--- name: cyberstrikeus/wstg-conf-04 source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/cyberstrikeus-wstg-conf-04@1/SKILL.md source_sha256: b84324750133 --- # wstg-conf-04 ## Test ID WSTG-CONF-04 ## Test Name Review Old Backup and Unreferenced Files for Sensitive Information ## High-Level Description Old backup files, unreferenced pages, and forgotten content can expose sensitive information including source code, credentials, and outdated vulnerable functionality. These files often contain debugging information, database credentials, or reveal application logic that aids attackers. This test focuses on discovering such files through inference, brute-forcing, and examining publicly available information. --- ## What to Check ### File Types to Discover - [ ] Backup files (.bak, .old, .backup, ~) - [ ] Temporary files (.tmp, .swp, .temp) - [ ] Archive files (.zip, .tar, .gz, .rar) - [ ] Editor files (.bak, ~, .orig) - [ ] Unreferenced pages - [ ] Old versions of files - [ ] Development/test files - [ ] Snapshot directories - [ ] Log files - [ ] Database dumps ### Naming Conventions | Pattern | Description | | ------------- | ----------------- | | file~ | Emacs backup | | file.bak | Generic backup | | file.old | Old version | | file.orig | Original version | | file.save | Saved version | | file.swp | Vim swap file | | file.tmp | Temporary file | | Copy of file | Manual copy | | file (1).ext | Duplicate | | file_backup | Backup naming | | file_YYYYMMDD | Date-based backup | --- ## How to Test ### Step 1: Inference from Naming Schemes ```bash # If you find viewuser.asp, try: files=("edituser.asp" "adduser.asp" "deleteuser.asp" "listuser.asp" "createuser.asp" "updateuser.asp" "modifyuser.asp" "removeuser.asp") for file in "${files[@]}"; do status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://target.com/$file") echo "$file: $status" done ``` ### Step 2: Test Backup Extensions ```bash #!/bin/bash TARGET=$1 FILE=$2 # e.g., config.php # Backup extensions extensions=( ".bak" ".backup" ".old" ".orig" ".save" ".swp" ".tmp" ".copy" ".1" ".2" "~" "_backup" "_old" "_bak" ".txt" ".src" ".inc" ".dev" ".test" "-backup" "-old" "-copy" ".BACKUP" ".BAK" ) for ext in "${extensions[@]}"; do test_file="${FILE}${ext}" status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://$TARGET/$test_file") if [ "$status" == "200" ]; then echo "[FOUND] $test_file" fi done # Also test prefix patterns prefixes=("backup_" "old_" "copy_" "bak_" "." "_") for prefix in "${prefixes[@]}"; do test_file="${prefix}${FILE}" status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://$TARGET/$test_file") if [ "$status" == "200" ]; then echo "[FOUND] $test_file" fi done ``` ### Step 3: Archive File Discovery ```bash # Common archive files archives=( "backup.zip" "backup.tar.gz" "backup.tar" "backup.rar" "site.zip" "www.zip" "html.zip" "web.zip" "database.sql" "db.sql" "dump.sql" "backup.sql" "files.zip" "archive.zip" "old.zip" ) for file in "${archives[@]}"; do status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://target.com/$file") if [ "$status" == "200" ]; then echo "[CRITICAL] Archive found: $file" fi done # Date-based backups for year in 2023 2024 2025; do for month in 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12; do file="backup_${year}${month}.zip" status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://target.com/$file") if [ "$status" == "200" ]; then echo "[FOUND] $file" fi done done ``` ### Step 4: Source Code Review ```bash # Look in HTML source for hidden links curl -s https://target.com | grep -oP 'href="[^"]*"' | sort -u # Look for commented code curl -s https://target.com | grep -oP '' # Look in JavaScript curl -s https://target.com | grep -oP 'src="[^"]*\.js[^"]*"' | while read js; do curl -s "https://target.com$js" | grep -iE 'admin|backup|test|dev|hidden' done ``` ### Step 5: Robots.txt Analysis ```bash # Check robots.txt for hidden paths curl -s https://target.com/robots.txt # Test disallowed paths curl -s https://target.com/robots.txt | grep "Disallow" | awk '{print $2}' | while read path; do status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://target.com$path") echo "$path: $status" done ``` ### Step 6: Search Engine Discovery ``` # Google dorks for backups site:target.com filetype:bak site:target.com filetype:sql site:target.com filetype:zip site:target.com filetype:tar site:target.com filetype:old site:target.com "index of" backup site:target.com inurl:backup site:target.com intitle:"index of" "backup" ``` ### Step 7: Directory Brute-forcing ```bash # Gobuster gobuster dir -u https://target.com \ -w /usr/share/seclists/Discovery/Web-Content/common.txt \ -x bak,old,backup,zip,tar,gz,sql,tmp \ -o backup_scan.txt # ffuf ffuf -u https://target.com/FUZZ \ -w /usr/share/seclists/Discovery/Web-Content/backup-filenames.txt \ -mc 200 ``` ### Step 8: Snapshot Directory Check ```bash # Common snapshot paths