Becoming the Hacker

Summary

In this chapter, we looked at several methods for using an application's underlying filesystem to our advantage. We were able to get code execution using file inclusion and even attack the client using XSS vulnerabilities that we introduced ourselves.

Application development frameworks are maturing and, thankfully, some even take security seriously. As previously mentioned, there will always be a trade-off between security and usability. A file sharing site can be completely secure, but if it only allows a small number of extensions, it isn't very usable. This is a weakness that we, as attackers, can exploit for profit.

In the next chapter, we we will look at out-of-band discovery and exploitation of application vulnerabilities.