Security aspects concerning code written in the programming language PHP which is often used for web applications.
0
votes
1answer
99 views
Comparison between Data Encryption Tools and Data Sanitization Tools [closed]
What are the famous Data Sanitization Tools for languages such as ASP/PHP/Html Web Sites?
Which Data Sanitization tools have the best results?
Difference between Data encryption and Data ...
1
vote
1answer
526 views
Stopping Session Hijacking
If you noticed, I put "stopping" instead "preventing" in the title because I want my PHP application to be as secure as possible. I am wondering if anyone has any better ways to prevent session ...
16
votes
5answers
1k views
Should I use Suhosin for PHP?
Suhosin can be used to increase the security of your php application.
I can really see the use of it when you are using shared hosts, with multiple (possibly evil) people running their PHP apps ...
0
votes
1answer
145 views
Malicious PHP code can run in cache. Solution?
I have a module that I cache some details (w/c is from the input of the user) to lessen the load of my database
The way how I cache is by creating html page with the details of the user using ...
1
vote
1answer
55 views
sigsegv in php5.3.10
I found an overflow situation in php5.3.10.
Probably it's not 'something new', but if I can understand this,
it will help me to find this kind of bug faster in the future.
What can I do to check ...
0
votes
1answer
228 views
How can I do steganography with an audio file in PHP? [closed]
I have expertise in PHP and I am trying to use steganography to encode a string in to an audio file that I upload. I couldn't find any good helping material on PHP manual. Any help would be ...
3
votes
1answer
310 views
Preventing spoofing of remote server with PHP & cURL
I'm writing a PHP script that is requesting confidential data from a remote server. I'm using cURL to get the remote server's certificate information (for its output, please see below).
Which array ...
6
votes
2answers
77 views
Security concerns with pre-pay system
I am looking at setting up a pre-pay system for the food retail industry. Retailers will be able to generate random 10 digit codes and supply these to customers to enter into an app to gain the value ...
0
votes
0answers
62 views
Can I extend the validity of a nonce-code? [closed]
I made a URL Shortener on the admin interface of my website. The provider of the Shortener (YOURLS) secured the admin page with a security token, a nonce with 10 to 12 characters. I copied the whole ...
4
votes
1answer
399 views
172.16.33.197, 127.0.0.1 IP addresses in visitor logs
I have a website running Apache and PHP. I see that there are visitors with IP addresses 172.16.33.197 and 127.0.0.1. These addresses do not belong to our network. I get the visitor IP addresses with ...
21
votes
5answers
743 views
Should passwords be revealed in error message?
I am having pet-peeve with PHP's PDO class. As you can see on the Warning note: it reveals database password by default if an exception was not caught (when display errors is on which is a probable ...
0
votes
2answers
411 views
Running Apache as system service on Windows 2003 R2 64-bit
Trying to make my point, that running Apache with PHP5 module as Windows service is not secure.
All I got to prove it - FTP access to some internal website.
So what I did - I uploaded file test.php ...
2
votes
3answers
794 views
Do I have a virus on my hosted site?
A few weeks ago I hired an outsourcer from India to build for me a very simple PHP site.
I bought PHP hosting and a domain name, and I gave him all the credentials together with the specification of ...
0
votes
3answers
417 views
Viewing the configuration.php
My understanding is that you should never host your configuration.php file within the public_html directory (I am specifically referring to Joomla, but I imagine this is a cross-platform scenario).
...
1
vote
1answer
246 views
Implementing SRP Challenge login system *with SSL* (Using PHP)
My question: Anyone knows how to implement SRP / Diffie-Hellman authentication in PHP (or if this has already been done)?
(Some details)
I'm using CodeIgniter with TankAuth (both latest version)
...
2
votes
3answers
594 views
User data encryption/decryption in a database (PHP)
I was wondering which is the best way to encrypt and decrypt user data in a database, to make it much more secure as it is possible?
I was reading about AES but I would like to know if is really the ...
