Re: phpBB 1.4.0 bug leads to easy admin privileges

From: Paul Burney (burneyat_private)
Date: Fri Aug 03 2001 - 15:01:36 PDT

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    on 8/3/01 12:51 PM, kill-9at_private (kill-9at_private)
    wrote:
    
    > found by: kill-9at_private
    > http://www.modernhacker.com
    
    I don't know whether or not kill-9 notified anyone about his exploit before
    posting.  He also didn't mention a fix for the problem.  One fix can be
    found at:
    
    <http://www.game-mods.com/prefs.php.txt>
    
    I didn't write the code but saw it on the phpBB support forum.
    
    Please note there is a slight typo in the file.  The correct lines to add
    around line 51 in prefs.php are:
    
    $fviewemail = str_replace('=','',$viewemail);
    $fthemes = str_replace('=','',$themes);
    $fsig = str_replace('=','',$tsig);
    $fsmile = str_replace('=','',$smile);
    $fdishtml = str_replace('=','',$dishtml);
    $fdisbbcode = str_replace('=','',$disbbcode);
    $flang = str_replace('=','',$lang);
    $sql = "UPDATE users SET user_viewemail='$fviewemail',
    user_theme='$fthemes', user_attachsig = '$fsig', user_desmile = '$fsmile',
    user_html = '$fdishtml', user_bbcode = '$fdisbbcode', user_lang = '$flang'
    WHERE (user_id = '$userdata[user_id]')";
    
    There may be other bugs in the code in other files that can be exploited in
    a similar fashion, but this resolves one immediate threat.
    
    Another user named mmj on the boards mentioned:
    
    > Removing the = signs in all the variables is one solution. Using addslashes()
    > on all the variables in an alternative solutions.
    
    Hope that helps.
    
    Sincerely,
    
    Paul Burney
    
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