CVE-2023-32309: Pymdown extensions Any File Can Be Included Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-jh85-wwv9-24hv
CVSS 7.5
CWE-22
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2023-32309 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) any file can be included vulnerability (CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')) affecting Pymdown extensions libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves any file can be included with the pymdown-snippets extension. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 10.0.

CVE-2023-32309 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2023-32309
GHSA Identifier GHSA-jh85-wwv9-24hv
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Affected Product Pymdown extensions
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

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

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

How to Fix CVE-2023-32309

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

pymdown-extensions fixed: 10.0
pip install pymdown-extensions>=10.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

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

pip show pymdown-extensions

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2023-32309, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show pymdown-extensions

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Pymdown extensions in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 10.0), your application is affected.

Note: The pip show pymdown-extensions command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

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 Pymdown extensions, 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

### Summary Arbitrary file read when using include file syntax. ### Details By using the syntax `--8<--"/etc/passwd"` or `--8<--"/proc/self/environ"` the content of these files will be rendered in the generated documentation. Additionally, a path relative to a specified, allowed base path can also be used to render the content of a file outside the specified base paths: `--8<-- "../../../../etc/passwd"`. Within the Snippets extension, there exists a `base_path` option but the implementation is vulnerable to Directory Traversal. The vulnerable section exists in `get_snippet_path(self, path)` lines 155 to 174 in snippets.py. ``` base = "docs" path = "/etc/passwd" filename = os.path.join(base,path) # Filename is now /etc/passwd ``` ### PoC ```py import markdown payload = "--8<-- \"/etc/passwd\"" html = markdown.markdown(payload, extensions=['pymdownx.snippets']) print(html) ``` ### Impact Any readable file on the host where the plugin is executing may have its content exposed. This can impact any use of Snippets that exposes the use of Snippets to external users. It is never recommended to use Snippets to process user-facing, dynamic content. It is designed to process known content on the backend under the control of the host, but if someone were to accidentally enable it for user-facing content, undesired information could be exposed. ### Suggestion Specified snippets should be restricted to the configured, specified base paths as a safe default. Allowing relative or absolute paths that escape the specified base paths would need to be behind a feature switch that must be opt-in and would be at the developer's own risk.

CVE-2023-32309 Affected Pymdown extensions Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
10.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
pymdown-extensions
PyPI
≥ 1.5
< 10.0
10.0

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-32309?
CVE-2023-32309 is a security vulnerability in Pymdown extensions involving Any file can be included with the pymdown-snippets extension under CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal').
Which Pymdown extensions versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 10.0 across affected packages: pymdown-extensions.
What version fixes CVE-2023-32309?
Upgrading to 10.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is pymdown-extensions affected?
Yes, pymdown-extensions is affected in releases prior to 10.0. Upgrade your dependency to 10.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-32309?
CVE-2023-32309 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2023-32309?
CVE-2023-32309 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 PyPI dependencies for CVE-2023-32309?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show pymdown-extensions'. 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
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-jh85-wwv9-24hv",
  "modified" : "2023-08-24T20:43:46Z",
  "published" : "2023-05-15T20:50:23Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2023-32309" ],
  "summary" : "Any file can be included with the pymdown-snippets extension",
  "details" : "### Summary\n\nArbitrary file read when using include file syntax.\n\n### Details\n\nBy using the syntax `--8<--\"/etc/passwd\"` or `--8<--\"/proc/self/environ\"` the content of these files will be rendered in the generated documentation. Additionally, a path relative to a specified, allowed base path can also be used to render the content of a file outside the specified base paths: `--8<-- \"../../../../etc/passwd\"`.\n\nWithin the Snippets extension, there exists a `base_path` option but the implementation is vulnerable to Directory Traversal.\nThe vulnerable section exists in `get_snippet_path(self, path)` lines 155 to 174 in snippets.py.\n\n```\nbase = \"docs\"\npath = \"/etc/passwd\"\nfilename = os.path.join(base,path) # Filename is now /etc/passwd\n```\n\n### PoC\n\n```py\nimport markdown\n\npayload = \"--8<-- \\\"/etc/passwd\\\"\"\nhtml = markdown.markdown(payload, extensions=['pymdownx.snippets'])\n\nprint(html)\n```\n\n### Impact\n\nAny readable file on the host where the plugin is executing may have its content exposed. This can impact any use of Snippets that exposes the use of Snippets to external users. \n\nIt is never recommended to use Snippets to process user-facing, dynamic content. It is designed to process known content on the backend under the control of the host, but if someone were to accidentally enable it for user-facing content, undesired information could be exposed.\n\n### Suggestion\n\nSpecified snippets should be restricted to the configured, specified base paths as a safe default. Allowing relative or absolute paths that escape the specified base paths would need to be behind a feature switch that must be opt-in and would be at the developer's own risk.\n",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "pymdown-extensions"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "1.5"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "10.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/facelessuser/pymdown-extensions/security/advisories/GHSA-jh85-wwv9-24hv"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-32309"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/facelessuser/pymdown-extensions/commit/b7bb4878d6017c03c8dc97c42d8d3bb6ee81db9d"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/facelessuser/pymdown-extensions"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/facelessuser/pymdown-extensions/releases/tag/10.0"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-22" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-05-15T20:50:23Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2023-05-15T21:15:09Z"
  }
}