# CVE-2020-9353: Path traversal in n/a

> Unauthenticated attackers can read arbitrary local files via directory traversal in the RPC loadFile function, requiring web server access restrictions for mitigation.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 23 Feb 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hh56-wcx8-mr6r

## What is CVE-2020-9353?

CVE-2020-9353 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 23 Feb 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in SmartClient 12.0. The Remote Procedure Call (RPC) loadFile provided by the console functionality on the /tools/developerConsoleOperations.jsp (or /isomorphic/IDACall) URL is affected by unauthenticated Local File Inclusion via directory-traversal sequences in the elem XML element in the _transaction parameter. NOTE: the documentation states "These tools are, by default, available to anyone ... so they should only be deployed into a trusted environment. Alternately, the tools can easily be restricted to administrators or end users by protecting the tools path with normal authentication and authorization mechanisms on the web server."

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-9353?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Smartclient Smartclient.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-9353?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-9353 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-9353 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-9353 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2020-9352](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9352/): XML external entity in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-9354](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9354/): Path traversal in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2020-9351](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9351/): Information disclosure in n/a (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-9353 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-9353 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 23 Feb 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-9353 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9353/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9353/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-9353
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-9353
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-9353

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9353/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.