phpMyFAQ Path Traversal in Attachments

CVE-2024-29196 → View on GitHub ↗ View on CVE.org ↗ View on NVD ↗

Description

Summary

There is a Path Traversal vulnerability in Attachments that allows attackers with admin rights to upload malicious files to other locations of the web root.

PoC

  1. In settings, the attachment location is vulnerable to path traversal and can be set to e.g ..\hacked
    image

  2. When the above is set, attachments files are now uploaded to e.g C:\Apps\XAMPP\htdocs\hacked instead of C:\Apps\XAMPP\htdocs\phpmyfaq\attachments

  3. Verify this by uploading an attachment and see that the "hacked" directory is now created in the web root folder with the attachment file inside.
    image
    image

Impact

Attackers can potentially upload malicious files outside the specified directory.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
low
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2024-03-25 19:35:09 UTC
Updated
2024-03-26 12:58:10 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2024-03-25 19:35:09 UTC
NVD published
2024-03-25

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.63% 70.28%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
3.8 3.1 —
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N 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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

Type Value
GHSA GHSA-mmh6-5cpf-2c72 ↗
CVE CVE-2024-29196 ↗

CWEs

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

Credits

  • kevinnivekkevin (reporter)

Affected packages (1)

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

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
composer phpmyfaq/phpmyfaq = 3.2.5 3.2.6 —

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence