Sharp has Unrestricted File Upload via Client-Controlled Validation Rules

Summary

The code16/sharp Laravel admin panel package contains a vulnerability in its file upload endpoint that allows authenticated users to bypass all file type restrictions.

Details

The upload endpoint within the ApiFormUploadController accepts a client-controlled validation_rule parameter. This parameter is directly passed into the Laravel validator without sufficient server-side enforcement. By intercepting the request and sending validation_rule[]=file, an attacker can completely bypass all MIME type and file extension restrictions. The vulnerable code is located in src/Http/Controllers/Api/ApiFormUploadController.php at line 24.

Impact

This vulnerability leads to several critical security risks:

Attackers can upload arbitrary files, including PHP webshells, to the server. For more details on the package, visit: https://github.com/code16/sharp

MIME type and extension validation can be bypassed entirely via client-controlled rules. Review the CWE definition here: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/434.html

If the storage disk is configured to be publicly accessible, this can lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE). See the vendor repository: https://github.com/code16/sharp

(Note: Under default configurations, executing uploaded PHP files directly is not possible unless a public disk configuration is in place.)

Patches

This issue has been addressed by removing the client-controlled validation rules and strictly defining upload rules server-side. The fix is available in pull request https://github.com/code16/sharp/pull/714.

Workarounds

• Restrict Disk Access: Ensure that the storage disk used for Sharp uploads is strictly private. Under default configurations, an attacker cannot directly execute uploaded PHP files unless a public disk configuration is explicitly used. For more details on Laravel disk configurations, visit: https://laravel.com/docs/13.x/filesystem

Credits

Reported by zaurgsynv.