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phpMyAdmin 4.8.1 RCE (CVE-2018-12613)

cve-2018 | Level: Easy  | Total Lab Runs: 0 | Premium Lab

Lab Scoreboard

What is phpMyAdmin?


phpMyAdmin is a free software tool written in PHP, intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the Web. phpMyAdmin supports a wide range of operations on MySQL and MariaDB. Frequently used operations (managing databases, tables, columns, relations, indexes, users, permissions, etc.) can be performed via the user interface, while you still have the ability to directly execute any SQL statement.


Reference: https://www.phpmyadmin.net/


What is CVE-2018-12613?


An issue was discovered in phpMyAdmin 4.8.x before 4.8.2, in which an attacker can include (view and potentially execute) files on the server. The vulnerability comes from a portion of code where pages are redirected and loaded within phpMyAdmin, and an improper test for whitelisted pages. An attacker must be authenticated, except in the "$cfg['AllowArbitraryServer'] = true" case (where an attacker can specify any host he/she is already in control of, and execute arbitrary code on phpMyAdmin) and the "$cfg['ServerDefault'] = 0" case (which bypasses the login requirement and runs the vulnerable code without any authentication).


Reference: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12613


Lab Environment


In this lab environment, the user is going to get access to a Kali GUI instance. A phpMyAdmin instance vulnerable to an authenticated RCE vulnerability, identified by CVE-2018-12613, is running on the target server. It can be accessed using the tools installed on Kali at http://demo.ine.local.


Objective: Leverage the affected setup script functionality to exploit the RCE vulnerability as an unauthenticated user.


User Information


Use the following credentials to authenticate to the phpMyAdmin dashboard:


Username: root

Password: 2a706f58940444


Instructions


  • This lab is dedicated to you! No other users are on this network :)

  • Once you start the lab, you will have access to a root terminal of a Kali instance

  • Your Kali has an interface with IP address 192.X.Y.2. Run "ip addr" to know the values of X and Y.

  • The target phpMyAdmin instance should be accessible on http://demo.ine.local.

  • Do not attack the gateway located at IP address 192.X.Y.1


Verify:
1. Flag present on the target server
 

The following activities are strictly prohibited on this website unless otherwise explicitly stated as allowed in the mission statement:

  • Using automated scanners
  • Using brute force attacks
  • Denial of Service attacks
  • Attacking other student machines in challenges where you might achieve a shell on the vulnerable system
  • Attacking the lab infrastructure

Users violating the above will be either temporarily or permanently banned from the website. 

If you are unsure about an activity, then please contact support to confirm that it is allowed on our website.

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