CVE-2023-32309: Arbitrary file inclusion with the pymdowm-snippets extension

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-32309 is a high (CVSS 7.5) vulnerability in facelessuser pymdown_extensions. EPSS estimates a 1.66% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 76.6% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.

Timeline

1. 15-05-2023
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 22-01-2025
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

PyMdown Extensions is a set of extensions for the `Python-Markdown` markdown project. In affected versions an arbitrary file read is possible when using include file syntax. 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. 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. This issue has been addressed in version 10.0. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may restrict relative paths by filtering input.

• CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted DirectoryThe 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.