Following up on ktwombley at gmail dot com's post:
Presumably one easy way of dealing with this security issue is to use the EXTR_IF_EXISTS flag and make sure
a) your define acceptable input variables beforehand (i.e. as empty variables)
b) Sanitise any user input to avoid unacceptable variable content.
If you do these two things, then I'm not sure I see the difference between extract($_REQUEST,EXTR_IF_EXISTS); and assigning each of the variables by hand.
I'm not talking here about the idea of storing the variables in a database, just the immediately necessary steps to allow you to use extract on REQUEST arrays with relative safety.
extract
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
extract — 配列からシンボルテーブルに変数をインポートする
説明
int extract ( array $var_array [, int $extract_type [, string $prefix]] )この関数は、配列から現在のシンボルテーブルに変数をインポートするために使用されます。 この関数は連想配列 var_array を引数とし、そのキーを変数名、値を変数の値として処理します。 各キー/値の組に関して、extract_type および prefix パラメータに基づき、 現在のシンボルテーブルに変数を一つ作成します。
注意: バージョン 4.0.5 以降、この関数は展開された変数の数を返します。
注意: EXTR_IF_EXISTS と EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS はバージョン 4.2.0 で導入されました。
注意: EXTR_REFS はバージョン 4.3.0 で導入されました。
extract() は、各キーについて変数名として有効であるかどうか、 そして、シンボルテーブルの既存の変数と衝突しないかどうかを確認します。 無効または数値キーおよび衝突に関する対処法は、 extract_type で定義されます。 これは以下の値のどれかとなります。
- EXTR_OVERWRITE
- 衝突があった場合、存在する変数が上書きされます。
- EXTR_SKIP
- 衝突があった場合、存在する変数は上書きされません。
- EXTR_PREFIX_SAME
- 衝突があった場合、prefix を前につけた新しい変数となります。
- EXTR_PREFIX_ALL
- 全ての変数の前に prefix を付けます。PHP 4.0.5 以降、接頭辞を数値とすることも可能です。
- EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID
- 無効または数値の変数名のみに接頭辞 prefix を付ける。このフラグは、PHP 4.0.5 で追加されました。
- EXTR_IF_EXISTS
- カレントのシンボルテーブルに既に存在する場合にのみ上書きします。 例えば $_REQUEST 以外にあなたが定義した変数のみを展開し 有効な変数としたいような場合に有用です。このフラグは PHP 4.2.0 で追加されました。
- EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS
- 同じ変数だが接頭辞をつけていないバージョンの変数が カレントのシンボルテーブルに存在する場合にのみ 変数を生成します。このフラグは PHP 4.2.0 で追加されました。
- EXTR_REFS
- 変数を参照として展開します。 これはインポート済みの変数が、 var_array パラメータの値に常に参照付けられることを意味します。 このフラグを単独で使用するか、 あるいはextract_typeと和算することにより、 他のフラグとそれを組み合わせることができます。 このフラグは PHP 4.3.0 で追加されました。
extract_type が指定されない場合、 EXTR_OVERWRITE とみなされます。
prefix は、 extract_type が EXTR_PREFIX_SAME、EXTR_PREFIX_ALL、 EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID あるいは EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS の場合にのみ必要であることに注意してください。 接頭辞を付けた変数名が有効な変数名でない場合、 この変数はシンボルテーブルにインポートされません。接頭辞は、 アンダースコア文字で配列のキーから自動的に分割されます。
extract() は、 各キーが有効な変数名からなるかどうかを確認し、 有効な変数名である場合のみインポート処理を行います。
extract() をユーザー入力 ($_GET, ...) のような信頼できないデータについて使用しないでください。 もし行う場合、例えば register_globals を信頼しているような古いコードを一時的に実行したい場合、 EXTR_SKIP のような extract_type の値が上書きされていないことを確認してください。そして php.ini の variables_order で定義されたものと同じ順で展開すべきであることに留意してください。
extract の使用例としては、シンボルテーブルに wddx_deserialize() から返された連想配列を インポートすることが考えられます。
例 301. extract() の例
<?php
/* $var_array はwddx_deserializeから返された配列と仮定します
*/
$size = "large";
$var_array = array("color" => "blue",
"size" => "medium",
"shape" => "sphere");
extract($var_array, EXTR_PREFIX_SAME, "wddx");
echo "$color, $size, $shape, $wddx_size\n";
?>
上の例の出力は以下となります。
blue, large, sphere, medium
EXTR_PREFIX_SAME を指定したため、$size は上書きされず、$wddx_size が作成されます。 EXTR_SKIP が指定された場合、$wddx_sizeは作成されません。 EXTR_OVERWRITE の場合は、$size の値は "medium" となります。 EXTR_PREFIX_ALL の場合は新規の変数 $wddx_color, $wddx_size, $wddx_shape が作成されます。
連想配列を使用する必要があります。EXTR_PREFIX_ALL または EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID を使用しない限り、 数値添字の配列には結果は出力されません。
compact() も参照ください。
extract
22-Apr-2007 04:25
13-Mar-2007 05:26
I would draw your attention to the user note at the very end of this page regarding PREFIXES. The user points out that php adds a '_' to your prefixes.
