Weakness (CWE)
CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.
More detail
Many file operations are intended to take place within a restricted directory. By using special elements such as ".." and "/" separators, attackers can escape outside of the restricted location to access files or directories that are elsewhere on the system. One of the most common special elements is the "../" sequence, which in most modern operating systems is interpreted as the parent directory of the current location. This is referred to as relative path traversal. Path traversal also covers the use of absolute pathnames such as "/usr/local/bin" to access unexpected files. This is referred to as absolute path traversal.
How to prevent it (8 mitigations)
-
Implementation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue."
Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
When validating filenames, use stringent allowlists that limit the character set to be used. If feasible, only allow a single "." character in the filename to avoid weaknesses such as CWE-23, and exclude directory separators such as "/" to avoid CWE-36. Use a list of allowable file extensions, which will help to avoid CWE-434.
Do not rely exclusively on a filtering mechanism that removes potentially dangerous characters. This is equivalent to a denylist, which may be incomplete (CWE-184). For example, filtering "/" is insufficient protection if the filesystem also supports the use of "\" as a directory separator. Another possible error could occur when the filtering is applied in a way that still produces dangerous data (CWE-182). For example, if "../" sequences are removed from the ".../...//" string in a sequential fashion, two instances of "../" would be removed from the original string, but the remaining characters would still form the "../" string.
-
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks entirely. Then, these modified values would be submitted to the server.
-
Implementation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174). Such errors could be used to bypass allowlist validation schemes by introducing dangerous inputs after they have been checked.
Use a built-in path canonicalization function (such as realpath() in C) that produces the canonical version of the pathname, which effectively removes ".." sequences and symbolic links (CWE-23, CWE-59). This includes:
- realpath() in C
- getCanonicalPath() in Java
- GetFullPath() in ASP.NET
- realpath() or abs_path() in Perl
- realpath() in PHP
-
Architecture and Design
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid [REF-1482].
-
Operation
Use an application firewall that can detect attacks against this weakness. It can be beneficial in cases in which the code cannot be fixed (because it is controlled by a third party), as an emergency prevention measure while more comprehensive software assurance measures are applied, or to provide defense in depth [REF-1481].
-
Architecture and Design, Operation
Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks [REF-76]. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment. For example, database applications rarely need to run as the database administrator, especially in day-to-day operations.
-
Architecture and Design
When the set of acceptable objects, such as filenames or URLs, is limited or known, create a mapping from a set of fixed input values (such as numeric IDs) to the actual filenames or URLs, and reject all other inputs.
For example, ID 1 could map to "inbox.txt" and ID 2 could map to "profile.txt". Features such as the ESAPI AccessReferenceMap [REF-185] provide this capability.
-
Architecture and Design, Operation
Run the code in a "jail" or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict which files can be accessed in a particular directory or which commands can be executed by the software.
OS-level examples include the Unix chroot jail, AppArmor, and SELinux. In general, managed code may provide some protection. For example, java.io.FilePermission in the Java SecurityManager allows the software to specify restrictions on file operations.
This may not be a feasible solution, and it only limits the impact to the operating system; the rest of the application may still be subject to compromise.
Be careful to avoid CWE-243 and other weaknesses related to jails.
