CVE-2025-6167
📋 TL;DR
A critical path traversal vulnerability in python-a2a's create_workflow function allows attackers to access files outside intended directories. This affects all users of python-a2a versions up to 0.5.5 who expose the vulnerable API endpoint.
💻 Affected Systems
- python-a2a
📦 What is this software?
Python A2a by Themanojdesai
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could read sensitive system files, potentially exposing credentials, configuration data, or other confidential information, leading to complete system compromise.
Likely Case
Unauthorized file access leading to information disclosure of application files or limited system files accessible to the application's user context.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and file access controls, impact is limited to attempted attacks being blocked with appropriate logging.
🎯 Exploit Status
Path traversal vulnerabilities typically have low exploitation complexity, especially when unauthenticated access is possible.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 0.5.6
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/themanojdesai/python-a2a/releases/tag/v0.5.6
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup current configuration and data
2. Stop the python-a2a service
3. Upgrade to version 0.5.6 using pip: pip install python-a2a==0.5.6
4. Restart the python-a2a service
5. Verify the upgrade was successful
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement input validation to reject path traversal sequences in API requests
Add input validation in create_workflow function to check for '../' sequences and reject malicious requests
Access Restriction
allRestrict API endpoint access to trusted networks only
Configure firewall rules to limit access to python-a2a API endpoints
Use network segmentation to isolate vulnerable systems
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict input validation and sanitization for all file path parameters
- Run python-a2a with minimal privileges and restrict file system access using chroot or containerization
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check python-a2a version: pip show python-a2a | grep VersionCheck Version:
pip show python-a2a | grep VersionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 0.5.6 or higher and test API endpoint with path traversal attempts returns proper error📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed API requests with '../' sequences in parameters
- Unusual file access patterns from API endpoints
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing path traversal sequences to python-a2a API endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="python-a2a" AND ("../" OR "..\" OR "%2e%2e%2f")🔗 References
- https://github.com/themanojdesai/python-a2a/issues/40
- https://github.com/themanojdesai/python-a2a/issues/40#issuecomment-2904804388
- https://github.com/themanojdesai/python-a2a/releases/tag/v0.5.6
- https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.312642
- https://vuldb.com/?id.312642
- https://vuldb.com/?submit.593613
- https://github.com/themanojdesai/python-a2a/issues/40
