Forty-three files came back. Every engineer in the company. All readable.
The payload uses directory traversal sequences ( ../ or encoded as ..-2F ) to "break out" of the intended application directory and access the root filesystem. The goal is to reach the .aws/credentials file, which contains plain-text aws_access_key_id and aws_secret_access_key tokens. Write-up: Exfiltrating AWS Credentials via Path Traversal : Path Traversal / Arbitrary File Read. Target File : /home/[user]/.aws/credentials . Payload Mechanism : -file-..-2F..-2F..-2F..-2Fhome-2F-2A-2F.aws-2Fcredentials
: This specifies the protocol handler, telling the system to look for a local file rather than a web resource. Forty-three files came back
..-2F : URL-encoded version of ../ . This bypasses basic client-side or web application firewall (WAF) filters that only look for literal dots and slashes. -file-..-2F..-2F..-2F..-2Fhome-2F-2A-2F.aws-2Fcredentials