# CVE-2025-24889: Path traversal in sd-log Qubes virtual machine > An attacker with code execution in one VM can achieve code execution in the sd-log VM via path traversal, enabling lateral movement. - **Severity:** Medium 4.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`) - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Not needed - **Attackable:** Local or same network only - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** No - **Published:** 13 Feb 2025 - **Updated:** 13 Feb 2025 - **Also known as:** GHSA-933q-fx9h-5g46 ## What is CVE-2025-24889? CVE-2025-24889 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in freedomofpress securedrop-client, published on 13 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. ### Official description The SecureDrop Client is a desktop application for journalists to communicate with sources and work with submissions on the SecureDrop Workstation. Prior to versions 0.14.1 and 1.0.1, an attacker who has already gained code execution in a virtual machine on the SecureDrop Workstation could gain code execution in the `sd-log` virtual machine by sending a specially crafted log entry. The vulnerability is not exploitable remotely and requires an attacker to already have code execution on one of the other virtual machines (VMs) of the system. Due to the Workstation's underlying usage of Qubes for strong isolation, the vulnerability would have allowed lateral movement between any log-enabled VM and the `sd-log` VM, but no further. The SecureDrop workstation collects logs centrally in an isolated virtual machine named `sd-log` for easy export for support and debugging purposes. The `sd-log` VM is completely isolated from the internet and ingests logs via a narrow Qubes RPC policy that allows for specific inter-VM communication via the Xen vchan protocol used by Qubes's qrexec mechanism. A path traversal bug was found in the logic used to choose where to write the log file for a specific VM: the VM name, used unsanitized in the destination path in `sd-log`, is supplied by the logging VM itself instead of being read from a trusted source, such as the Qubes environment variable `QREXEC_REMOTE_DOMAIN` that is used in the fixed implementation. An attacker could provide an arbitrary source VM name, possibly overwriting logs of other VMs, or writing a file named `syslog.log`, with attacker-controlled content, in arbitrary directories as a low-privileged user. A successful attack could potentially overwrite or add configuration to software that loads configuration files from a directory. This is exploitable to achieve code execution by setting the target directory to `/home/user/.config/autostart/` and letting it write `syslog.log`, because XFCE treats any file in that directory as a `.desktop` file regardless of its extension. Versions 0.14.1 and 1.0.1 contain a patch for this issue. Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-24889? ## How do I fix CVE-2025-24889? No fix has been published for CVE-2025-24889 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available. ## Is CVE-2025-24889 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-24889 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2025-24889 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2025-24889 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in freedomofpress securedrop-client, published on 13 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-24889 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: freedomofpress securedrop-client. 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-2025-24889/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-24889/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-24889 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-24889 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-24889 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-24889/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.