CVE-2023-6015
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2023-6015 is a path traversal vulnerability in MLflow that allows attackers to upload arbitrary files to any location on the server's filesystem. This affects MLflow deployments with the artifact store enabled, particularly those exposed to untrusted networks. Attackers can overwrite critical system files or deploy malicious code.
💻 Affected Systems
- MLflow
📦 What is this software?
Mlflow by Lfprojects
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete server compromise through arbitrary file write leading to remote code execution, data destruction, or credential theft.
Likely Case
Unauthorized file upload leading to data corruption, denial of service, or privilege escalation.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper network segmentation and file permission restrictions.
🎯 Exploit Status
Simple HTTP PUT requests with crafted paths can exploit this vulnerability.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 2.9.2 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/mlflow/mlflow/security/advisories/GHSA-8j5c-7xvw-5gq9
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Upgrade MLflow to version 2.9.2 or later using pip: pip install --upgrade mlflow>=2.9.2
2. Restart all MLflow services
3. Verify the fix by checking the version
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Access Restriction
linuxRestrict network access to MLflow server to trusted IPs only
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 5000 -s trusted_ip_range -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 5000 -j DROP
File System Permissions
linuxRun MLflow with minimal file system permissions
chown -R mlflow:mlflow /var/lib/mlflow
chmod 750 /var/lib/mlflow
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation and firewall rules to limit access to MLflow instances
- Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules to block path traversal patterns in PUT requests
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check MLflow version: mlflow --version. If version is below 2.9.2, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
mlflow --versionVerify Fix Applied:
After upgrade, verify version is 2.9.2 or higher and test that path traversal attempts are rejected.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- HTTP PUT requests with ../ patterns in URL
- File write operations outside expected artifact directories
Network Indicators:
- Unusual PUT requests to MLflow endpoints
- Traffic patterns indicating file upload attempts
SIEM Query:
source="mlflow.logs" AND (method="PUT" AND (url="*../*" OR url="*..\*"))