Unsecured endpoints in the jupyter-lsp server extension

Description

Impact

Installations of jupyter-lsp running in environments without configured file system access control (on the operating system level), and with jupyter-server instances exposed to non-trusted network are vulnerable to unauthorised access and modification of file system beyond the jupyter root directory.

Patches

Version 2.2.2 has been patched.

Workarounds

Users of jupyterlab who do not use jupyterlab-lsp can uninstall jupyter-lsp.

Credits

We would like to credit Bary Levy, researcher of pillar.security research team, for the discovery and responsible disclosure of this vulnerability.

Edit: based on advice from pillar.security the Confidentiality/Integrity/Availability were increased to High to reflect potential for critical impact on publicly hosted jupyter-server instances lacking isolation of user privileges on operating system level (for best practices please consult https://jupyterhub.readthedocs.io/en/stable/explanation/websecurity.html#protect-users-from-each-other) and CWE-94 was added due to a potential vulnerability chaining in specific environments.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
high
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2024-01-18 16:12:28 UTC
Updated
2024-01-30 16:35:40 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2024-01-18 16:12:28 UTC
NVD published
2024-01-18

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.17% 38.26%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
7.3 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CWE-23 Relative Path Traversal

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
pip jupyter-lsp <= 2.2.1 2.2.2

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence