Web Application Security, A Beginner's Guide

Directory Traversal

Virtually every web application attack works on a premise of “tricking” the web application into performing an action that the attacker is unable to directly perform himself. An attacker can’t normally directly access an application’s database, but he can trick the web application into doing it for him through SQL injection attacks. He can’t normally access other users’ accounts, but he can trick the web application into doing it for him through cross-site scripting attacks. And he can’t normally access the file system on a web application server, but he can trick the application into doing it for him through directory traversal attacks. To show an example of directory traversal, let’s return one more time to Dave’s photo ...