[exclusive] | -view-php-3a-2f-2ffilter-2fread-3dconvert.base64 Encode-2fresource-3d-2froot-2f.aws-2fcredentials

In the world of web security, "filters" are usually thought of as defensive tools. However, in the hands of an attacker, PHP's built-in stream wrappers can be turned into a powerful straw used to suck sensitive data right out of a server’s root directory.

This input appears to be a targeting a web application running on PHP. Specifically, it exploits PHP's php://filter wrapper to read sensitive files from the server. In the world of web security, "filters" are

Imagine a misconfigured web server where: In the world of web security

/view-php-3A-2F-2Ffilter-2Fread-3Dconvert.base64%20encode-2Fresource-3D-2Froot-2F.aws-2Fcredentials in the hands of an attacker