CVE-2023-45283: Insecure parsing of Windows paths with a \??\ prefix in path/filepath

Affected versions

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

• golang gobefore 1.20.11
• golang go1.21.0-0 and later · before 1.21.4

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Go). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

• Go standard library internal/safefilepath

  • before 1.20.11affected · semver
  • 1.21.0-0 and later · before 1.21.4affected · semver

• Go standard library path/filepath

  • before 1.20.11affected · semver
  • 1.21.0-0 and later · before 1.21.4affected · semver
  • 1.20.11 and later · before 1.20.12affected · semver
  • 1.21.4 and later · before 1.21.5affected · semver

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

• CVE-2018-7187The "go get" implementation in Go 1.9.4, when the -insecure command-line option is used, does not validate the import path (get/vcs.go only
  54Plan
• CVE-2018-16873In Go before 1.10.6 and 1.11.x before 1.11.3, the "go get" command is vulnerable to remote code execution when executed with the -u flag and
  52Plan
• CVE-2021-38297Go before 1.16.9 and 1.17.x before 1.17.2 has a Buffer Overflow via large arguments in a function invocation from a WASM module, when GOARCH
  42Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

• ← EarlierCVE-2023-39323Oct 5, 2023 · Arbitrary code execution during build via line directives in cmd/go
  33Monitor
• ← EarlierCVE-2023-39325Oct 11, 2023 · HTTP/2 rapid reset can cause excessive work in net/http
  31Monitor
• Later →CVE-2023-45284Nov 9, 2023 · Incorrect detection of reserved device names on Windows in path/filepath
  21Monitor

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

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.

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

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

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.