Nov 2nd, 2009
Server Side Includes
Server Side Includes
Server Side Includes (SSI) present a server administrator with several potential security risks.
There are ways to enhance the security of SSI files while still taking advantage of the benefits they provide.
To isolate the damage a wayward SSI file can cause, a server administrator can enable suexec.
Enabling SSI for files with .html or .htm extensions can be dangerous. This is especially true in a shared, or high traffic, server environment. SSI-enabled files should have a separate extension, such as the conventional .shtml. This helps keep server load at a minimum and allows for easier management of risk.
SSI files also pose the same risks that are associated with CGI scripts in general. Using the “exec cmd” element, SSI-enabled files can execute any CGI script or program under the permissions of the user and group Apache runs as, as configured in httpd.conf.
The first risk is the increased load on the server. All SSI-enabled files have to be parsed by Apache, whether or not there are any SSI directives included within the files. While this load increase is minor, in a shared server environment it can become significant.
The suEXEC feature — introduced in Apache 1.2 — provides Apache users the ability to run CGI and SSI programs under user IDs different from the user ID of the calling web-server. Normally, when a CGI or SSI program executes, it runs as the same user who is running the web server.