Source: MITRE CWE-22
2,739 results · Clear filters · Feed
-
Medium 6.3
DeepGraphLearning KnowledgeGraphEmbedding Checkpoint Loading run.py override_config path traversal
A flaw has been found in DeepGraphLearning KnowledgeGraphEmbedding up to 2e440e0f9c687314d5ff67ead68ce985dc446e3a. Impacted is the function override_config of the file codes/run.py of the component Checkpoint Loading. This manipulation of the argument data_pa…
-
Medium 6.3
Edge0-AI Audio8_TTS Model Path Resolution runtime.py ArkTtsRuntime.__init__ path traversal
A weakness has been identified in Edge0-AI Audio8_TTS up to 1d64afcc2da56222b41ddcf53de7b8bc54be1fb6. This affects the function ArkTtsRuntime.__init__ of the file onnx_runtime_0_1b_int8/arktts_runtime/runtime.py of the component Model Path Resolution. Executi…
-
Medium 6.5
Readest: Cross-tenant object write via unsanitized fileName in /api/storage/upload (object-key path traversal)
Readest is a modern, feature-rich ebook reader designed for seamless cross-platform access and an intuitive reading experience. Prior to 0.11.10, the apps/readest-app/src/pages/api/storage/upload.ts route constructed an object key from the authenticated user'…
-
Medium 6.2
Alan: Health Insurance for Android 1.450.0 Path Traversal via ShareReceiverActivity
Alan: Health Insurance for Android (com.alanmobile) 1.450.0 contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows a co-resident malicious application to write attacker-controlled files outside the intended directory via the exported ShareReceiverActivity, which…
-
Medium 6.5
IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge is vulnerable to a Path Traversal in LangSmith
IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge 4.0.0 through 5.4.0 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to read arbitrary files from the local filesystem due to path traversal.
-
Medium 6.3
Solidtime: Path Traversal in Toggl ZIP Data Importer - arbitrary directory creation + filesystem existence oracle
Solidtime is an open-source time-tracking app. Prior to 0.16.0, TogglDataImporter::importData() read attacker-controlled project id values from projects.json in uploaded ZIP imports and concatenated them into filesystem paths without validation. Because Spati…
-
Medium 4.9
Coder before 2.29.22, 2.34.13, 2.35.10, 2.36.8, 2.37.5, and 2.38.1 AI Gateway Path Traversal
Coder 2.28.0 before 2.29.22, 2.30.0 before 2.34.13, 2.35.0 before 2.35.10, 2.36.0 before 2.36.8, 2.37.0 before 2.37.5, and 2.38.0 before 2.38.1 contains a path traversal vulnerability in the AI Gateway passthrough router, which forwards percent-encoded dot se…
-
Medium 5.5
WPvivid Backup & Migration < 0.9.138 - Admin+ Path Traversal via Local Backup Directory Setting
The WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging WordPress plugin before 0.9.138 does not properly validate a backup storage directory path before using it to create directories and write files, allowing administrators to cause those directories and files to be crea…
-
Medium 5.5
WPvivid Backup & Migration < 0.9.137 - Admin+ Path Traversal via Staging Site Path
The WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging WordPress plugin before 0.9.137 does not sanitize the staging destination folder supplied to its staging-start handler, applying only a generic text filter while the sibling writability-check handler applies the corre…
-
Medium 5.0
Tanium addressed a path traversal vulnerability in Tanium Data Service.
Tanium addressed a path traversal vulnerability in Tanium Data Service.
