# CVE-2025-55523: AgentZero - Path Traversal

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2025-55523 by the CrowdSec Live Exploit Tracker, built from real-world attack data crowdsourced from CrowdSec's global network.

Page: https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2025-55523

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Limited Exploitation. The vulnerability is known but shows very limited attacker interest or exploitation activity.
- **CVSS score:** 3.5
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** AgentAI Agent-Zero
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal'))
- **Tags:** ai_mcp

## Description

An issue in the component /api/download_work_dir_file.py of Agent-Zero v0.8.* allows attackers to execute a directory traversal.

## CrowdSec analysis

[CVE-2025-55523](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2025-55523) is a directory traversal vulnerability in the /api/download_work_dir_file.py component of Agent-Zero v0.8.*, which allows authenticated attackers to access files outside the intended directory. This flaw could be exploited to read sensitive files on the server, potentially exposing confidential information.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 10th of December 2025.

Insights from the CrowdSec network reveal that the attackers trying to exploit CVE-2025-55523 are composed of a fairly even mix of opportunistic and targeted actors. Some attackers employ preliminary reconnaissance, while others use indiscriminate scanning.
Telemetry from the CrowdSec network also shows that exploitation activity for CVE-2025-55523 remains steady week-over-week. Attack volumes are consistent with long-term trends, indicating sustained interest from threat actors. CVE-2025-55523 continues to be an active part of the threat landscape and will likely remain this way for the forseeable future.

Attackers exploit the `/download_work_dir_file` endpoint by supplying a crafted `path` parameter (e.g., `/etc/passwd`) to perform arbitrary file downloads, enabling unauthorized access to sensitive files on Agent-Zero systems.

## Timeline

- 2025-08-21: CVE Published. CVE-2025-55523 is published to NVD.
- 2025-12-10: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2025-55523 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.
- 2025-12-15: CrowdSec First Seen. CrowdSec observes in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2025-55523 for the first time.

## References

- https://github.com/frdel/agent-zero/blob/v0.8.7/python/api/download_work_dir_file.py
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-6166
- https://github.com/agent0ai/agent-zero/issues/687
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2025/CVE-2025-55523.yaml

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2025-55523) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2025-55523. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.