
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/login?csrfdefense=0&xssdefense=4 Submission: csrf_0.html
3.1 Token validation
The server sets a cookie named csrf_token to a random 16-byte value and also includes this value as a hidden field in the login form. When the form is submitted, the server verifies that the client’s cookie matches the value in the form. You are allowed to exploit the XSS vulnerability from Part 2 to accomplish your goal.
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/login?csrfdefense=1&xssdefense=0 Submission: csrf_1.html
3.2 Token validation, without XSS [Extra credit] Accomplish the same task as in 3.1 without using XSS.
Target: https://project2.ecen4133.org/login?csrfdefense=1&xssdefense=4 Submission: csrf_2.html
This challenge is hard. We think it requires finding a 0-day vuln or a bug in our code.
JavaScript.
Note: Since you’re sharing the attacker account with other students, we’ve hard-coded it so the search history won’t actually update. You can test with a different account you create to see the history change.
Submission Details
Part 1: SQL Injection
sql_0.txt 1.0 No defenses
sql_1.txt 1.1 Simple escaping
sql_2.txt 1.2 Escaping and Hashing
sql_2-src/ 1.2 Escaping and Hashing
sql_3.txt? 1.3 The SQL [Extra credit]
Part 2: XSS
Text files, each containing a URL that, when loaded in a browser, immediately carries out the specified XSS attack. For 2.0, also submit the human-readable (non–URL-encoded) payload. Please remember to correctly specify the XSS defense level in your URLs. (If you have nested URLs, specify the defense levels in the nested ones too!)
xss_payload.html 2.0 No defenses
xss_0.txt 2.0 No defenses
xss_1.txt 2.1 Remove “script”
xss_2.txt 2.2 Remove several tags
xss_3.txt 2.3 Remove some punctuation
xss_4.txt? 2.4 Encode < and > [Extra credit]
Part 3: CSRF
HTML files that, when loaded in a browser, immediately carry out the specified CSRF attack. Please remember to correctly specify the CSRF defense level in your URLs. csrf_0.html 3.0 No defenses csrf_1.html 3.1 Token validation
csrf_2.html? 3.2 Token validation, without XSS [Extra credit] ? These files are optional extra credit.
Submission
Submit these files via Github Classroom: https://classroom.github.com/g/kzKXcUH2 Autograding feedback will be provided through Github Actions in your cloned repo.