snapshots=( "/.snapshot/" "/.snap/" "/~snapshot/" "/backup/" "/backups/" "/old/" "/archive/" "/archived/" ) for path in "${snapshots[@]}"; do status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://target.com$path") if [ "$status" != "404" ]; then echo "Potential snapshot: $path - Status: $status" fi done ``` --- ## Tools ### Directory/File Scanners | Tool | Description | Usage | | ------------- | --------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | | **Gobuster** | Directory brute-force | `gobuster dir -u url -w wordlist -x bak,old` | | **ffuf** | Fast fuzzer | `ffuf -u url/FUZZ -w wordlist` | | **Dirb** | Directory scanner | `dirb https://target.com` | | **Dirsearch** | Web path scanner | `dirsearch -u target.com` | ### Web Spiders | Tool | Description | | --------------- | ------------------ | | **wget** | Recursive download | | **HTTrack** | Website copier | | **Burp Spider** | Web crawler | ### Vulnerability Scanners | Tool | Description | | ---------- | ---------------------- | | **Nikto** | Web server scanner | | **Nessus** | Vulnerability scanner | | **Nuclei** | Template-based scanner | --- ## Example Commands/Payloads ### Comprehensive Backup Scanner ```bash #!/bin/bash TARGET=$1 echo "=== BACKUP FILE SCANNER ===" echo "Target: $TARGET" # Wordlist of common backup files backup_files=( "backup.zip" "backup.tar.gz" "backup.sql" "database.sql" "site.zip" "www.zip" "html.zip" "web.zip" "db_backup.sql" "dump.sql" "data.sql" "config.php.bak" "wp-config.php.bak" ".htaccess.bak" "web.config.bak" "config.yml.bak" ) # Test each file for file in "${backup_files[@]}"; do status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://$TARGET/$file") if [ "$status" == "200" ]; then size=$(curl -sI "https://$TARGET/$file" | grep -i content-length | awk '{print $2}' | tr -d '\r') echo "[CRITICAL] Found: $file (Size: $size bytes)" fi done # Test common directories with date patterns echo "" echo "[+] Testing date-based backups..." current_year=$(date +%Y) for year in $((current_year-1)) $current_year; do for month in {01..12}; do for ext in zip tar.gz sql; do file="backup-${year}-${month}.$ext" status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://$TARGET/$file") if [ "$status" == "200" ]; then echo "[FOUND] $file" fi done done done echo "[+] Scan complete" ``` ### Nuclei Backup Templates ```bash # Run backup-related templates nuclei -u https://target.com -t http/exposures/backups/ nuclei -u https://target.com -t http/exposures/files/ ``` --- ## Remediation Guide ### 1. Remove All Backup Files ```bash # Find and remove backup files find /var/www/html -name "*.bak" -delete find /var/www/html -name "*.backup" -delete find /var/www/html -name "*.old" -delete find /var/www/html -name "*~" -delete find /var/www/html -name "*.swp" -delete find /var/www/html -name "*.tmp" -delete # Find archives find /var/www/html -name "*.zip" -o -name "*.tar*" -o -name "*.sql" ``` ### 2. Block Backup Extensions ```apache # Apache Require all denied ``` ```nginx # Nginx location ~* \.(bak|backup|old|orig|save|swp|tmp|sql|tar|gz|zip|rar)$ { deny all; return 404; } ``` ### 3. Configuration Management - Never create backups in web-accessible directories - Use version control (Git) instead of manual backups - Implement automated deployment without manual file copying - Store backups in secure, non-web-accessible locations ### 4. Monitoring - Implement file integrity monitoring - Alert on new backup file creation - Regular audits for backup files --- ## Risk Assessment ### CVSS Score | Finding | CVSS | Severity | | ---------------------------- | -------- | -------- | | Source code backup exposed | 7.5 | High | | Database dump accessible | 9.8 | Critical | | Config file with credentials | 9.8 | Critical | | Old vulnerable page | Variable | Variable | **Typical Vector**: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N --- ## CWE Categories | CWE ID | Title | Description | | ----------- | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------ | | **CWE-530** | Exposure of Backup File | Backup accessible to attackers | | **CWE-538** | Sensitive Information in Files | Sensitive data in public files | | **CWE-200** | Information Exposure | Information disclosure | --- ## References - [OWASP WSTG - Review Old Backup and Unreferenced Files](https://owasp.org/www-project-web-security-testing-guide/latest/4-Web_Application_Security_Testing/02-Configuration_and_Deployment_Management_Testing/04-Review_Old_Backup_and_Unreferenced_Files_for_Sensitive_Information) - [SecLists Backup Filenames](https://github.com/danielmiessler/SecLists) --- ## Checklist ``` [ ] Backup extension scanning completed [ ] Archive files checked (.zip, .tar, .sql) [ ] Date-based backup patterns tested [ ] Robots.txt paths tested [ ] Search engine dorking performed [ ] Source code reviewed for hidden links [ ] Snapshot directories checked [ ] Directory brute-forcing completed [ ] Unreferenced pages identified [ ] Sensitive files documented [ ] Risk assessment completed ```