6
votes
1answer
755 views
PHP crypt() trims the salt as it would be too long
I am using Blowfish with PHP crypt() for password hashing but I noticed something weird. Quoting PHP documentation:
CRYPT_BLOWFISH - Blowfish hashing with a salt as follows: "$2a$",
"$2x$" or ...
2
votes
1answer
93 views
Is it safe to invoke PHP GD functions if you don't know whether file is a valid image?
There is image upload function in web application. After image is uploaded, it's resized using functions from PHP GD like imagecopyresampled and others. Before invocation of PHP GD's functions there ...
1
vote
2answers
268 views
Strange Pharma Spam Site resulting from DAT file created by SQL Injection?
Working on cleaning up a site compromise for a client. Leaving aside that the site is using bunch of custom CodeIgniter code written by someone who had no concept of security, I've ran into a ...
8
votes
5answers
1k views
Why is php not used for banking sites or for a banking transaction?
Other programming languages popular on the web, such as Java and .NET, are used for banking sites. However, I've rarely (if ever) seen a PHP application designed to be deployed for a banking site.
...
10
votes
1answer
607 views
How to properly secure a $_GET in PHP?
I found an SQLi in a buddies work site. He reported it to his superiors and they allowed me to run additional tests and also patch the site. After reviewing the site, The vulnerable code was a $_GET. ...
1
vote
1answer
128 views
Is it possibel to inject php code to roundcube errors log file via LFI vulnerability? [closed]
i tried to inject php code to roundcube errors log file, with no success. i think there is something filtering injected php code.
29
votes
3answers
1k views
Security Review - password_hash implementation for PHP
I'm currently working on a "helper function" for PHP's core to make password hashing more secure and easier for the majority of developers. Basically, the goal is to make it so easy, that it's harder ...
5
votes
4answers
564 views
Protecting against CSRF when a form is being submitted via an AJAX call
I'm using anti-CSRF tokens on all my forms to prevent CSRF attacks. Also, the tokens are being saved in the $_COOKIE variable to validate against the value I get from the form. I'm resetting the token ...
6
votes
2answers
669 views
when to use nonce?
I have trouble understanding nonce. I read a very good answer related to nonce by @Thomas Pornin, but it is too complicated for me as I am new to cryptography. From what I know, nonce is used to ...
3
votes
3answers
502 views
optimal way to salt password?
A good way to salt password?
I have read a few answers related to salting password. But I started to get confused.
I came across few functions people used to generate salt like:
mcrypt_create_iv()
...
2
votes
1answer
130 views
Safe User Login Questions
I need help determining how safe the login is. First of all, I have been reading this:
The Definitive Guide To Forms based Website Authentication
It's really well written, great information most of ...
10
votes
4answers
586 views
Encrypting IP addresses in a MySQL database
I'd like to encrypt IP addresses in my MySQL database, with the following constraints:
Does not need to be resistant to attackers that can execute queries.
Must be resistant to attackers that have ...
2
votes
2answers
401 views
How to make a simple file integrity checker
I've seen many PHP file checker on the net. Basically they computes the sha hash of a requested file. Your PC queries periodically the script and alerts you if the returned hash changes.
The problem ...
3
votes
1answer
127 views
Malicious php scripts in word press theme folder?
I am running a server on Ubuntu 10.04 running a word press website, and recently a virus scan revealed that I have several malicious scripts sitting in the word press folder. In particular they are in ...
8
votes
4answers
3k views
How safe is it to install XAMPP on my home computer to test PHP code?
I want to test some PHP code and I figure the best way is to install XAMPP - but I'm nervous about installing server software on my home computer.
Is it generally safe to install XAMPP (given that I ...
2
votes
2answers
302 views
Is it a weakness to be able to see server side scripting?
Are languages such as Cold Fusion and PHP less secure because they are embedded in HTML which is sent to a client? Someone told me they are less secure because they lack abstraction.
CLARIFICATION: ...
4
votes
2answers
554 views
How to find and protect against the exploited vulnerability in a PHP application based on the logged URL?
I have been attacked on a shared host server and they said I should configure my own php.ini file properly.
