( بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ )#

Overview#

This writeup details the steps taken to solve the CyberAnime Web Challenge on Cybertalents. The challenge involves bypassing JWT authentication to gain access as an admin and retrieve the flag.

Step 1: Initial Reconnaissance#

1. Launch the Machine: Start by launching the machine and accessing the provided URL.
2. Login Attempt: Try logging in with common credentials like admin:admin. This attempt fails, and there is nothing unusual in the source code.

Step 2: Register an Account#

1. Register: Register a new account using any credentials.
2. Inspect POST Request: Use Burp Suite to inspect the POST request sent during registration. The request redirects to /home.

Step 3: Analyze Cookies#

1. SessionToken Cookie: Inspect the SessionToken cookie using jwt.io.
2. JWT Details: The JWT uses the RS256 algorithm. The kid (Key ID) is a random number, and the jku (JSON Web Key Set URL) points to /.well-known/jwks.json.

Step 4: Access the JWKS Endpoint#

1. JWKS URL: Access the JWKS URL:

http://wcamxwl32pue3e6m873od00swzy0jk31drmetrzm-web.cybertalentslabs.com/.well-known/jwks.json

1. Key Retrieval: Confirm that the server returns a valid key.

Step 5: Exploit JWT Authentication via JKU Header Injection#

1. Objective: Force the server to use a malicious JWKS URL to validate a forged JWT.
2. Steps:

• Generate a new RSA key pair using Burp Suite’s JWT Editor.
• Copy the public key in JWK format.
• Host the malicious JWKS file on a server (e.g., Burp Collaborator or Exploit Server).
• Replace the jku parameter in the JWT header with the URL of the malicious JWKS file.
• Modify the kid parameter in the JWT header to match the kid of the malicious JWK.
• Change the username in the JWT payload to admin.

Step 6: Craft and Sign the Malicious JWT#

1. JWK Format:

{
  "keys": [
    {
      "kty": "RSA",
      "e": "AQAB",
      "kid": "893d8f0b-061f-42c2-a4aa-5056e12b8ae7",
      "n": "yy1wpYmffgXBxhAUJzHHocCuJolwDqql75ZWuCQ_cb33K2vh9mk6GPM9gNN4Y_qTVX67WhsN3JvaFYw"
    }
  ]
}

2. Sign the JWT: Use Burp Suite’s JWT Editor to sign the JWT without modifying the header.