CVE-2024-38816 CVE-2024-38816: Path traversal vulnerability in functional web frameworks
Attackers can read arbitrary files via path traversal in Spring functional web frameworks when serving static resources from the filesystem.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2024-38816?
CVE-2024-38816 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Spring, published on 13 Sep 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Applications serving static resources through the functional web frameworks WebMvc.fn or WebFlux.fn are vulnerable to path traversal attacks. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests and obtain any file on the file system that is also accessible to the process in which the Spring application is running.
Specifically, an application is vulnerable when both of the following are true:
* the web application uses RouterFunctions to serve static resources * resource handling is explicitly configured with a FileSystemResource location
However, malicious requests are blocked and rejected when any of the following is true:
* the Spring Security HTTP Firewall https://docs.spring.io/spring-security/reference/servlet/exploits/firewall.html is in use * the application runs on Tomcat or Jetty
Weakness: CWE-22
Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-38816?
12 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.springframework:spring-webflux and org.springframework:spring-webmvc.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
org.springframework:spring-webflux Maven | From 5.3.0 to 5.3.39 | None |
org.springframework:spring-webflux Maven | From 5.3.0 to 5.3.39 | None |
org.springframework:spring-webflux Maven | From 6.0.0 to 6.0.23 | None |
org.springframework:spring-webflux Maven | From 6.0.0 to 6.0.23 | None |
org.springframework:spring-webflux Maven | From 6.1.0 | 6.1.13 |
org.springframework:spring-webflux Maven | From 6.1.0 | 6.1.13 |
6 more packages
org.springframework:spring-webmvc Maven | From 5.3.0 to 5.3.39 | None |
org.springframework:spring-webmvc Maven | From 5.3.0 to 5.3.39 | None |
org.springframework:spring-webmvc Maven | From 6.0.0 to 6.0.23 | None |
org.springframework:spring-webmvc Maven | From 6.0.0 to 6.0.23 | None |
org.springframework:spring-webmvc Maven | From 6.1.0 | 6.1.13 |
org.springframework:spring-webmvc Maven | From 6.1.0 | 6.1.13 |
How do I fix CVE-2024-38816?
Upgrade org.springframework:spring-webflux to 6.1.13 or later.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2024-38816 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-38816 exists.
Public exploit code: 1 Nuclei template and 5 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Sources
Also known as CLEANSTART-2026-OB69984, CLSA-2024-1727136032, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-38816, ECHO-a7b5-9790-ee2f, GHSA-cx7f-g6mp-7hqm, ROOT-APP-MAVEN-CVE-2024-38816 and 1 more.