NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2018-1000659: LimeSurvey version 3.14.4 and earlier contains a directory traversal in file upload that allows upload of webshell vulnerability in file upl

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 36/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 3.5% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 89.3% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
No fixed version is recorded, but the references include a patch (commit or PR) link.

Low priority for now. See the fix and affected versions sections below.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

LimeSurvey version 3.14.4 and earlier contains a directory traversal in file upload that allows upload of webshell vulnerability in file upload functionality that can result in remote code execution as authenticated user. This attack appear to be exploitable via An authenticated user can upload a specially crafted zip file to get remote code execution. This vulnerability appears to have been fixed in after commit 72a02ebaaf95a80e26127ee7ee2b123cccce05a7 / version 3.14.4.

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.0—No exploit No fix recorded

Published: Sep 6, 2018
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 3.5% · 89th percentile
CWE: CWE-22

Report tools

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Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 1 / 30 · 3.5%

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
No fixed version yet

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
limesurvey	limesurvey	cpe:2.3:a:limesurvey:limesurvey

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

limesurvey limesurveyup to 3.14.4 inclusive

Same product

limesurvey: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2020-11455LimeSurvey before 4.1.12+200324 contains a path traversal vulnerability in application/controllers/admin/LimeSurveyFileManager.php.
68This week
CVE-2019-9960The downloadZip function in application/controllers/admin/export.php in LimeSurvey through 3.16.1+190225 allows a relative path.
60This week
CVE-2007-3632Multiple PHP remote file inclusion vulnerabilities in LimeSurvey (aka PHPSurveyor) 1.49RC2 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary PHP c
45Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2018-16397Sep 3, 2018 · In LimeSurvey before 3.14.7, an admin user can leverage a "file upload" question to read an arbitrary file,
19Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2018-1000658Sep 6, 2018 · LimeSurvey version prior to 3.14.4 contains a file upload vulnerability in upload functionality that can result in an attacker gaining code
36Monitor
Later →CVE-2018-17003Sep 21, 2018 · In LimeSurvey 3.14.7, HTML Injection and Stored XSS have been discovered in the appendix via the surveyls_title parameter to /index.php?r=ad
24Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

LimeSurvey/LimeSurveycommit 72a02eb

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
A low-privileged account is enough.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

A user-supplied file name is joined with the allowed directory, but the result is never checked to confirm it is still inside that directory.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-22 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const file = path.join(ROOT, req.query.name);
2res.sendFile(file);

Fixed

1const file = path.resolve(ROOT, req.query.name);
2if (!file.startsWith(ROOT + path.sep)) {
3  return res.sendStatus(400);
4}
5res.sendFile(file);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

github.com/LimeSurvey/LimeSurvey/commit/72a02ebaaf95a80e26127ee7ee2b123cccce05a7

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records