CVE-2023-52288
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2023-52288 is a directory traversal vulnerability in flaskcode versions up to 0.0.8 that allows unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary files on the server. This affects any Python application using the vulnerable flaskcode package. Attackers can exploit this with a simple GET request to access sensitive system files.
💻 Affected Systems
- flaskcode
📦 What is this software?
Flaskcode by Sujeetkv
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers can read sensitive files like /etc/passwd, SSH keys, database credentials, or application configuration files, potentially leading to complete system compromise.
Likely Case
Attackers will read application configuration files and source code to find additional vulnerabilities or extract sensitive information like API keys and database credentials.
If Mitigated
With proper network segmentation and access controls, impact is limited to files accessible by the web server process.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires only a web browser or curl command. The vulnerability is in views.py at the /resource-data/<file_path>.txt endpoint.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version after 0.0.8 (check for updates)
Vendor Advisory: https://gitlab.com/daniele_m/cve-list/-/blob/main/README.md
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update flaskcode package: pip install --upgrade flaskcode
2. Verify version is above 0.0.8
3. Restart the Flask application
4. Test that the vulnerability is patched
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Block vulnerable endpoint
allAdd middleware or web server rules to block access to /resource-data/*.txt endpoints
# For nginx: location ~ ^/resource-data/.*\.txt$ { deny all; }
# For Apache: <LocationMatch "^/resource-data/.*\.txt$"> Require all denied </LocationMatch>
Remove flaskcode package
allUninstall flaskcode if not required for application functionality
pip uninstall flaskcode
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network access controls to limit who can access the vulnerable endpoint
- Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) with directory traversal protection rules
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test if accessing http://target/resource-data/../../etc/passwd.txt returns system files. Use: curl -v 'http://target/resource-data/../../etc/passwd.txt'Check Version:
pip show flaskcode | grep VersionVerify Fix Applied:
After patching, the same test should return a 404 error or proper error message instead of file contents.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- HTTP GET requests to /resource-data/*.txt with directory traversal patterns (../)
- Unusual file access patterns from web server process
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing '../' or similar path traversal sequences in URL
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND url="*/resource-data/*" AND (url="*../*" OR url="*..\\*" OR url="*%2e%2e%2f*")