-page-....-2f-2f....-2f-2f....-2f-2fetc-2fpasswd -
: This is the ultimate goal. In Linux and Unix-like systems, this file contains a list of all user accounts on the server. While it doesn't usually contain passwords themselves anymore, it provides a roadmap of the system for further hacking. 2. How the Attack Works
: This usually refers to a parameter in a URL (e.g., ://example.com... ). Attackers target these parameters because they often control which file the server loads. -page-....-2F-2F....-2F-2F....-2F-2Fetc-2Fpasswd
To understand why this string is dangerous, we have to break down its components: : This is the ultimate goal
: This is a slightly modified version of ../ , the "parent directory" command. The -2F-2F is URL encoding for the forward slash / . Attackers use encoding to bypass simple security filters that look for the literal ../ string. Attackers target these parameters because they often control
If a developer hasn't sanitized the input, an attacker can replace intro.html with the traversal payload. The server then processes a path like: /var/www/html/articles/../../../../etc/passwd HTML URL Encoding Reference - W3Schools
The string "-page-....-2F-2F....-2F-2F....-2F-2Fetc-2Fpasswd" is a classic example of a or Path Traversal attack payload.