CVE-2024-9983

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-9983 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in Ragic Enterprise Cloud Database. The flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to read arbitrary system files by manipulating a specific page parameter. With a CVSS score of 7.5 (High), this vulnerability poses a significant risk to data confidentiality. No public proof-of-concept (PoC) or patch is currently available, and the EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation activity at this time. However, the lack of a patch and the potential for file disclosure make this a high-priority issue for organizations using Ragic.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not related to NPM, PyPI, Go, or Ruby packages. It affects a proprietary enterprise cloud database product (Ragic). Organizations should verify their deployment version and apply any vendor-issued updates as soon as they become available.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
• Base Score: 7.5 (High)
• 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 Impact: High (C:H)
• Integrity Impact: None (I:N)
• Availability Impact: None (A:N)

Threat Level: High. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication, and successful exploitation leads to full read access to arbitrary system files. This could expose sensitive configuration files, credentials, or proprietary data.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the parameter validation logic of Ragic Enterprise Cloud Database. The application fails to sanitize a specific page parameter, allowing an attacker to inject path traversal sequences (e.g., ../) to escape the intended directory and read files outside the web root.

Root Cause: The application uses the page parameter to construct file paths without proper validation or canonicalization. An attacker can supply a value like ../../etc/passwd to read arbitrary files.

Attack Flow:

1. The attacker sends a crafted HTTP request to the vulnerable endpoint.
2. The request includes a malicious page parameter containing path traversal sequences.
3. The server processes the parameter and reads the file from the filesystem.
4. The file content is returned in the HTTP response.

Impact: An attacker can read sensitive files such as:

• /etc/passwd (user account information)
• Application configuration files (e.g., config.php, .env)
• Database credentials
• SSL private keys
• Source code

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the vulnerable code pattern is described generically.

Vulnerable Code (Conceptual):

$page = $_GET['page'];
$file = "/var/www/html/pages/" . $page;
include($file);

Patched Code (Conceptual):

$page = $_GET['page'];
$page = basename($page); // Remove path components
$allowed = ['home', 'about', 'contact'];
if (in_array($page, $allowed)) {
    $file = "/var/www/html/pages/" . $page;
    include($file);
} else {
    // Handle error
}

Key Differences:

• The patched version uses basename() to strip directory traversal sequences.
• It implements a whitelist of allowed page names.
• It validates the input against the whitelist before constructing the file path.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Exploitation)

Lab Setup:

1. Deploy a vulnerable instance of Ragic Enterprise Cloud Database (version unknown).
2. Ensure the application is accessible over the network.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint (e.g., /index.php?page=).
2. Craft a request to read /etc/passwd:

   GET /index.php?page=../../../etc/passwd HTTP/1.1
   Host: target.com
   

3. Observe the response containing the file contents.

Example cURL Command:

curl -v "http://target.com/index.php?page=../../../etc/passwd"

Expected Output:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/usr/sbin/nologin
...

Blue Team (Detection & Response)

Detection Steps:

1. Monitor web server logs for requests containing ../ or ..%2f in the page parameter.
2. Look for unusual file paths in HTTP responses (e.g., /etc/passwd content).
3. Alert on any successful file read attempts outside the web root.

Response Actions:

1. Block the attacking IP address.
2. Review access logs for other potentially compromised endpoints.
3. Apply virtual patching (e.g., WAF rules) to block path traversal patterns.
4. Contact Ragic support for a patch or mitigation guidance.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

Network IOCs:

• HTTP requests with page parameter containing ../ or ..%2f
• HTTP responses containing /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, or other system file contents
• Unusual file paths in URL parameters (e.g., page=../../../etc/passwd)

File IOCs:

• Unexpected access to /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /proc/self/environ
• Modified web server logs showing path traversal attempts

Log Patterns:

GET /index.php?page=../../../etc/passwd HTTP/1.1
GET /index.php?page=..%2f..%2f..%2fetc%2fpasswd HTTP/1.1

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_9983_Path_Traversal {
    meta:
        description = "Detects path traversal attempts targeting Ragic Enterprise Cloud Database"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        cve = "CVE-2024-9983"
    strings:
        $traversal1 = "../"
        $traversal2 = "..\\"
        $traversal3 = "..%2f"
        $traversal4 = "..%5c"
        $param = "page="
    condition:
        any of ($traversal*) and $param
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2024-9983 Ragic Path Traversal Attempt
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects HTTP requests with path traversal sequences in the page parameter
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-query|contains:
            - "page=../"
            - "page=..%2f"
            - "page=..\\"
            - "page=..%5c"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of relative paths in some applications
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2024-9983 Ragic Path Traversal Attempt"; flow:to_server,established; content:"page="; http_uri; content:"../"; distance:0; within:10; http_uri; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Isolate the vulnerable system from the internet if possible.
2. Apply virtual patching using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to block path traversal patterns.
3. Monitor logs for exploitation attempts.

Long-Term Fix:

• Vendor Patch: Await an official patch from Ragic. Contact their support for updates.
• Code Fix: If source code is accessible, implement input validation and whitelisting as shown in the patched code example.
• Upgrade: Once a patched version is released, upgrade immediately.

Workarounds:

• Disable the vulnerable page parameter if not needed.
• Restrict file system permissions to prevent the web server from reading sensitive files.
• Use a reverse proxy to filter malicious requests.

Valters IT Signature: This report was generated by Valters IT Cyber Threat Intelligence. For questions or support, contact info@valtersit.com.