CVE-2023-50731 MindsDB has arbitrary file write in file.py

What is CVE-2023-50731?

CVE-2023-50731 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in mindsdb, published on 22 Dec 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

MindsDB is a SQL Server for artificial intelligence. Prior to version 23.11.4.1, the `put` method in `mindsdb/mindsdb/api/http/namespaces/file.py` does not validate the user-controlled name value, which is used in a temporary file name, which is afterwards opened for writing on lines 122-125, which leads to path injection. Later in the method, the temporary directory is deleted on line 151, but since we can write outside of the directory using the path injection vulnerability, the potentially dangerous file is not deleted. Arbitrary file contents can be written due to `f.write(chunk)` on line 125. Mindsdb does check later on line 149 in the `save_file` method in `file-controller.py` which calls the `_handle_source` method in `file_handler.py` if a file is of one of the types `csv`, `json`, `parquet`, `xls`, or `xlsx`. However, since the check happens after the file has already been written, the files will still exist (and will not be removed due to the path injection described earlier), just the `_handle_source` method will return an error. The same user-controlled source source is used also in another path injection sink on line 138. This leads to another path injection, which allows an attacker to delete any `zip` or `tar.gz` files on the server.

Weakness: CWE-22, CWE-918

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-50731?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including mindsdb. It affects 1 product.

Products include Mindsdb Mindsdb.

How do I fix CVE-2023-50731?

Upgrade mindsdb to 23.11.4.1 or later.

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

Is CVE-2023-50731 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-50731 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in mindsdb

• CVE-2024-24759 MindsDB Vulnerable to Bypass of SSRF Protection with DNS Rebinding Critical 9.3
• CVE-2023-38699 MindsDB 'Call to requests with verify=False disabling SSL certificate checks, security issue.' issue Critical 9.1
• CVE-2024-45856 MindsDB Cross-site Scripting vulnerability Critical 9.0
• CVE-2026-27483 MindsDB has Path Traversal in /api/files Leading to Remote Code Execution High 8.8
• CVE-2024-45846 MindsDB Eval Injection vulnerability High 8.8

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-j8w6-2r9h-cxhj, PYSEC-2023-279.