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26. How can the phar:// protocol be exploited? What is the difference between the php://input pseudo‑protocol and POST data delivery?

phar:// Exploitation​

  • Bypass certain WAFs and upload restrictions.
  • Phar deserialisation: when the wrapper reads a .phar file, it deserialises the stored metadata.

php://input vs POST​

  • application/x-www-form-urlencoded or multipart/form-data: php://input contains raw data; $_POST is an associative array without upload content.
  • multipart/form-data: php://input is invalid.
  • Content-Type: text/plain: $_POST cannot retrieve data, but php://input can.