CVE-2022-31574
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows attackers to perform absolute path traversal attacks in the deepaliupadhyay/RealEstate repository due to unsafe use of Flask's send_file function. Attackers can read arbitrary files from the server filesystem. Anyone using this GitHub repository through 2018-11-30 is affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- deepaliupadhyay/RealEstate repository
📦 What is this software?
Realestate by Realestate Project
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete server compromise through reading sensitive files like /etc/passwd, SSH keys, or database credentials, potentially leading to full system takeover.
Likely Case
Unauthorized access to sensitive configuration files, source code, or user data stored on the server filesystem.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if proper file permissions and web server configurations restrict access to sensitive directories.
🎯 Exploit Status
Path traversal vulnerabilities are well-understood and easily exploitable with basic HTTP requests.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: N/A
Vendor Advisory: N/A
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Stop using the vulnerable repository. 2. Migrate to a maintained alternative. 3. Review and sanitize all file path inputs in your Flask application.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation and Sanitization
allImplement strict validation and sanitization of all user-supplied file paths before passing to send_file.
# Python code to sanitize paths
import os
from werkzeug.utils import secure_filename
safe_path = secure_filename(user_input)
# Additional validation to ensure path is within allowed directory
Web Server Configuration
linuxConfigure web server to restrict file access to specific directories only.
# Nginx example
location /files/ {
internal;
alias /var/www/safe_directory/;
}
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate vulnerable systems
- Deploy WAF rules to block path traversal patterns in HTTP requests
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Review Flask code for unsanitized user input passed to send_file() function. Test with path traversal payloads like '../../etc/passwd'.Check Version:
Check repository commit history and date - vulnerable if using code from 2018-11-30 or earlier.Verify Fix Applied:
Test that path traversal attempts return proper error responses instead of file contents. Verify input validation is implemented.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing '../' patterns
- Unusual file access patterns from web application logs
- Failed file access attempts to sensitive system paths
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with encoded path traversal sequences (%2e%2e%2f)
- Multiple failed attempts to access sensitive file paths
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND (uri="*../*" OR uri="*..%2f*" OR uri="*%2e%2e%2f*")