CVE-2022-23612 Directory Traversal in OpenMRS Startup Filter

High 7.5 Published 22 Feb 2022 Updated 22 Apr 2025

Attackers can exfiltrate arbitrary files from the server via unsanitized GET requests in OpenMRS, requiring an upgrade to patched versions.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2022-23612?

CVE-2022-23612 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in openmrs-core, published on 22 Feb 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

OpenMRS is a patient-based medical record system focusing on giving providers a free customizable electronic medical record system. Affected versions are subject to arbitrary file exfiltration due to failure to sanitize request when satisfying GET requests for `/images` & `/initfilter/scripts`. This can allow an attacker to access any file on a system running OpenMRS that is accessible to the user id OpenMRS is running under. Affected implementations should update to the latest patch version of OpenMRS Core for the minor version they use. These are: 2.1.5, 2.2.1, 2.3.5, 2.4.5 and 2.5.3. As a general rule, this vulnerability is already mitigated by Tomcat's URL normalization in Tomcat 7.0.28+. Users on older versions of Tomcat should consider upgrading their Tomcat instance as well as their OpenMRS instance.

Weakness: CWE-22

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-23612?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Openmrs Openmrs.

How do I fix CVE-2022-23612?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-23612 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2022-23612 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2022-23612 exists.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-8rgr-ww69-jv65.