CWE-22 (对路径名的限制不恰当(路径遍历)) — Vulnerability Class 5199

5199 vulnerabilities classified as CWE-22 (对路径名的限制不恰当(路径遍历)). AI Chinese analysis included.

CWE-22 represents a critical input validation weakness where software fails to properly sanitize external input before constructing file paths. Attackers typically exploit this vulnerability by injecting directory traversal sequences, such as “../”, into user-supplied parameters. These malicious inputs allow the application to resolve file references outside the intended restricted directory, potentially granting unauthorized access to sensitive system files, configuration data, or source code. To mitigate this risk, developers must implement rigorous input validation techniques, ensuring that all path components are strictly checked against allowed characters and structures. Additionally, employing canonicalization to resolve symbolic links and relative paths before validation, combined with strict chroot jails or sandboxing, effectively confines file operations to designated directories, thereby neutralizing the potential for path traversal attacks and preserving system integrity.

MITRE CWE Description

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. 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.

Common Consequences (4)

Integrity, Confidentiality, Availability Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

The attacker may be able to create or overwrite critical files that are used to execute code, such as programs or libraries.

Integrity Modify Files or Directories

The attacker may be able to overwrite or create critical files, such as programs, libraries, or important data. If the targeted file is used for a security mechanism, then the attacker may be able to bypass that mechanism. For example, appending a new account at the end of a password file may allow …

Confidentiality Read Files or Directories

The attacker may be able read the contents of unexpected files and expose sensitive data. If the targeted file is used for a security mechanism, then the attacker may be able to bypass that mechanism. For example, by reading a password file, the attacker could conduct brute force password guessing a…

Availability DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

The attacker may be able to overwrite, delete, or corrupt unexpected critical files such as programs, libraries, or important data. This may prevent the product from working at all and in the case of protection mechanisms such as authentication, it has the potential to lock out product users.

Mitigations (5)

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…

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(…

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].

Effectiveness: Moderate

Examples (2)

The following code could be for a social networking application in which each user's profile information is stored in a separate file. All files are stored in a single directory.

my $dataPath = "/users/cwe/profiles"; my $username = param("user"); my $profilePath = $dataPath . "/" . $username; open(my $fh, "<", $profilePath) || ExitError("profile read error: $profilePath"); print "<ul>\n"; while (<$fh>) { print "<li>$_</li>\n"; } print "</ul>\n";

Bad · Perl

../../../etc/passwd

Attack

In the example below, the path to a dictionary file is read from a system property and used to initialize a File object.

String filename = System.getProperty("com.domain.application.dictionaryFile"); File dictionaryFile = new File(filename);

Bad · Java

CVE ID	Title	CVSS	Severity	Published
CVE-2023-27577	Path Traversal Vulnerability in `LESS` Parser allows reading of sensitive server files in flarum — framework	6.6	Medium	2023-03-10
CVE-2023-25814	Arbitrary File Read Vulnerability in metersphere — metersphere	7.1	High	2023-03-09
CVE-2023-23760	Path traversal in GitHub Enterprise Server leading to remote code execution — Enterprise Server	4.9	Medium	2023-03-08
CVE-2023-27475	Goutil vulnerable to path traversal when unzipping files — goutil	8.8	High	2023-03-07
CVE-2022-41328	Fortinet FortiOS 路径遍历漏洞 — FortiOS	6.5	Medium	2023-03-07
CVE-2017-20181	hgzojer Vocable Trainer VocableTrainerProvider.java path traversal — Vocable Trainer	5.3	Medium	2023-03-06
CVE-2023-1191	fastcms ZIP File TemplateController.java path traversal — fastcms	4.7	Medium	2023-03-06
CVE-2023-26111	node-static 路径遍历漏洞 — @nubosoftware/node-static	7.5	High	2023-03-06
CVE-2023-1163	DrayTek Vigor 2960 Web Management Interface mainfunction.cgi getSyslogFile path traversal — Vigor 2960	6.5	Medium	2023-03-03
CVE-2020-5001	IBM Financial Transaction Manager path traversal — Financial Transaction Manager	4.3	Medium	2023-03-01
CVE-2023-1009	DrayTek Vigor 2960 Web Management Interface mainfunction.cgi sub_1DF14 path traversal — Vigor 2960	6.5	Medium	2023-02-24
CVE-2023-1002	MuYuCMS index.php path traversal — MuYuCMS	4.3	Medium	2023-02-24
CVE-2023-25579	Directory traversal in Nextcloud server — security-advisories	6.0	Medium	2023-02-22
CVE-2023-0947	Path Traversal in flatpressblog/flatpress — flatpressblog/flatpress	9.8	-	2023-02-22
CVE-2023-24960	IBM InfoSphere Information Server information disclosure — InfoSphere Information Server	7.5	High	2023-02-17
CVE-2023-0862	Path Traversal in NetModule NSRW — NSRW	7.2	High	2023-02-16
CVE-2023-22380	Path traversal in GitHub Enterprise Server leading to arbitrary file reading when building a GitHub Pages site — GitHub Enterprise Server	6.5	-	2023-02-16
CVE-2022-47506	SolarWinds Platform Directory Traversal Vulnerability — SolarWinds Platform	7.8	High	2023-02-15
CVE-2023-23946	Git's `git apply` overwriting paths outside the working tree — git	6.2	Medium	2023-02-14
CVE-2023-24804	ownCloud Android app vulnerable to Path Traversal — Android	5.0	Medium	2023-02-13
CVE-2022-25937	glance 路径遍历漏洞 — glance	6.5	Medium	2023-02-13
CVE-2023-24815	Disclosure of classpath resources on Windows when mounted on a wildcard route in vertx-web — vertx-web	4.8	Medium	2023-02-09
CVE-2023-21448	SAMSUNG Cloud 路径遍历漏洞 — Samsung Cloud	5.7	Medium	2023-02-09
CVE-2022-3560	pesign 路径遍历漏洞 — pesign	5.5	-	2023-02-02
CVE-2016-15023	SiteFusion Application Server Extension getextension.php path traversal — Application Server	3.5	Low	2023-01-31
CVE-2023-0593	Path traversal in yaffshiv — yaffshiv	5.5	Medium	2023-01-31
CVE-2023-0592	Path traversal in jefferson — jefferson	5.5	Medium	2023-01-31
CVE-2023-0591	Path Traversal in ubi_reader — ubi_reader	5.5	Medium	2023-01-31
CVE-2022-39059	ChangingTec MegaServiSignAdapter - Path Traversal — MegaServiSignAdapter	7.5	High	2023-01-31
CVE-2022-46835	SailPoint IdentityIQ JavaServer File Path Traversal Vulnerability — IdentityIQ	8.8	High	2023-01-31

Vulnerabilities classified as CWE-22 (对路径名的限制不恰当(路径遍历)) represent 5199 CVEs. The CWE taxonomy describes the weakness; review individual CVEs for product-specific impact.