Spring - Path Traversal (CVE-2024-38816)
Description
Applications serving static resources through the functional web frameworks WebMvc.fn or WebFlux.fn are vulnerable to path traversal attacks. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests and obtain any file on the file system that is also accessible to the process in which the Spring application is running.
Specifically, an application is vulnerable when both of the following are true:
- the web application uses RouterFunctions to serve static resources
- resource handling is explicitly configured with a FileSystemResource location
However, malicious requests are blocked and rejected when any of the following is true:
- the Spring Security HTTP Firewall https://docs.spring.io/spring-security/reference/servlet/exploits/firewall.html is in use
- the application runs on Tomcat or Jetty
psychologyCrowdSec Analysis
CVE-2024-38816 is a vulnerability impacting applications that serve static resources via certain Spring web frameworks, allowing attackers to perform path traversal and access arbitrary files on the underlying file system.
CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 14th of October 2024.
Insights from the CrowdSec network reveal that the attackers trying to exploit CVE-2024-38816 are composed of a fairly even mix of opportunistic and targeted actors. Some attackers employ preliminary reconnaissance, while others use indiscriminate scanning. CrowdSec network telemetry also shows that exploitation of CVE-2024-38816 has significantly declined over the past week. Attack volumes are well below the long-term average, suggesting attackers are rapidly losing interest. The vulnerability appears to be falling out of active use across most threat landscapes.
Exploitation attempts typically involve requests containing /static/link/.. in the path, as attackers try to traverse directories to access sensitive files.
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| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| CVE Published | 2024-09-13 |
| Rule Released | 2024-10-14 |
| CrowdSec First Seen | 2024-12-19 |