GHSA-pgf8-28gg-vpr6 — medium GitHub Advisory (CVE-2021-32662) in npm/@backstage/techdocs-common

Description

Impact

A malicious actor could read sensitive files from the environment where TechDocs documentation is built and published by setting a particular path for docs_dir in mkdocs.yml. These files would then be available over the TechDocs backend API.

This vulnerability is mitigated by the fact that an attacker would need access to modify the mkdocs.yml in the documentation source code, and would also need access to the TechDocs backend API.

Patches

The vulnerability is patched in the 0.6.3 release of @backstage/techdocs-common.

For more information

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Basic information

Type: reviewed
Severity: medium
Advisory on GitHub: Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory: Open repository advisory ↗
Source code: Not specified
Published (advisory): 2021-06-04 19:09:20 UTC
Updated: 2023-02-01 05:06:08 UTC
GitHub reviewed: 2021-06-03 22:01:05 UTC
NVD published: 2021-06-03

Score	Percentile
0.48%	64.51%

CVSS Scores

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector
6.5	3.1	—	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. 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:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

Type	Value
GHSA	GHSA-pgf8-28gg-vpr6 ↗
CVE	CVE-2021-32662 ↗

CWEs

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

Affected packages (1)

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

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	First patched	Vulnerable functions
npm	@backstage/techdocs-common	< 0.6.3	0.6.3	—

Path traversal