=====================================================
Brown Orifice HTTPD Directory Traversal Vulnerability
=====================================================

Background
----------
  Brown Orifice HTTPD (BOHTTPD) <http://www.brumleve.com/BrownOrifice/>
  is "a web server and file sharing tool" that runs as a Java Applet in
  Netscape Navigator.(*1)  It was written by Dan Brumleve and was
  announced in BugTraq a few days ago.

Problem Description
-------------------
  Brumleve's demonstration page politely asks users to specify a
  directory on their computer for public access. However, by specifying
  "\.." in HTTP requests to the server, an attacker can navigate the
  server's file system and view/download any files. For example,
      http://your-ip-address:8080/C:/temp/\../
  or
      http://your-ip-address:8080/C:/temp/%5C../ (for Internet Explorer
      as a client)
  will display the contents of the root directory of C: drive of the
  server's computer.

Affected versions and platforms
-------------------------------
  This bug has been verified to be present on the BOHTTPD 0.1 in
  Netscape Navigator 4.72 for Windows.

Workaround
----------
  Do not use BOHTTPD.  :-)


(*1) This is also a security hole per se, as you know.

Regards,
--
Hiromitsu Takagi
Electrotechnical Laboratory
http://www.etl.go.jp/~takagi/