I am new to the document storage space. I am not sure what i am doing yet, but before i begin i wanted to know about the possible security threats one has when one allows document uploads and what is the best way to sanitize the data? I am using PHP and will allow images, word docs, pdfs, excel docs, etc.
And is this a good solution:
http://blog.insicdesigns.com/2009/01/secure-file-upload-in-php-web-applications/
There are two really obvious ones:
And that's just the risks to the server. Files can contain malware that can affect other users. You'll probably want to find a scanner for that stuff.
I'll suggest that if you want to let people upload files, you find a pre-written script that a lot of other people use and recommend. Rolling your own is bound to cause you problems when someone does something that you never considered.
There are a vast amount vulnerabilities, when allowing a user to upload files. Potential, blocking unwanted file formats, can help limit the possibilities of someone being able to upload a shell, and root your server. Affecting the integrity, confidentiality and availability of information on your servers.
There also vulns within you forms control as well such as XSS (cross-site scripting) exploits...allowing a user to run malicious code. This could lead to malicious code being executed in users environments.
There also the possibilities, for vulnerabilities within your actual database as well i.e. SQL injections.
Just don't let the server execute executable files...
Risk from users uploading large files, utilising vital disk space and bandwidth.
Useful link for securing PHP upload scripts: http://www.webcheatsheet.com/PHP/file_upload.php
There are several threats you should be aware of:
Just to name some of them. You should take a look at the OWASP Website concerning Unrestricted File Upload. You should find anything you need there.