ghsa-rmwh-g367-mj4x
Vulnerability from github
Summary
URLs that are accessed by a user are commonly logged in many locations, both server- and client-side. It is thus good practice to never transmit any secret information as part of a URL. The Filebrowser violates this practice, since access tokens are used as GET parameters.
Impact
The JSON Web Token (JWT) which is used as a session identifier will get leaked to anyone having access to the URLs accessed by the user. This will give the attacker full access to the user's account and, in consequence, to all sensitive files the user has access to.
Description
Sensitive information in URLs is logged by several components (see the following examples), even if access is protected by TLS.
- The browser history
- The access logs on the affected web server
- Proxy servers or reverse proxy servers
- Third-party servers via the HTTP referrer header
In case attackers can access certain logs, they could read the included sensitive data.
Proof of Concept
When a file is downloaded via the web interface, the JWT is part of the URL:
http
GET /api/raw/testdir/testfile.txt?auth=eyJh[...]_r4EQ HTTP/1.1
Host: filebrowser.local:8080
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:128.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/128.0
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br
Connection: keep-alive
Referer: http://filebrowser.local:8080/files/testdir/
Cookie: auth=eyJh[...]_r4EQ
Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1
Priority: u=0, i
This also happens when a new command session is started:
http
GET /api/command/?auth=eyJh[...]YW8BA HTTP/1.1
Host: filebrowser.local:8080
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:128.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/128.0
Accept: */*
Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br
Sec-WebSocket-Version: 13
Origin: http://filebrowser.local:8080
Sec-WebSocket-Key: oqQMrF7R34D3lAkj1+ZHTw==
Connection: keep-alive, Upgrade
Cookie: auth=eyJh[...]YW8BA
Pragma: no-cache
Cache-Control: no-cache
Upgrade: websocket
Recommended Countermeasures
Sensitive data like session tokens or user credentials should be transmitted via HTTP headers or the HTTP body only, never in the URL.
Timeline
2025-03-27
Identified the vulnerability in version 2.32.02025-04-11
Contacted the project2025-04-29
Vulnerability disclosed to the project2025-06-25
Uploaded advisories to the project's GitHub repository2025-06-26
CVE ID assigned by GitHub2025-06-26
Fix released in version 2.33.9
References
Credits
- Mathias Tausig (SBA Research)
{ "affected": [ { "package": { "ecosystem": "Go", "name": "github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser/v2" }, "ranges": [ { "events": [ { "introduced": "0" }, { "fixed": "2.33.9" } ], "type": "ECOSYSTEM" } ] }, { "package": { "ecosystem": "Go", "name": "github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser" }, "ranges": [ { "events": [ { "introduced": "0" }, { "last_affected": "1.11.0" } ], "type": "ECOSYSTEM" } ] } ], "aliases": [ "CVE-2025-52901" ], "database_specific": { "cwe_ids": [ "CWE-598" ], "github_reviewed": true, "github_reviewed_at": "2025-06-30T17:44:36Z", "nvd_published_at": "2025-06-30T20:15:25Z", "severity": "MODERATE" }, "details": "## Summary\n\nURLs that are accessed by a user are commonly logged in many locations, both server- and client-side. It is thus good practice to never transmit any secret information as part of a URL. The *Filebrowser* violates this practice, since access tokens are used as GET parameters.\n\n## Impact\n\nThe *JSON Web Token (JWT)* which is used as a session identifier will get leaked to anyone having access to the URLs accessed by the user. This will give the attacker full access to the user\u0027s account and, in consequence, to all sensitive files the user has access to.\n\n## Description\n\nSensitive information in URLs is logged by several components (see the following examples), even if access is protected by TLS.\n\n* The browser history\n* The access logs on the affected web server\n* Proxy servers or reverse proxy servers\n* Third-party servers via the HTTP referrer header\n\nIn case attackers can access certain logs, they could read the included sensitive data.\n\n## Proof of Concept ##\n\nWhen a file is downloaded via the web interface, the JWT is part of the URL:\n\n```http\nGET /api/raw/testdir/testfile.txt?auth=eyJh[...]_r4EQ HTTP/1.1\nHost: filebrowser.local:8080\nUser-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:128.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/128.0\nAccept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8\nAccept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5\nAccept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br\nConnection: keep-alive\nReferer: http://filebrowser.local:8080/files/testdir/\nCookie: auth=eyJh[...]_r4EQ\nUpgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1\nPriority: u=0, i\n```\n\nThis also happens when a new *command session* is started:\n\n```http\nGET /api/command/?auth=eyJh[...]YW8BA HTTP/1.1\nHost: filebrowser.local:8080\nUser-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:128.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/128.0\nAccept: */*\nAccept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5\nAccept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br\nSec-WebSocket-Version: 13\nOrigin: http://filebrowser.local:8080\nSec-WebSocket-Key: oqQMrF7R34D3lAkj1+ZHTw==\nConnection: keep-alive, Upgrade\nCookie: auth=eyJh[...]YW8BA\nPragma: no-cache\nCache-Control: no-cache\nUpgrade: websocket\n```\n\n## Recommended Countermeasures ##\n\nSensitive data like session tokens or user credentials should be transmitted via HTTP headers or the HTTP body only, never in the URL.\n\n## Timeline ##\n\n* `2025-03-27` Identified the vulnerability in version 2.32.0\n* `2025-04-11` Contacted the project\n* `2025-04-29` Vulnerability disclosed to the project\n* `2025-06-25` Uploaded advisories to the project\u0027s GitHub repository\n* `2025-06-26` CVE ID assigned by GitHub\n* `2025-06-26` Fix released in version 2.33.9\n\n## References ##\n\n* [CWE-598: Use of GET Request Method With Sensitive Query Strings](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/598.html)\n* [Original Advisory](https://github.com/sbaresearch/advisories/tree/public/2025/SBA-ADV-20250327-03_Filebrowser_Sensitive_Data_Transferred_In_URL)\n\n## Credits ##\n\n* Mathias Tausig ([SBA Research](https://www.sba-research.org/))", "id": "GHSA-rmwh-g367-mj4x", "modified": "2025-08-04T17:22:24Z", "published": "2025-06-30T17:44:36Z", "references": [ { "type": "WEB", "url": "https://github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser/security/advisories/GHSA-rmwh-g367-mj4x" }, { "type": "ADVISORY", "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-52901" }, { "type": "WEB", "url": "https://github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser/commit/d5b39a14fd3fc0d1c364116b41289484df7c27b2" }, { "type": "PACKAGE", "url": "https://github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser" }, { "type": "WEB", "url": "https://github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser/releases/tag/v2.33.9" }, { "type": "WEB", "url": "https://github.com/sbaresearch/advisories/tree/public/2025/SBA-ADV-20250327-03_Filebrowser_Sensitive_Data_Transferred_In_URL" }, { "type": "WEB", "url": "https://pkg.go.dev/vuln/GO-2025-3794" } ], "schema_version": "1.4.0", "severity": [ { "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N", "type": "CVSS_V3" } ], "summary": "File Browser allows sensitive data to be transferred in URL" }
Sightings
Author | Source | Type | Date |
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Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or seen somewhere by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability is confirmed from an analyst perspective.
- Exploited: This vulnerability was exploited and seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Patched: This vulnerability was successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not exploited: This vulnerability was not exploited or seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expresses doubt about the veracity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: This vulnerability was not successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.