-
Medium 5.3
isomorphic-git: Path traversal via a ".." tree-entry name writes files outside the working directory on clone/checkout
isomorphic-git is a pure JavaScript implementation of Git for Node.js and browsers. Prior to 1.38.6, isomorphic-git's tree parser in src/models/GitTree.js accepts a standalone .. tree-entry name because it rejects only path separators. During clone or checkou…
-
Medium 6.1
zt-zip: Path traversal in fluent API unpack
zt-zip is a Java library that provides convenience methods for ZIP archive manipulation. Prior to 1.18.0, the Zips.get(zip).unpack().destination(outputDir).process() fluent API in src/main/java/org/zeroturnaround/zip/Zips.java constructs output files directly…
-
Medium 6.3
phpMyAdmin MoTranslator Loader.php getTranslator path traversal
A vulnerability was determined in phpMyAdmin MoTranslator up to 6.0.1. The impacted element is the function Loader::getTranslator of the file motranslator-master/src/Loader.php. Executing a manipulation of the argument locale can lead to path traversal. The a…
-
Medium 4.9
Koodo Reader through 2.4.6 Path Traversal via OPDS Cover and Download Handlers
Koodo Reader through 2.4.6 contains a path traversal vulnerability in the self-hosted HTTP server's OPDS handlers that allows authenticated attackers to read files outside the upload directory. Attackers can upload a crafted books.db with a cover value contai…
-
Medium 5.1
Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') in the ShareActivity component of BlueLM…
-
Medium 4.3
Academy LMS <= 4.0.1 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Arbitrary HTML File Read via 'id' Parameter in /wp/v2/templates REST Route
The Academy LMS – AI Course Builder, Quizzes, Certificates & eLearning plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Directory Traversal in all versions up to, and including, 4.0.1 via the 'id' parameter. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contr…
-
Medium 4.0
In getXmlFileNameForUser of LocaleManagerService.java, there is a possible permission bypass due to a confusable path t…
-
Medium 6.1
Dell OpenManage Enterprise, versions prior to 4.8.0, contains an Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Dire…
-
Medium 5.7
Dell OpenManage Enterprise, versions prior to 4.8.0, contains an Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Dire…
-
Medium 6.1
Dell OpenManage Enterprise, versions prior to 4.8.0, contains an Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Dire…
-
Medium 5.9
@fastify/http-proxy vulnerable to prefix escape via percent-encoded backslash dot-segments
@fastify/http-proxy is a Fastify plugin that proxies HTTP requests to an upstream server under a configured prefix. In versions 11.6.0 through 11.6.2, the destination validation normalizes literal backslashes before it percent-decodes the request path, so a p…
-
Medium 4.8
deepset-ai farm Model Package Loader language_model.py WordEmbedding_LM.load path traversal
A vulnerability has been found in deepset-ai farm up to 0.8.0. Affected is the function WordEmbedding_LM.load of the file farm/modeling/language_model.py of the component Model Package Loader. The manipulation of the argument embeddings_filename leads to path…
-
Medium 4.3
deepset-ai farm Tokenizer Loader tokenization.py EmbeddingTokenizer.from_pretrained path traversal
A flaw has been found in deepset-ai farm up to 0.8.0. This impacts the function EmbeddingTokenizer.from_pretrained of the file farm/modeling/tokenization.py of the component Tokenizer Loader. Executing a manipulation of the argument vocab_filename can lead to…
-
Medium 6.3
Webpro-nl Knip Workspace IssueFixer.ts writeFile path traversal
A security vulnerability has been detected in Webpro-nl Knip up to 6.44.0. The impacted element is the function writeFile of the file packages/knip/src/IssueFixer.ts of the component Workspace Handler. Such manipulation of the argument workspaces leads to pat…
-
Medium 5.9
http4k before 6.62.0.0-ee Path Traversal via ThymeleafTemplates Template Resolution
http4k before 6.62.0.0-ee contains a path traversal vulnerability in ThymeleafTemplates Caching and HotReload that allows unauthenticated attackers to read files outside baseTemplateDir by supplying ../ segments in ViewModel.template() values. Attackers can i…
-
Medium 6.5
WordPress JetFormBuilder plugin <= 3.6.7.1 - Attachment Deletion Via Media-Field Preset vulnerability
Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in Crocoblock JetFormBuilder jetformbuilder allows Path Traversal.This issue affects JetFormBuilder: from n/a through 3.6.7.1.
