Drupal Penetration Testing

A comprehensive guide for security testing Drupal websites, from discovery through post-exploitation.

Discovery

Check Drupal Meta Tags

Verify if a site is running Drupal by checking meta tags:

curl https://www.drupal.org/ | grep 'content="Drupal'

Node Enumeration

Drupal indexes content using nodes. Pages are typically at

/node/<nodeid>

:

curl drupal-site.com/node/1

Enumeration

Version Detection

Check for exposed changelog files:

curl -s http://drupal-site.local/CHANGELOG.txt | grep -m2 ""

Note: Newer Drupal installations block access to

CHANGELOG.txt

and

README.txt

by default.

Username Enumeration

Drupal has three default user types:

1. Administrator - Complete control
2. Authenticated User - Can log in and perform operations based on permissions
3. Anonymous - Read-only access

Enumeration techniques:

1. Sequential user IDs: Access

   /user/1

   ,

   /user/2

   ,

   /user/3

   until errors indicate non-existent users
2. Registration check: Visit

   /user/register

   and attempt to create a username - errors indicate taken names
3. Password reset: Try resetting passwords - errors reveal whether users exist

Hidden Page Discovery

Enumerate nodes by fuzzing numeric IDs:

# Check nodes 1-1000 for hidden content
for i in $(seq 1 1000); do curl -s drupal-site.com/node/$i | grep -q "content" && echo "Found: /node/$i"; done

Module Information Discovery

Check for exposed configuration files:

# Get installed modules info
curl https://example.com/config/sync/core.extension.yml
curl https://example.com/core/core.services.yml

# Download exposed configuration files
curl https://example.com/config/sync/swiftmailer.transport.yml

Automated Scanning

Droopescan

Use droopescan for automated Drupal vulnerability scanning:

droopescan scan drupal -u http://drupal-site.local

Remote Code Execution (RCE)

If you have access to the Drupal web console, check for RCE vectors. Common Drupal RCE techniques include:

• Drupalgeddon2 (Drupal 7.x < 7.32)
• Drupalgeddon3 (Drupal 7.x < 7.32)
• Drupal 8/9/10 form builder vulnerabilities
• Template injection attacks

XSS to RCE Escalation

Drupalwned Tool

Drupalwned is an exploitation script that elevates XSS to RCE:

Supported versions: Drupal 7.X.X, 8.X.X, 9.X.X, 10.X.X

Capabilities:

• Privilege Escalation: Creates administrative users
• RCE via Template Upload: Uploads backdoored templates

Post-Exploitation

Extract Database Credentials

Find and parse

settings.php

for database credentials:

find / -name settings.php -exec grep "drupal_hash_salt\|'database'\|'username'\|'password'\|'host'\|'port'\|'driver'\|'prefix'" {} \; 2>/dev/null

Dump User Database

Extract user data from the Drupal database:

mysql -u drupaluser --password='PASSWORD' -e 'use drupal; select * from users'

Best Practices

1. Always verify Drupal version before attempting exploits - vulnerabilities are version-specific
2. Check for exposed configuration files - misconfigured Drupal sites often leak sensitive data
3. Use automated scanners like droopescan for initial reconnaissance
4. Document findings - track which nodes, users, and modules you discover
5. Test responsibly - only test systems you have authorization to assess

Common Vulnerabilities to Check

• Drupalgeddon2 (CVE-2018-7600) - Drupal 7.x < 7.32
• Drupalgeddon3 (CVE-2018-7598) - Drupal 7.x < 7.32
• Drupal 8/9/10 - Form builder and template injection vulnerabilities
• Exposed configuration files -

  /config/sync/

  directory access
• User enumeration - Weak user ID sequences
• XSS vulnerabilities - Can lead to RCE via Drupalwned