01-Sep-2006 02:05
It's really easy to open gaping security holes using extract() on $_REQUEST, $_GET, etc. You have to be really sure of what you're doing, and use the proper flags on extract() to avoid clobbering important variables.
For instance, the submission by kake26 at gmail dot com will not only perfectly emulate register globals (that's bad), but it'll store it in a database and recall the same variables every time the script runs (essentially allowing an attacker to attack your script every time it runs via one attack). Oops!
To fix it, you'd have to get creative with flags. Maybe you could use EXTR_PREFIX_ALL instead of EXTR_OVERWRITE, for example. Of course, you should also sanitize the form elements to ensure there's no php code in them, and also to make sure any very important variables aren't in the form data. (like the classic $is_admin = true attack)
17-Mar-2006 02:24
This function provides exactly the same functionality as extract except that a parameter was added defining the extract target.
This function can be used if your PHP installation does not support the required Flags or more important if you would like to extract arrays to another destination as to $GLOBALS, i.e. other arrays or objects.
The only difference to extract is that extract_to moves the array pointer of $arr to the end as $arr is passed by reference to support the EXTR_REFS flag.
<?php
if( !defined('EXTR_PREFIX_ALL') ) define('EXTR_PREFIX_ALL', 3);
if( !defined('EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID') ) define('EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID', 4);
if( !defined('EXTR_IF_EXISTS') ) define('EXTR_IF_EXISTS', 5);
if( !defined('EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS') ) define('EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS', 6);
if( !defined('EXTR_REFS') ) define('EXTR_REFS', 256);
function extract_to( &$arr, &$to, $type=EXTR_OVERWRITE, $prefix=false ){
if( !is_array( $arr ) ) return trigger_error("extract_to(): First argument should be an array", E_USER_WARNING );
if( is_array( $to ) ) $t=0;
else if( is_object( $to ) ) $t=1;
else return trigger_error("extract_to(): Second argument should be an array or object", E_USER_WARNING );
if( $type==EXTR_PREFIX_SAME || $type==EXTR_PREFIX_ALL || $type==EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID || $type==EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS )
if( $prefix===false ) return trigger_error("extract_to(): Prefix expected to be specified", E_USER_WARNING );
else $prefix .= '_';
$i=0;
foreach( $arr as $key=>$val ){
$nkey = $key;
$isset = $t==1 ? isset( $to[$key] ) : isset( $to->$key );
if( ( $type==EXTR_SKIP && $isset )
|| ( $type==EXTR_IF_EXISTS && !$isset ) )
continue;
else if( ( $type==EXTR_PREFIX_SAME && $isset )
|| ( $type==EXTR_PREFIX_ALL )
|| ( $type==EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID && !preg_match( '#^[a-zA-Z_\x7f-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x7f-\xff]*$#', $key ) ) )
$nkey = $prefix.$key;
else if( $type==EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS )
if( $isset ) $nkey = $prefix.$key;
else continue;
if( !preg_match( '#^[a-zA-Z_\x7f-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x7f-\xff]*$#', $nkey ) ) continue;
if( $t==1 )
if( $type & EXTR_REFS ) $to->$nkey = &$arr[$key];
else $to->$nkey = $val;
else
if( $type & EXTR_REFS ) $to[$nkey] = &$arr[$key];
else $to[$nkey] = $val;
$i++;
}
return $i;
}
// e.g.:
extract_to( $myarray, $myobject, EXTR_IF_EXISTS );
?>
08-Mar-2006 09:21
And if you want with PHP 5 an easy way to extract $V by reference, try this :
<?php
foreach ($V as $k => &$v) {
$$k =& $v;
}
?>
It can be used to create special kind of "free args" functions that let you choose when you call them the way you send variables, and which ones. They are moreover very fast to call thanks to references :
<?php
function free_args (&$V) {
foreach ($V as $k => &$v) {
$$k =& $v;
}
unset ($k); unset ($v); unset ($V);
// be careful that if you need to extract $k, $v or $V variables you should find other names for them in the lines above (ie. $__k, $__v and $__V)
}
$huge_text = '...';
$a = array ('arg1' => 'val1', 'arg2' => &$huge_text); // in this call, only $arg2 will be a true reference in the function
free_args ($a);
?>
Be warned that you can't write : "<?php free_args (array ('arg1' => 'val1')); ?>" because the array can't be referenced by the function, as it's not yet created when the function starts.
