Laravel APP_KEY leakage analysis

[carlospolop]

🤖 Automated Content Update

This PR was automatically generated by the HackTricks News Bot based on a technical blog post.

📝 Source Information

• Blog URL: https://www.synacktiv.com/publications/laravel-appkey-leakage-analysis.html
• Blog Title: Laravel: APP_KEY leakage analysis
• Suggested Section: generic-hacking/php-object-injection/laravel-appkey-unserialize-rce.md

🎯 Content Summary

Technical Summary of Laravel Encryption and Exploitation

Encryption Implementation

Laravel’s encryption is implemented in the Illuminate\Encryption\Encrypter class using AES-256-CBC with a randomly generated IV, HMAC integrity, and optional serialization.

Encrypted output is a base64-encoded JSON object with fields iv, value, mac, and tag.

Example Encryption

...

🔧 Technical Details

Laravel’s default decrypt($payload) method unserializes its output ($unserialize = true), allowing an attacker with knowledge of the APP_KEY to craft encrypted serialized PHP objects wrapped in the Encrypter’s JSON format (iv/value/mac/tag) and base64-encode them to achieve RCE via magic methods.

Using PHPGGC, attackers can generate Laravel gadget chains (e.g., RCE13, RCE9, RCE15) that trigger 🤖 Agent Actions

Added advanced Laravel APP_KEY exploitation content:

1. Explained encryption format and the decrypt() unserialize vector.
2. Added laravel-crypto-killer usage (encrypt / decrypt / bruteforce).
3. Documented real-world pre-auth RCE patterns (Invoice Ninja, Snipe-IT, Crater).
4. Covered large-scale APP_KEY brute-forcing and key-reuse statistics.
5. Included comprehensive references.

All changes appended to existing pentesting-web/laravel.md while preserving original material.

✅ Review Checklist

• Content is technically accurate
• Formatting follows HackTricks style guidelines
• Links and references are working
• Content adds educational value
• No sensitive information is exposed

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📚 Repository Maintenance

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All .md files have been checked for proper formatting (headers, includes, etc.).

[carlospolop]

🔗 Additional Context

Original Blog Post: https://www.synacktiv.com/publications/laravel-appkey-leakage-analysis.html

Content Categories: Based on the analysis, this content was categorized under "generic-hacking/php-object-injection/laravel-appkey-unserialize-rce.md".

Repository Maintenance:

• MD Files Formatting: 848 files processed (14 files fixed)

Review Notes:

• This content was automatically processed and may require human review for accuracy
• Check that the placement within the repository structure is appropriate
• Verify that all technical details are correct and up-to-date
• All .md files have been checked for proper formatting (headers, includes, etc.)

Bot Version: HackTricks News Bot v1.0