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Difference between revisions of "XML External Entity (XXE) Prevention Cheat Sheet"
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Revision as of 17:21, 3 December 2018
Last revision (mm/dd/yy): 12/3/2018
IntroductionXML eXternal Entity injection (XXE), which is now part of the OWASP Top 10, is a type of attack against an application that parses XML input. XXE issue is referenced under the ID 611 in the Common Weakness Enumeration referential. This attack occurs when untrusted XML input containing a reference to an external entity is processed by a weakly configured XML parser. This attack may lead to the disclosure of confidential data, denial of service, Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF), port scanning from the perspective of the machine where the parser is located, and other system impacts. The following guide provides concise information to prevent this vulnerability. For more information on XXE, please visit XML External Entity (XXE) Processing. General GuidanceThe safest way to prevent XXE is always to disable DTDs (External Entities) completely. Depending on the parser, the method should be similar to the following: factory.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/disallow-doctype-decl", true); Disabling DTDs also makes the parser secure against denial of services (DOS) attacks such as Billion Laughs. If it is not possible to disable DTDs completely, then external entities and external document type declarations must be disabled in the way that’s specific to each parser. Detailed XXE Prevention guidance for a number of languages and commonly used XML parsers in those languages is provided below. C/C++libxml2The Enum xmlParserOption should not have the following options defined:
Per: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/xml/2012-October/msg00045.html, starting with libxml2 version 2.9, XXE has been disabled by default as committed by the following patch: http://git.gnome.org/browse/libxml2/commit/?id=4629ee02ac649c27f9c0cf98ba017c6b5526070f.
libxerces-cUse of XercesDOMParser do this to prevent XXE: XercesDOMParser *parser = new XercesDOMParser;
parser->setCreateEntityReferenceNodes(false); Use of SAXParser, do this to prevent XXE: SAXParser* parser = new SAXParser;
parser->setDisableDefaultEntityResolution(true); Use of SAX2XMLReader, do this to prevent XXE: SAX2XMLReader* reader = XMLReaderFactory::createXMLReader();
parser->setFeature(XMLUni::fgXercesDisableDefaultEntityResolution, true); JavaJava applications using XML libraries are particularly vulnerable to XXE because the default settings for most Java XML parsers is to have XXE enabled. To use these parsers safely, you have to explicitly disable XXE in the parser you use. The following describes how to disable XXE in the most commonly used XML parsers for Java. JAXP DocumentBuilderFactory, SAXParserFactory and DOM4J
Only the The features can either be set on the factory or the underlying Each XML processor implementation has its own features that govern how DTDs and external entities are processed. For a syntax highlighted example code snippet using import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
import javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException; // catching unsupported features
...
DocumentBuilderFactory dbf = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
String FEATURE = null;
try {
// This is the PRIMARY defense. If DTDs (doctypes) are disallowed, almost all XML entity attacks are prevented
// Xerces 2 only - http://xerces.apache.org/xerces2-j/features.html#disallow-doctype-decl
FEATURE = "http://apache.org/xml/features/disallow-doctype-decl";
dbf.setFeature(FEATURE, true);
// If you can't completely disable DTDs, then at least do the following:
// Xerces 1 - http://xerces.apache.org/xerces-j/features.html#external-general-entities
// Xerces 2 - http://xerces.apache.org/xerces2-j/features.html#external-general-entities
// JDK7+ - http://xml.org/sax/features/external-general-entities
FEATURE = "http://xml.org/sax/features/external-general-entities";
dbf.setFeature(FEATURE, false);
// Xerces 1 - http://xerces.apache.org/xerces-j/features.html#external-parameter-entities
// Xerces 2 - http://xerces.apache.org/xerces2-j/features.html#external-parameter-entities
// JDK7+ - http://xml.org/sax/features/external-parameter-entities
FEATURE = "http://xml.org/sax/features/external-parameter-entities";
dbf.setFeature(FEATURE, false);
// Disable external DTDs as well
FEATURE = "http://apache.org/xml/features/nonvalidating/load-external-dtd";
dbf.setFeature(FEATURE, false);
// and these as well, per Timothy Morgan's 2014 paper: "XML Schema, DTD, and Entity Attacks"
dbf.setXIncludeAware(false);
dbf.setExpandEntityReferences(false);
// And, per Timothy Morgan: "If for some reason support for inline DOCTYPEs are a requirement, then
// ensure the entity settings are disabled (as shown above) and beware that SSRF attacks
// (http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/918.html) and denial
// of service attacks (such as billion laughs or decompression bombs via "jar:") are a risk."
// remaining parser logic
...