21-Jan-2006 06:32
Experimentally I found that calling extract() also shows the number of keys if the key is set and is not numeric ! Maybe there was a better definition than mine . Please have a look to this scripts :
<?PHP
$var["i"] = "a";
$var["j"] = "b";
$var["k"] = 1;
echo extract($var); // returns 3
?>
<?PHP
$var2["i"] = "a";
$var2[2] = "b";
$var2[] = 1;
echo extract($var2); // returns 1
?>
(Arash Moslehi)
28-Nov-2005 04:41
Sometimes you may want to extract only a named subset of the key/value pairs in an array. This keeps things more orderly and could prevent an unrelated variable from getting clobbered from an errant key. For example,
$things = 'unsaid';
$REQUEST = array(He=>This, said=>1, my=>is, info=>2, had=>a,
very=>3, important=>test, things=>4);
$aVarToExtract = array(my, important, info);
extract (array_intersect_key ($REQUEST, array_flip($aVarToExtract)));
will extract
$my = 'is';
$important = 'test';
$info = 2;
but will leave certain
$things = 'unsaid'
Csaba Gabor from Vienna
NB. Of course the composite request coming in from a web page is in $_REQUEST.
31-May-2005 04:02
A warning about extract() and null values.
This might be an actual Zend2 Engine bug, but it's bad programming practice, so I'm sharing it here instead.
I often work in envrionments where E_STRICT (which would prevent errors like this) isn't on, and I don't have access to change it. I also use a very simple template class that in a nutshell works like this:
$t = new Template('somefile.php');
$t->title = $title;
$t->body = $body;
$t->display();
display() more or less looks like this:
function display(){
extract(get_object_vars($this),EXTR_REFS);
ob_start(); include $this->templateFileName;
return ob_get_clean();
}
If any of the assigned values are null (let's say that in this case $title wasn't initialized above) it causes the engine to do all sorts of incredibly whacky stuff like certifiably lose track of variables in an incredibly inconsistent way. I traced the problem down to the fact that it's using the EXTR_REFS flag. I assume that in PHP's internal variable storage or reference counting mechanism, that trying to extract null references makes it lose track or count of something or rather.
In a nutshell, if you start getting wierd behavior when using extract() make sure that the array or object you are trying to get variables out of doesn't contain null keys or values!
01-May-2005 12:59
The following is a neat use for extract to store and manipulate large amounts of form data from. I basically loop through the $_POST and implode it seperating the key and value pairs by a space. Then store it in a db, the reversing function basically explodes the string to a array. Then converts the indexed array to a associative array then uses extract to seal the deal and make it easily available within a program. My main reason for sharing these are the fact I make some big web applications that store allot of forum data in a DB and these functions make it very easy to quickly and easily store and recall the data. I've contributed it because I spent many hours creating this code and recall going "I wish someone had previously submitted it to the page notes". Would have saved me allot of time and agony and I'm sure I'm not the only person that could really benefit from it, so I decided to share.
<?php
$stack = array();
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
array_push($stack, $key, $value);
}
// store it
$block = implode(" ",$stack); // yeilds a space delimited string
// insert query to store string in DB here, like the one below
$query = "INSERT INTO `sometable` VALUES('".$seluser."','".addslashes($block)."');";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die("Query failed for block insert: " . mysql_error());
// note $seluser in my case is a user ID associated with that block
// in one of my web apps
?>
The nice thing is with the above we can quickly create a string of key and value pairs from the data the script got. Without really caring what their names are. You know how if register globals are on you say $someformvar rather than $_POST["someformvar"]; , basically the code below reads this previous created block returns it to that state. Sort of like presistant register globals.
<?php
// insert query to grab the previously stored string here
$query = "SELECT * FROM `sometable` WHERE `blockid` = '".addslashes($bid)."';";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die("Query failed read: " . mysql_error());
$sql = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC);
$array = eplode(" ",$sql["data"]);
for ($i = 0; $i < sizeof($array); $i+=2) {
$myassoc[$array[$i]] = isset($array[$i+1])?$array[$i+1]:NULL;
}
extract($myassoc, EXTR_OVERWRITE);
// now you're key and value pairs from $_POST have been restored
// instead of $_POST
?>
15-Mar-2005 07:33
Here is a little example of how an extraction method should look like when it needs to work recursive (work on nested_arrays too)...
Note that this is only an example, it can be done more easily, and more advanced too.