-
Medium 4.3
FFmpeg 5.0 through 9.0.2 Path Traversal via IMF Demuxer ASSETMAP Path
FFmpeg 5.0 through 9.0.2 contains a path traversal vulnerability in the IMF demuxer that allows attackers to open files outside the package via unvalidated ASSETMAP Path elements. Attackers can supply a crafted IMF package with '..' or absolute paths to demux…
-
Medium 5.6
DeepInfer through 0.1.0 Path Traversal via /profile output_dir Parameter
DeepInfer through 0.1.0 contains a path traversal vulnerability in the unauthenticated /profile endpoint that allows remote attackers to create arbitrary directories via the output_dir parameter. Attackers, including cross-site GET requests from an operator's…
-
Medium 5.4
Photo Reviews for WooCommerce <= 1.2.31 - Unauthenticated File Deletion via 'wcpr_image_upload_id' Parameter
The Photo Reviews for WooCommerce plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized Media Library File Deletion in all versions up to, and including, 1.2.31. This is due to the `delete_reviews_image()` function's `delete_comment` hook trusting attachment IDs…
-
Medium 6.1
sevenz-rust2: unchecked 7z entry paths permit traversal and absolute-path file overwrites
sevenz-rust2 is a Rust-native 7z compressor and `decompress`or. Prior to 0.21.1, extracting an attacker-supplied 7z archive can write or overwrite files outside the destination directory. In `src/util/decompress.rs`, `decompress_impl` computes each destinatio…
-
Medium 5.3
Stirling-PDF: SVG→PDF local file read (LFI) via SVG-sanitizer and Batik same-origin bypass
Stirling-PDF is a locally hosted web application that facilitates various operations on PDF files. From 2.13.1 until 2.13.2, the POST /api/v1/convert/svg/pdf endpoint renders attacker-supplied SVG through Apache Batik, and a scheme-less root-relative image re…
-
Medium 6.5
pgAdmin 4: File Manager and storage-path tools act on a different path from the one checked
In server mode pgAdmin 4 validates a path into the user's storage directory with check_access_permission(), which builds the absolute path with get_abs_path(). Several callers then acted on a path they built differently, so the path checked and the path used …
-
Medium 6.5
Immich: Unauthenticated filesystem path injection (arbitrary directory write + recursive delete) in the machine-learning service
Immich is a high-performance self-hosted photo and video management solution. Prior to 3.3.0, the unauthenticated machine-learning /predict endpoint in machine-learning/immich_ml/main.py accepted an options object and passed its values into model construction…
-
Medium 5.0
WordPress SureDash plugin <= 1.12.3 - Arbitrary File Deletion vulnerability
Subscriber Arbitrary File Deletion in SureDash <= 1.12.3 versions.
-
Medium 4.9
JS Help Desk <= 5.0.1 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Path Traversal to Arbitrary File Deletion via 'support_custom_img' Parameter
The JS Help Desk – AI-Powered Support & Ticketing System plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion due to insufficient file path validation in the setSupportCustomImage function in all versions up to, and including, 5.0.1. This makes it po…
-
Medium 5.9
n8n from 2.14.0 through 2.46.3 Path Traversal via Databricks Node
n8n from 2.14.0 through 2.46.3 contains a path traversal vulnerability in the Databricks node that allows unauthenticated attackers to reach arbitrary Databricks API endpoints by injecting unencoded resource identifiers. Attackers can supply ../ sequences and…
-
Medium 5.5
Forgejo through 15.0.11, 16.0.7, and 17.0.1 Path Traversal via restore-repo
Forgejo through 15.0.11, 16.0.0 through 16.0.7, and 17.0.0 through 17.0.1 contains a path traversal vulnerability in restore-repo that allows attackers to read files outside the dump directory via crafted asset paths. Attackers can supply a dump whose release…
-
Medium 5.3
Path Traversal Leading to File Deletion in Ad Hoc Transfer and Web Transfer in Progress WS_FTP Server
Improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory in Progress Software WS_FTP Server versions prior to 2024.0.7 and 2025.0.4 on Windows could allow an unauthenticated attacker to affect files outside the intended directory.
-
Medium 6.5
Langflow OSS is affected by multiple vulnerabilities
IBM Langflow OSS 1.0.0 through 1.12.3 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to overwrite arbitrary files due to improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory.
-
Medium 6.5
Langflow OSS is affected by multiple vulnerabilities
IBM Langflow OSS 1.0.0 through 1.12.3 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to obtain sensitive information due to improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory.