Host validation bypass via connection state attack

Description

This lab is vulnerable to routing-based SSRF via the Host header. Although the front-end server may initially appear to perform robust validation of the Host header, it makes assumptions about all requests on a connection based on the first request it receives. Also see Browser-Powered Desync Attacks: A New Frontier in HTTP Request Smuggling: Connection state attacks.

Reproduction

  1. Send the GET / request to Burp Repeater.

  2. Make the following adjustments:

  • Change the path to /admin.

  • Change Host header to 192.168.0.1.

  1. Send the request. Observe that you are simply redirected to the homepage.

  2. Duplicate the tab, then add both tabs to a new group.

  3. Select the first tab and make the following adjustments:

  • Change the path back to /.

  • Change the Host header back to lab-id.web-security-academy.net.

  1. Using the drop-down menu next to the Send button, change the send mode to Send group in sequence (single connection).

  2. Change the Connection header to keep-alive.

  3. Send the sequence and check the responses. Observe that the second request has successfully accessed the admin panel.

  4. Study the response and observe that the admin panel contains an HTML form for deleting a given user. Make a note of the following details:

  • The action attribute (/admin/delete)

  • The name of the input (username)

  • The csrf token.

  1. On the second tab in your group, use these details to replicate the request that would be issued when submitting the form. The result should look something like this:

POST /admin/delete HTTP/1.1
Host: 192.168.0.1
Cookie: _lab=YOUR-LAB-COOKIE; session=YOUR-SESSION-COOKIE
Content-Type: x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: CORRECT

csrf=YOUR-CSRF-TOKEN&username=carlos

  1. Send the requests in sequence down a single connection to solve the lab.

PoC

Exploitability

An attacker will need to exploit the lab’s behaviour to access an internal admin panel located at 192.168.0.1/admin, then delete the user carlos.