CVE-2024-49760: Openrefine Path Traversal Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-qfwq-6jh6-8xx4
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CVSS 7.1
CWE-22
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2024-49760 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.1) path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')) affecting Openrefine libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves openrefine has a path traversal in loadlanguagecommand. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 3.8.3.

CVE-2024-49760 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2024-49760
GHSA Identifier GHSA-qfwq-6jh6-8xx4
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.1
CWE Classification CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Affected Product Openrefine
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.1

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality Low (C:L)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2024-49760

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Openrefine dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

org.openrefine:openrefine fixed: 3.8.3 
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.openrefine</groupId>
    <artifactId>openrefine</artifactId>
    <version>3.8.3</version>
</dependency>
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.openrefine

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2024-49760, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.openrefine

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Openrefine in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 3.8.3), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.openrefine command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal'), where the product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. In Openrefine, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

The load-language command expects a `lang` parameter from which it constructs the path of the localization file to load, of the form `translations-$LANG.json`. When doing so, it does not check that the resulting path is in the expected directory, which means that this command could be exploited to read other JSON files on the file system. The command should be patched by checking that the normalized path is in the expected directory.

CVE-2024-49760 Affected Openrefine Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
3.8.3
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
org.openrefine:openrefine
maven/org.openrefine/openrefine
Maven
< 3.8.3
3.8.3

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/security/advisories/GHSA-qfwq-6jh6-8xx4
NVD — CVE-2024-49760 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-49760
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/commit/24d084052dc55426fe460f2a17524fd18d28b20c
Openrefine Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-49760?
CVE-2024-49760 is a security vulnerability in Openrefine involving OpenRefine has a path traversal in LoadLanguageCommand under CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal').
Which Openrefine versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 3.8.3 across affected packages: org.openrefine:openrefine.
What version fixes CVE-2024-49760?
Upgrading to 3.8.3 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is openrefine affected?
Yes, org.openrefine:openrefine is affected in releases prior to 3.8.3. Upgrade your dependency to 3.8.3 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2024-49760?
CVE-2024-49760 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2024-49760?
CVE-2024-49760 is classified under CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') (The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2024-49760?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.openrefine'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-qfwq-6jh6-8xx4",
  "modified" : "2024-11-06T15:47:44Z",
  "published" : "2024-10-24T18:32:40Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2024-49760" ],
  "summary" : "OpenRefine has a path traversal in LoadLanguageCommand",
  "details" : "The load-language command expects a `lang` parameter from which it constructs the path of the localization file to load, of the form `translations-$LANG.json`.\nWhen doing so, it does not check that the resulting path is in the expected directory, which means that this command could be exploited to read other JSON files on the file system.\n\nThe command should be patched by checking that the normalized path is in the expected directory.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "org.openrefine:openrefine"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.8.3"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/security/advisories/GHSA-qfwq-6jh6-8xx4"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-49760"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/commit/24d084052dc55426fe460f2a17524fd18d28b20c"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-22" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-10-24T18:32:40Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2024-10-24T22:15:04Z"
  }
}