GHSA-82vx-mm6r-gg8w
LOWBref vulnerable to Body Parsing Inconsistency in Event-Driven Functions
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Blast Radius
bref/brefReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impacted Resources
bref/src/Event/Http/Psr7Bridge.php:130-168
Description
When Bref is used with the Event-Driven Function runtime and the handler is a RequestHandlerInterface, then the Lambda event is converted to a PSR7 object.
During the conversion process, if the request is a MultiPart, each part is parsed and its content added in the $files or $parsedBody arrays.
To do that, the following method is called with as first argument the result array ($files or $parsedBody), as second argument the part name, and as third argument the part content:
/**
* Parse a string key like "files[id_cards][jpg][]" and do $array['files']['id_cards']['jpg'][] = $value
*/
private static function parseKeyAndInsertValueInArray(array &$array, string $key, mixed $value): void
{
if (! str_contains($key, '[')) {
$array[$key] = $value;
return;
}
$parts = explode('[', $key); // files[id_cards][jpg][] => [ 'files', 'id_cards]', 'jpg]', ']' ]
$pointer = &$array;
foreach ($parts as $k => $part) {
if ($k === 0) {
$pointer = &$pointer[$part];
continue;
}
// Skip two special cases:
// [[ in the key produces empty string
// [test : starts with [ but does not end with ]
if ($part === '' || ! str_ends_with($part, ']')) {
// Malformed key, we use it "as is"
$array[$key] = $value;
return;
}
$part = substr($part, 0, -1); // The last char is a ] => remove it to have the real key
if ($part === '') { // [] case
$pointer = &$pointer[];
} else {
$pointer = &$pointer[$part];
}
}
$pointer = $value;
}
The conversion process produces a different output compared to the one of plain PHP when keys ending with and open square bracket ([) are used.
Let's take for example the following part:
------WebKitFormBoundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="key0[key1][key2]["
value
------WebKitFormBoundary--
In plain PHP it would be converted to Array( [key0] => Array ( [key1] => Array ( [key2] => value) ) ), while in Bref it would be converted to Array( [key0] => Array ( [key1] => Array ( [key2] => ) ) [key0[key1][key2][] => value ).
Impact
Based on the application logic the difference in the body parsing might lead to vulnerabilities and/or undefined behaviors.
PoC
- Create a new Bref project.
- Create an
index.phpfile with the following content:
<?php
namespace App;
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use Nyholm\Psr7\Response;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
use Psr\Http\Server\RequestHandlerInterface;
class MyHttpHandler implements RequestHandlerInterface
{
public function handle(ServerRequestInterface $request): ResponseInterface
{
return new Response(200, [], var_export($request->getParsedBody(),true));
}
}
return new MyHttpHandler();
- Use the following
serverless.ymlto deploy the Lambda:
service: app
provider:
name: aws
region: eu-central-1
plugins:
- ./vendor/bref/bref
# Exclude files from deployment
package:
patterns:
- '!node_modules/**'
- '!tests/**'
functions:
api:
handler: index.php
runtime: php-83
events:
- httpApi: 'ANY /upload'
- Replay the following request after having replaced the
<HOST>placeholder with the deployed Lambda domain:
POST /upload HTTP/2
Host: <HOST>
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundaryQqDeSZSSvmn2rfjb
Content-Length: 180
------WebKitFormBoundaryQqDeSZSSvmn2rfjb
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="key0[key1][key2]["
value
------WebKitFormBoundaryQqDeSZSSvmn2rfjb--
- Notice how the body has been parsed.
- Create a
plain.phpfile with the following content:
<?php
var_dump($_POST);
- Start a PHP server inside the project directory (e.g.
php -S 127.0.0.1:8090). - Replay the following request after having replaced the
<HOST>placeholder with the PHP server address:
POST /plain.php HTTP/1.1
Host: <HOST>
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundaryQqDeSZSSvmn2rfjb
Content-Length: 180
------WebKitFormBoundaryQqDeSZSSvmn2rfjb
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="key0[key1][key2]["
value
------WebKitFormBoundaryQqDeSZSSvmn2rfjb--
- Notice the differences in the parsing compared to what observed at step 5.
Suggested Remediation
Use the PHP function parse_str to parse the body parameters to mimic the plain PHP behavior.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | bref/bref | all versions | 2.1.13 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for bref/bref. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update bref/bref to 2.1.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-82vx-mm6r-gg8w is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-82vx-mm6r-gg8w is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-82vx-mm6r-gg8w. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-82vx-mm6r-gg8w in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-82vx-mm6r-gg8w across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.