I have a little PHP/MySQL program with a registering function, a little admin site.
...
2
votes
2answers
180 views
Can the `system` function pose severe security threats on a shared hosting server?
I recently bought an account from a shared hosting company and I needed the php system function to be enabled for one of my projects.
So I created a ticket and asked them to enable it. This is what ...
3
votes
1answer
362 views
Where and How is data stored in a session?
Where is the information in the fields of a session stored? If I, for instance, store in a session something like $_SESSION['foo'] = 'bar'. Where is "bar" stored?
If I store an object of a class, in ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
Do you need to encrypt session data?
I came across a session management class in PHP which encrypts session data in the session storage folder (i.e., /tmp) and can be decrypted later in your script using a key. I was wondering if it's ...
16
votes
4answers
747 views
How to convince coworkers to not store credit card numbers ourselves
The company I work for needs a system to perform monthly credit card charges to customer accounts. Customers will be able to update their credit card information from an online interface written in ...
4
votes
3answers
187 views
Security risks using tmpfile() for sensitive data in PHP
What are the primary concerns when storing sensitive data in PHP's temporary directory via tmpfile()? For instance:
Could this data be recovered from HDD by a malicious admin?
Could the admin easily ...
-1
votes
1answer
1k views
How to hack linux from phpMyAdmin? [closed]
I got the username and the password for phpMyAdmin, and i am trying to hack the operating system "linux". i tried to create an payload.php file which is a pyaload taken form metasploit.
i encoded the ...
17
votes
3answers
3k views
What are the best practices for hardening a php.ini file?
In order to secure a PHP installation, what are the best settings for a php.ini file? What is absolutely vital in terms of security? What is recommended for most use cases?
2
votes
2answers
226 views
Potential insecurity in not sanitizing variables before INSERT with prepared statement in PDO
I use PDO with prepared statement when connecting to my database, and I do this because it is considered a safe way to do so, but one thing I could not help but to wonder was, can submitted data from ...
3
votes
3answers
225 views
PRNG: Does combining insecure algos help?
Reading about how insecure PHP's rand function is, I was wondering if it helps to combine random functions. The suggested function there, openssl_random_pseudo_bytes, can also be cryptographically ...
4
votes
1answer
333 views
Intrusion attempt? Host 'somedomain.org' is not allowed to connect to this MySQL server
We have a web site hosted on a shared server. The hosting company's MySQL servers are hosted on a different server.
We collect certain kinds of requests through a web form, and write them to a ...
3
votes
2answers
176 views
Do LAMP log files sometimes contain sensitive information?
I will have a LAMP web server with CentOS and cPanel. With this setup, is it possible for any server log files, whether regular or error logs, to contain sensitive information in them, such as ...
2
votes
2answers
460 views
How to add safety to login page
I am making a website where users need to log in to use all the functions. The login form is placed on the landing page, but the actual login goes through a second page, login.php. If a user types ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
How insecure are PHP's rand functions?
There are some pseudo-random-number generators in PHP: rand(), srand(), mt_rand(), mt_srand(). You can look at their code here.
I understand those functions are insecure, but how insecure are they?
...
3
votes
1answer
679 views
Header opening a PDF file, can someone hack a website from there?
Can someone hack a website that uses this kind of header to open a pdf?
<?php
header("Content-type:application/pdf");
// It will be called downloaded.pdf
...
6
votes
8answers
590 views
What is the vulnerability in my PHP code?
A website of mine was recently hacked. Although the actual website remain unchanged, they were somehow able to use the domain to create a link that re-directed to an ebay phishing scam.
I've taken ...
2
votes
1answer
306 views
Can /etc/passwd file be accessed on a cpanel shared hosting account?
Given standard server hardening was performed, can the /etc/passwd be accessed by a shared hosting account by using PHP or Perl scripts which is executed from the public_html of the shared account?
8
votes
1answer
415 views
Why do attackers bother (trivially) obfuscating their source code?
A friend of mine recently discovered and sent me a small collection of trojan php scripts that were uploaded to his machine. Here's an example:
...
