CVE-2023-32309 HIGH

CVE-2023-32309: Arbitrary file inclusion with the pymdowm-snippets extension

Vendor Facelessuser
Product pymdown-extensions
Weakness CWE-22 · Path traversal
Published May 15, 2023
Last update January 22, 2025

CVSS base score

7.5/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Confidentiality High
Integrity None

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

What the vulnerability does

01Description

PyMdown Extensions is a set of extensions for the `Python-Markdown` markdown project. In affected versions an arbitrary file read is possible when using include file syntax. By using the syntax `--8<--"/etc/passwd"` or `--8<--"/proc/self/environ"` the content of these files will be rendered in the generated documentation. Additionally, a path relative to a specified, allowed base path can also be used to render the content of a file outside the specified base paths: `--8<-- "../../../../etc/passwd"`. Within the Snippets extension, there exists a `base_path` option but the implementation is vulnerable to Directory Traversal. The vulnerable section exists in `get_snippet_path(self, path)` lines 155 to 174 in snippets.py. Any readable file on the host where the plugin is executing may have its content exposed. This can impact any use of Snippets that exposes the use of Snippets to external users. It is never recommended to use Snippets to process user-facing, dynamic content. It is designed to process known content on the backend under the control of the host, but if someone were to accidentally enable it for user-facing content, undesired information could be exposed. This issue has been addressed in version 10.0. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may restrict relative paths by filtering input.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

May 15, 2023 CVE published
January 22, 2025 Record updated