Security Misconfiguration

Example

Some classic examples of security misconfiguration are as given −

If Directory listing is not disabled on the server and if attacker discovers the same then the attacker can simply list directories to find any file and execute it. It is also possible to get the actual code base which contains all your custom code and then to find a serious flaws in the application.
App server configuration allows stack traces to be returned to users, potentially exposing underlying flaws. Attackers grab those extra information that the error messages provide which is enough for them to penetrate.
App servers usually come with sample apps that are not well secured. If not removed from production server would result in compromising your server.

Hands ON

Step 1 − Launch Webgoat and navigate to insecure configuration section and let us try to solve that challenge. Snapshot of the same is provided below −

Step 2 − We can try out as many options as we can think of. All we need to find the URL of config file and we know that the developers follow kind of naming convention for config files. It can be anything that is listed below. It is usually done by BRUTE force technique.

web.config
config
appname.config
conf

Step 3 − Upon trying various options, we find that 'http://localhost:8080/WebGoat/conf' is successful. The following page is displayed if the attempt is successful −

Preventive Mechanisms

All environments such Development, QA, and production environments should be configured identically using different passwords used in each environment that cannot be hacked easily.
Ensure that a strong application architecture is being adopted that provides effective, secure separation between components.
It can also minimize the possibility of this attack by running automated scans and doing audits periodically.

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