<?php
/**
* A nested version of the extract () function.
*
* @param array $array The array which to extract the variables from
* @param int $type The type to use to overwrite (follows the same as extract () on PHP 5.0.3
* @param string $prefix The prefix to be used for a variable when necessary
*/
function extract_nested (&$array, $type = EXTR_OVERWRITE, $prefix = '')
{
/**
* Is the array really an array?
*/
if (!is_array ($array))
{
return trigger_error ('extract_nested (): First argument should be an array', E_USER_WARNING);
}
/**
* If the prefix is set, check if the prefix matches an acceptable regex pattern
* (the one used for variables)
*/
if (!empty ($prefix) && !preg_match ('#^[a-zA-Z_\x7f-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x7f-\xff]*$#', $prefix))
{
return trigger_error ('extract_nested (): Third argument should start with a letter or an underscore', E_USER_WARNING);
}
/**
* Check if a prefix is necessary. If so and it is empty return an error.
*/
if (($type == EXTR_PREFIX_SAME || $type == EXTR_PREFIX_ALL || $type == EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS) && empty ($prefix))
{
return trigger_error ('extract_nested (): Prefix expected to be specified', E_USER_WARNING);
}
/**
* Make sure the prefix is oke
*/
$prefix = $prefix . '_';
/**
* Loop thru the array
*/
foreach ($array as $key => $val)
{
/**
* If the key isn't an array extract it as we need to do
*/
if (!is_array ($array[$key]))
{
switch ($type)
{
default:
case EXTR_OVERWRITE:
$GLOBALS[$key] = $val;
break;
case EXTR_SKIP:
$GLOBALS[$key] = isset ($GLOBALS[$key]) ? $GLOBALS[$key] : $val;
break;
case EXTR_PREFIX_SAME:
if (isset ($GLOBALS[$key]))
{
$GLOBALS[$prefix . $key] = $val;
}
else
{
$GLOBALS[$key] = $val;
}
break;
case EXTR_PREFIX_ALL:
$GLOBALS[$prefix . $key] = $val;
break;
case EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID:
if (!preg_match ('#^[a-zA-Z_\x7f-\xff]$#', $key{0}))
{
$GLOBALS[$prefix . $key] = $val;
}
else
{
$GLOBALS[$key] = $val;
}
break;
case EXTR_IF_EXISTS:
if (isset ($GLOBALS[$key]))
{
$GLOBALS[$key] = $val;
}
break;
case EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS:
if (isset ($GLOBALS[$key]))
{
$GLOBALS[$prefix . $key] = $val;
}
break;
case EXTR_REFS:
$GLOBALS[$key] =& $array[$key];
break;
}
}
/**
* The key is an array... use the function on that index
*/
else
{
extract_nested ($array[$key], $type, $prefix);
}
}
}
?>
03-Mar-2005 10:23
They say "If the result is not a valid variable name, it is not imported into the symbol table."
What they should say is that if _any_ of the results have invalid names, _none_ of the variables get extracted.
Under 4.3.10 on Windows 2000, I was pulling some mySQL records, but needed to convert two fields into IP addresses:
<?
extract(mysql_fetch_assoc(mysql_query('SELECT * FROM foo')));
extract(mysql_fetch_assoc(mysql_query('SELECT INET_NTOA(bar) AS bar, INET_NTOA(baz) FROM foo')));
?>
I had forgotten the second AS modifier in the SQL query. Because it couldn't extract a variable called INET_NTOA(baz) into the symbol table, it didn't do either of them.
(BTW I don't normally stack functions up like that! Just to make a short example!)
To make this perfectly clear (hopefully), an underscore is always added when the string is prefixed.
extract(array("color" => "blue"),EXTR_PREFIX_ALL,'');// note: prefix is empty
is the same as
$color='_blue';
18-Nov-2004 03:44
If you are working porting an older application, and taking the advice above, extracting only _SERVER, _SESSING, _COOKIE, _POST, _GET, you have forgotten to extract _FILES. Putting _FILES last and using EXTR_SKIP doesn't work because the name of the file upload box is already set as a variable containing only the temporary name of the uploaded file from one of the earlier extracts (I haven't tested to see which one specifically, however). A workaround is to put _FILES last and use EXTR_OVERWRITE. This allows extract to replace that temp-name-only variable with the full array of file upload information.
03-Oct-2004 09:03
As shown in the example, if your 'prefix' is used, a single underscore is added to the name of the extracted variable. Meaning, a prefix of 'p' becomes a prefix of 'p_', so 'blarg' prefixed would be 'p_blarg'.
If you're not sure what variables you've created through extraction, you can call get_defined_vars() to see all defined variables in the current scope.