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)
extract
说明
int extract ( array var_array [, int extract_type [, string prefix]] )本函数用来将变量从数组中导入到当前的符号表中。接受结合数组 var_array 作为参数并将键名当作变量名，值作为变量的值。对每个键／值对都会在当前的符号表中建立变量，并受到 extract_type 和 prefix 参数的影响。
注: 自版本 4.0.5 起本函数返回被提取的变量数目。
注: EXTR_IF_EXISTS 和 EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS 是版本 4.2.0 中引进的。
注: EXTR_REFS 是版本 4.3.0 中引进的。
extract() 检查每个键名看是否可以作为一个合法的变量名，同时也检查和符号表中已有的变量名的冲突。对待非法／数字和冲突的键名的方法将根据 extract_type 参数决定。可以是以下值之一：
- EXTR_OVERWRITE
如果有冲突，覆盖已有的变量。
- EXTR_SKIP
如果有冲突，不覆盖已有的变量。
- EXTR_PREFIX_SAME
如果有冲突，在变量名前加上前缀 prefix。
- EXTR_PREFIX_ALL
给所有变量名加上前缀 prefix。自 PHP 4.0.5 起这也包括了对数字索引的处理。
- EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID
仅在非法／数字的变量名前加上前缀 prefix。本标记是 PHP 4.0.5 新加的。
- EXTR_IF_EXISTS
仅在当前符号表中已有同名变量时，覆盖它们的值。其它的都不处理。可以用在已经定义了一组合法的变量，然后要从一个数组例如 $_REQUEST 中提取值覆盖这些变量的场合。本标记是 PHP 4.2.0 新加的。
- EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS
仅在当前符号表中已有同名变量时，建立附加了前缀的变量名，其它的都不处理。本标记是 PHP 4.2.0 新加的。
- EXTR_REFS
将变量作为引用提取。这有力地表明了导入的变量仍然引用了 var_array 参数的值。可以单独使用这个标志或者在 extract_type 中用 OR 与其它任何标志结合使用。本标记是 PHP 4.3.0 新加的。
如果没有指定 extract_type，则被假定为 EXTR_OVERWRITE。
注意 prefix 仅在 extract_type 的值是 EXTR_PREFIX_SAME，EXTR_PREFIX_ALL，EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID 或 EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS 时需要。如果附加了前缀后的结果不是合法的变量名，将不会导入到符号表中。
extract() 返回成功导入到符号表中的变量数目。
| 警告 |
不要对不能信任的数据使用 extract()，例如用户的输入（$_GET，...）。如果这样做，举例说，要临时运行依赖于 register_globals 的老代码，要确保使用不会覆盖的 extract_type 值，例如 EXTR_SKIP，并且要留意应该按照 php.ini 中由 variables_order 定义的顺序来提取。 |
extract() 的一种可能用法是将 wddx_deserialize() 返回的结合数组中的内容导入到符号表变量中去。
$size 没有被覆盖，因为指定了 EXTR_PREFIX_SAME，这使得 $wddx_size 被建立。如果指定了 EXTR_SKIP，则 $wddx_size 也不会被建立。EXTR_OVERWRITE 将使 $size 的值为“medium”，EXTR_PREFIX_ALL 将建立新变量 $wddx_color，$wddx_size 和 $wddx_shape。
必须使用结合数组，数字索引的数组将不会产生结果，除非用了 EXTR_PREFIX_ALL 或者 EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID。
参见 compact()。
add a note
User Contributed Notes
ktwombley at gmail dot com
01-Sep-2006 01:05
01-Sep-2006 01:05
nicolas zeh
17-Mar-2006 01:24
17-Mar-2006 01:24
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 );
?>
owk dot ch199_ph at gadz dot org
08-Mar-2006 08:21
08-Mar-2006 08:21
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.
moslehi<atsign>gmail<d0t>c0m
21-Jan-2006 05:32
21-Jan-2006 05:32
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)
Csaba at alum dot mit dot edu
28-Nov-2005 03:41
28-Nov-2005 03:41
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.
anon at anon dot org
31-May-2005 03:02
31-May-2005 03:02
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!
kake26 at gmail dot com
01-May-2005 11:59
01-May-2005 11:59
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
?>
pg dot perfection at gmail dot com
15-Mar-2005 06:33
15-Mar-2005 06:33
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);
}
}
}
?>
Michael Newton
03-Mar-2005 09:23
03-Mar-2005 09:23
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!)
22-Feb-2005 11:31
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';
Aaron Stone
18-Nov-2004 02:44
18-Nov-2004 02:44
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.
Adam Monsen <adamm at wazamatta dot com>
03-Oct-2004 08:03
03-Oct-2004 08:03
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.