From the course: CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-002) Cert Prep: 2 Vulnerability Management (2020)

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Directory traversal

Directory traversal

From the course: CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-002) Cert Prep: 2 Vulnerability Management (2020)

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Directory traversal

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- [Narrator] Another common web application security flaw is the directory traversal attack. This attack allows an attacker to manipulate the file system structure on a web server. Let's first talk about two important characteristics of Unix file systems. When using a Unix file system, a single period references the current directory. Using two periods references the directory one level up in the hierarchy. A directory traversal attack uses these navigation references to try to move up and down the directory structure searching for unsecured files. They work when an application allows a user to request files stored elsewhere in the file system. We're going to try one of these attacks in the WebGoat environment. First, here's a look at the file structure to help you understand what's happening in the demo. The ThreadSafetyProblem file is the one that we're actually supposed to get with the web application. The…

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