# CVE-2022-23470: Arbitrary file access in the Galaxy data analysis platform

> Attackers can read arbitrary files on the server due to improper static file handling in Galaxy's Gunicorn configuration.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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:** 6 Dec 2022
- **Updated:** 23 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-grjf-2ghx-q77x

## What is CVE-2022-23470?

CVE-2022-23470 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in galaxyproject galaxy, published on 6 Dec 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Galaxy is an open-source platform for data analysis. An arbitrary file read exists in Galaxy 22.01 and Galaxy 22.05 due to the switch to Gunicorn, which can be used to read any file accessible to the operating system user under which Galaxy is running. This vulnerability affects Galaxy 22.01 and higher, after the switch to gunicorn, which serve static contents directly.  Additionally, the vulnerability is mitigated when using Nginx or Apache to serve /static/* contents, instead of Galaxy's internal middleware. This issue has been patched in commit `e5e6bda4f` and will be included in future releases. Users are advised to manually patch their installations. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-23470?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Galaxyproject Galaxy.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-23470?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-23470 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-23470 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-23470 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in galaxyproject galaxy

- [CVE-2023-27578](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-27578/): Galaxy vulnerable to unauthorized modification of pages/visualizations due to insufficient permission check (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2024-42346](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42346/): Stored Cross Site Scripting (Stored XSS) in Galaxy (high 7.6)
- [CVE-2024-42351](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42351/): Possible Data Tampering & Loss of Public Datasets in Galaxy (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2023-42812](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-42812/): Galaxy vulnerable to Server Side Request Forgery during data imports (medium 6.3)
- [CVE-2018-1000516](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1000516/): Galaxy cross-site scripting (XSS) (medium 6.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-23470 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-23470 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in galaxyproject galaxy, published on 6 Dec 2022. 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-2022-23470 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: galaxyproject galaxy. 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-2022-23470/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-23470/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-23470
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-23470
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-23470

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-23470/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.