} catch (ParserConfigurationException e) {
// This should catch a failed setFeature feature
logger.info("ParserConfigurationException was thrown. The feature '" + FEATURE + "' is probably not supported by your XML processor.");
...
} catch (SAXException e) {
// On Apache, this should be thrown when disallowing DOCTYPE
logger.warning("A DOCTYPE was passed into the XML document");
...
} catch (IOException e) {
// XXE that points to a file that doesn't exist
logger.error("IOException occurred, XXE may still possible: " + e.getMessage());
...
}
// Load XML file or stream using a XXE agnostic configured parser...
DocumentBuilder safebuilder = dbf.newDocumentBuilder();
Note: The above defenses require Java 7 update 67, Java 8 update 20, or above, because the above countermeasures for DocumentBuilderFactory and SAXParserFactory are broken in earlier Java versions, per: CVE-2014-6517. XMLInputFactory (a StAX parser)StAX parsers such as To protect a Java xmlInputFactory.setProperty(XMLInputFactory.SUPPORT_DTD, false); // This disables DTDs entirely for that factory
xmlInputFactory.setProperty("javax.xml.stream.isSupportingExternalEntities", false); // disable external entities TransformerFactoryTo protect a TransformerFactory tf = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
tf.setAttribute(XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_DTD, "");
tf.setAttribute(XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_STYLESHEET, ""); ValidatorTo protect a SchemaFactory factory = SchemaFactory.newInstance("http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema");
Schema schema = factory.newSchema();
Validator validator = schema.newValidator();
validator.setProperty(XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_DTD, "");
validator.setProperty(XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_SCHEMA, ""); SchemaFactoryTo protect a SchemaFactory factory = SchemaFactory.newInstance("http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema");
factory.setProperty(XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_DTD, "");
factory.setProperty(XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_SCHEMA, "");
Schema schema = factory.newSchema(Source); SAXTransformerFactoryTo protect a SAXTransformerFactory sf = SAXTransformerFactory.newInstance();
sf.setAttribute(XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_DTD, "");
sf.setAttribute(XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_STYLESHEET, "");
sf.newXMLFilter(Source); Note: Use of the following
XMLReaderTo protect a Java XMLReader reader = XMLReaderFactory.createXMLReader();
reader.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/disallow-doctype-decl", true);
reader.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/nonvalidating/load-external-dtd", false); // This may not be strictly required as DTDs shouldn't be allowed at all, per previous line.
reader.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/external-general-entities", false);
reader.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/external-parameter-entities", false); SAXReaderTo protect a Java saxReader.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/disallow-doctype-decl", true);
saxReader.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/external-general-entities", false);
saxReader.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/external-parameter-entities", false); Based on testing, if you are missing one of these, you can still be vulnerable to an XXE attack. SAXBuilderTo protect a Java SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder();
builder.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/disallow-doctype-decl",true);
builder.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/external-general-entities", false);
builder.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/external-parameter-entities", false);
Document doc = builder.build(new File(fileName)); JAXB UnmarshallerSince a //Disable XXE
SAXParserFactory spf = SAXParserFactory.newInstance();
spf.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/external-general-entities", false);
spf.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/external-parameter-entities", false);
spf.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/nonvalidating/load-external-dtd", false);
//Do unmarshall operation
Source xmlSource = new SAXSource(spf.newSAXParser().getXMLReader(), new InputSource(new StringReader(xml)));
JAXBContext jc = JAXBContext.newInstance(Object.class);
Unmarshaller um = jc.createUnmarshaller();
um.unmarshal(xmlSource); XPathExpressionA For example: DocumentBuilderFactory df = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
df.setAttribute(XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_DTD, "");
df.setAttribute(XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_SCHEMA, "");
DocumentBuilder builder = df.newDocumentBuilder();
String result = new XPathExpression().evaluate( builder.parse(new ByteArrayInputStream(xml.getBytes())) ); java.beans.XMLDecoderThe readObject() method in this class is fundamentally unsafe. Not only is the XML it parses subject to XXE, but the method can be used to construct any Java object, and execute arbitrary code as described here. And there is no way to make use of this class safe except to trust or properly validate the input being passed into it. As such, we'd strongly recommend completely avoiding the use of this class and replacing it with a safe or properly configured XML parser as described elsewhere in this cheat sheet. Other XML ParsersThere are many 3rd party libraries that parse XML either directly or through their use of other libraries. Please test and verify their XML parser is secure against XXE by default. If the parser is not secure by default, look for flags supported by the parser to disable all possible external resource inclusions like the examples given above. If there’s no control exposed to the outside, make sure the untrusted content is passed through a secure parser first and then passed to insecure 3rd party parser similar to how the Unmarshaller is secured. Spring Framework MVC/OXM XXE VulnerabilitiesFor example, some XXE vulnerabilities were found in Spring OXM and Spring MVC. The following versions of the Spring Framework are vulnerable to XXE:
There were other issues as well that were fixed later, so to fully address these issues, Spring recommends you upgrade to Spring Framework 3.2.8+ or 4.0.2+. For Spring OXM, this is referring to the use of org.springframework.oxm.jaxb.Jaxb2Marshaller. Note that the CVE for Spring OXM specifically indicates that 2 XML parsing situations are up to the developer to get right, and 2 are the responsibility of Spring and were fixed to address this CVE. Here's what they say: Two situations developers must handle: For a DOMSource, the XML has already been parsed by user code and that code is responsible for protecting against XXE. For a StAXSource, the XMLStreamReader has already been created by user code and that code is responsible for protecting against XXE. The issue Spring fixed: For SAXSource and StreamSource instances, Spring processed external entities by default thereby creating this vulnerability. Here's an example of using a StreamSource that was vulnerable, but is now safe, if you are using a fixed version of Spring OXM or Spring MVC: org.springframework.oxm.Jaxb2Marshaller marshaller = new org.springframework.oxm.jaxb.Jaxb2Marshaller(); marshaller.unmarshal(new StreamSource(new StringReader(some_string_containing_XML)); // Must cast return Object to whatever type you are unmarshalling So, per the Spring OXM CVE writeup, the above is now safe. But if you were to use a DOMSource or StAXSource instead, it would be up to you to configure those sources to be safe from XXE. .NETThe following information for XXE injection in .NET is directly from this web application of unit tests by Dean Fleming: https://github.com/deanf1/dotnet-security-unit-tests. This web application covers all currently supported .NET XML parsers, and has test cases for each demonstrating when they are safe from XXE injection and when they are not. Previously, this information was based on James Jardine's excellent .NET XXE article: https://www.jardinesoftware.net/2016/05/26/xxe-and-net/.
The following table lists all supported .NET XML parsers and their default safety levels:
LINQ to XMLBoth the XmlDictionaryReader
XmlDocumentPrior to .NET Framework version 4.5.2, The following example shows how it is made safe: static void LoadXML()
{
string xml = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" ?><!DOCTYPE doc
[<!ENTITY win SYSTEM \"file:///C:/Users/user/Documents/testdata2.txt\">]
><doc>&win;</doc>";
XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
xmlDoc.XmlResolver = null; // Setting this to NULL disables DTDs - Its NOT null by default.
xmlDoc.LoadXml(xml);
Console.WriteLine(xmlDoc.InnerText);
Console.ReadLine();
}
XmlNodeReader
XmlReader
They are set by default to have their ProhibitDtd property set to false in .NET Framework versions 4.0 and earlier, or their Additionally, in .NET versions 4.5.2 and later, the Therefore, XmlTextReader
Prior to .NET 4.0In .NET Framework versions prior to 4.0, DTD parsing behavior for Set these values to true to disable inline DTDs completely. XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(stream);
reader.ProhibitDtd = true; // NEEDED because the default is FALSE!! .NET 4.0 - .NET 4.5.2In .NET Framework version 4.0, DTD parsing behavior has been changed. The However, they didn't change the default settings so Setting To set this value yourself, it looks like this: XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(stream);
reader.DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Prohibit; // NEEDED because the default is Parse!! Alternatively, you can set the .NET 4.5.2 and laterIn .NET Framework versions 4.5.2 and up,
This is due to the fact that it implements You can make Here is an example: XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create("example.xml");
XPathDocument doc = new XPathDocument(reader);
XPathNavigator nav = doc.CreateNavigator();
string xml = nav.InnerXml.ToString(); XslCompiledTransform
It is safe by default because the default parser of the The source code for this method is here. Some of the iOSlibxml2iOS includes the C/C++ libxml2 library described above, so that guidance applies if you are using libxml2 directly. However, the version of libxml2 provided up through iOS6 is prior to version 2.9 of libxml2 (which protects against XXE by default). NSXMLDocumentiOS also provides an However, Per the 'NSXMLDocument External Entity Restriction API' section of: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#releasenotes/Foundation/RN-Foundation-iOS/Foundation_iOS5.html:
However, to completely disable XXE in an PHPPer the PHP documentation, the following should be set when using the default PHP XML parser in order to prevent XXE: libxml_disable_entity_loader(true); A description of how to abuse this in PHP is presented in a good SensePost article describing a cool PHP based XXE vulnerability that was fixed in Facebook. References
Authors and Primary EditorsDave Wichers - dave.wichers[at]owasp.org Other Cheatsheets |