Even if the attacker reaches /root/, the web server user (e.g., www-data) should lack read permissions to /root/ and /etc/shadow.
Such patterns are found in:
| Context | Example Scenario |
|---------|------------------|
| Web application URLs | https://example.com/view?file=-template-..-2F..-2F..-2F..-2Froot-2Fpasswd |
| HTTP POST/GET parameters | Template engine parameter accepting a relative include path |
| Server access logs | As a requested resource with path traversal |
| File upload filenames | Malicious filename attempting to break out of upload directory |
| Cookie values | Encoded payload in a session variable used to load templates |
The -template- prefix suggests the attacker identified a template inclusion mechanism (e.g., Jinja2, Twig, ERB, JSP includes). By prefixing with -template-, the attacker might try to: -template-..-2F..-2F..-2F..-2Froot-2F
Title: Analysis of URL-Encoded Path Traversal Payload
Description:
The string -template-..-2F..-2F..-2F..-2Froot-2F represents a Path Traversal (Directory Traversal) attack vector, commonly known as the "dot-dot-slash" attack. Its goal is to exploit insecure file path validation in a web application to access restricted files or directories.
Decoding: When the URL encoding is normalized, the string translates as follows: Even if the attacker reaches /root/ , the
Resolved Path:
The payload ..-2F (which becomes ../) is repeated four times, instructing the server to traverse up four directory levels from the starting point. The target is the /root/ directory, which typically contains sensitive configuration files or user data on Linux systems.
The string ..-2F..-2F..-2F..-2Froot-2F is URL-encoded, but with a slight variation often seen in bypass attempts.
Decoded Intent:
If we treat -2F as /, the string translates to:
../../../../root/ Such patterns are found in: | Context |
Four traversals are excessive if the target application root is three levels deep (e.g., /var/www/app/templates/). However, attackers often insert extra ../ sequences to:
A robust Linux path ../../../../root/ resolves to the absolute root directory after the system resolves .. properly.
If you’re testing your own application and see such strings in logs: