GHSA-vwg3-w8w3-pc79
Grav: .htaccess file extension rules bypass via case variation on case-insensitive filesystems
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Packagist | getgrav/grav | < 2.0.4 | 2.0.4 |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
## Summary
The default `.htaccess` shipped with Grav (and the reference `webserver-configs/htaccess.txt`) contains security rules that block direct HTTP access to sensitive file types (`.yaml`, `.yml`, `.php`, `.json`, `.twig`, etc.) under `user/` and `system/vendor/` directories. However, these rules lack the `[NC]` (No Case) flag, making them case-sensitive. On case-insensitive filesystems (Windows/NTFS, macOS/HFS+, or Linux with Docker volumes mounted from Windows/macOS), an attacker can bypass these rules by requesting files with uppercase extensions (e.g., `.YAML`, `.PHP`, `.JSON`).
## Affected Versions
- Grav 2.0.1 (latest stable as of June 2026) — confirmed
- Grav 1.7.x — likely affected (same `.htaccess` rules)
- All versions shipping the current `webserver-configs/htaccess.txt`
## Affected Component
File: `.htaccess` (root of Grav installation)
Reference: `webserver-configs/htaccess.txt`
## Affected Rules (lines 68, 70, 72)
```apache
# Line 68 — system/vendor file types
RewriteRule ^(system|vendor)/(.*)\.(txt|xml|md|html|htm|shtml|shtm|json|yaml|yml|php|php2|php3|php4|php5|phar|phtml|pl|py|cgi|twig|sh|bat)$ error [F]
# Line 70 — user file types
RewriteRule ^(user)/(.*)\.(txt|md|json|yaml|yml|php|php2|php3|php4|php5|phar|phtml|pl|py|cgi|twig|sh|bat)$ error [F]
# Line 72 — .md files globally
RewriteRule \.md$ error [F]
```
All three rules use `[F]` without `[NC]`, making the extension match case-sensitive.
## Steps to Reproduce
1. Install Grav on a system with a case-insensitive filesystem:
- Windows (native WAMP/XAMPP)
- macOS (default HFS+)
- Docker on Windows/macOS with volume mounts (e.g., `./data:/var/www/html`)
2. Create or use any plugin that stores sensitive data in its YAML config (e.g., API keys):
```
user/plugins/my-plugin/my-plugin.yaml
```
3. Request the file with a case-varied extension:
```
GET /user/plugins/my-plugin/my-plugin.YAML HTTP/1.1
```
4. **Expected**: HTTP 403 Forbidden
5. **Actual**: HTTP 200 OK — full file contents returned, including any API keys or sensitive configuration
## Impact
- **Information disclosure**: Plugin configuration files (`.yaml`) containing API keys, credentials, or sensitive settings can be read by unauthenticated users
- **Source code exposure**: PHP source files can be downloaded (instead of executed) when requested with `.PHP` extension on some configurations
- **Configuration exposure**: `user/config/system.yaml`, `user/config/site.yaml`, and other system configuration files are accessible
## Fix
Add the `[NC]` flag to the three affected rules:
```apache
RewriteRule ^(system|vendor)/(.*)\.(txt|xml|md|html|htm|shtml|shtm|json|yaml|yml|php|php2|php3|php4|php5|phar|phtml|pl|py|cgi|twig|sh|bat)$ error [F,NC]
RewriteRule ^(user)/(.*)\.(txt|md|json|yaml|yml|php|php2|php3|php4|php5|phar|phtml|pl|py|cgi|twig|sh|bat)$ error [F,NC]
RewriteRule \.md$ error [F,NC]
```
The `[NC]` flag makes the extension matching case-insensitive, covering `.YAML`, `.Yaml`, `.PHP`, `.Json`, etc.
## Mitigating Factors
- On native Linux with ext4 filesystem (case-sensitive), the attack does not work because Apache cannot resolve the uppercase filename to the actual file
- Grav 2.0's Twig sandbox blocks access to `plugins` config subtree from page content, preventing SSTI-based config exfiltration
- The `user/accounts/`, `user/config/`, and `user/data/` folders have separate rules (line 62, 66) that block ALL file types regardless of extension — these are not affected
## Environment
- Grav: 2.0.1
- PHP: 8.3
- Apache: 2.4 with mod_rewrite
- OS: Docker (php:8.3-apache) with volume mounted from Windows 10 (NTFS)
- Tested: June 2026
## Reporter
Sisnetic
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.