CVE-2025-29454

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-29454 is an information disclosure vulnerability in the Personal Management System version 1.4.65. The flaw resides in the file upload functionality, allowing a remote, unauthenticated attacker to retrieve sensitive information from the server. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 0.0 (pending official analysis) but based on the description and impact, it is assessed as a medium-to-high severity issue with a CVSS vector of CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N. No public proof-of-concept (PoC) or exploit code is currently available, and no patch has been released by the vendor. The EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation activity in the wild, but the lack of a patch makes this a significant risk for any deployment.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not related to a package manager (NPM, PyPI, Go, Ruby) but is a standalone PHP application. No supply chain implications are identified.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• Attack Vector (AV): Network (N) – The vulnerability is exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – No special conditions are required.
• Privileges Required (PR): None (N) – No authentication needed.
• User Interaction (UI): None (N) – No user action required.
• Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – The vulnerable component and the impacted component are the same.
• Confidentiality (C): High (H) – Sensitive information can be fully disclosed.
• Integrity (I): None (N) – No data modification possible.
• Availability (A): None (N) – No denial of service.

Threat Level: High (due to unauthenticated remote access and no patch available).

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The Personal Management System (PMS) is a PHP-based web application for managing personal tasks, notes, and files. The vulnerability exists in the file upload functionality, likely in a script such as upload.php or a similar endpoint. The application fails to properly validate or restrict file paths during the upload process, allowing an attacker to upload a file with a crafted filename that includes path traversal sequences (e.g., ../../../etc/passwd). When the server processes the upload, it may write the file to an arbitrary location or, more critically, the application may read and return the contents of arbitrary files on the server.

The root cause is a lack of input sanitization and insufficient access controls on the upload endpoint. The application likely uses a function like move_uploaded_file() with a user-supplied filename without checking for directory traversal characters. This enables an attacker to read sensitive files such as configuration files, database credentials, or system files.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (Conceptual):

<?php
$target_dir = "uploads/";
$target_file = $target_dir . basename($_FILES["file"]["name"]);
if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"], $target_file)) {
    echo "File uploaded successfully.";
}
?>

The above code uses basename() which removes directory traversal, but if the application does not use basename() or uses a custom function that fails to sanitize, the vulnerability exists.

Patched Code (Conceptual):

<?php
$target_dir = realpath("uploads/") . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
$target_file = $target_dir . basename($_FILES["file"]["name"]);
if (strpos(realpath($target_file), $target_dir) !== 0) {
    die("Invalid file path.");
}
if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"], $target_file)) {
    echo "File uploaded successfully.";
}
?>

The patched version uses realpath() to resolve the full path and checks that it starts with the intended upload directory, preventing path traversal.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Lab Setup:

1. Deploy Personal Management System 1.4.65 on a local server (e.g., using Docker or XAMPP).
2. Identify the upload endpoint (e.g., /upload.php or /index.php?action=upload).
3. Use a tool like Burp Suite or cURL to send a crafted request.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Intercept a file upload request.
2. Modify the filename parameter to include path traversal, e.g., ../../../etc/passwd.
3. Send the request and observe the response for file content.

Example cURL command:

curl -X POST -F "file=@test.txt;filename=../../../etc/passwd" http://target/upload.php

Expected Output: The server returns the contents of /etc/passwd or an error message indicating the file was read.

Blue Team

Detection:

• Monitor for file upload requests with filenames containing ../ or ..\\.
• Look for unusual HTTP response bodies containing system file content (e.g., root:x:0:0:).
• Use web application firewalls (WAF) to block path traversal patterns.

Hunting:

• Search logs for upload.php requests with filename parameters containing ../.
• Check for outbound connections from the web server to unknown IPs after file uploads.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • HTTP POST requests to /upload.php with filename containing ../ or ..\\.
  • Responses containing system file content (e.g., /etc/passwd, config.php).
• File System IOCs:
  • Unexpected files in the uploads directory with names like ../../../etc/passwd.
  • Modified configuration files or new files in sensitive directories.
• Log IOCs:
  • Web server logs showing 404 or 200 responses for path traversal attempts.
  • Error logs indicating failed file operations.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_29454_FileUploadTraversal {
    meta:
        description = "Detects path traversal attempts in file upload requests for Personal Management System"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-29454"
    strings:
        $traversal = /\.\.\/|\.\.\\/
        $upload = /upload\.php/i
    condition:
        $upload and #traversal > 0
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-29454 Path Traversal in Personal Management System
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects HTTP requests with path traversal patterns in file upload parameters
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'upload.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains|all:
            - 'filename'
            - '../'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of relative paths in filenames (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-29454 Path Traversal in Personal Management System"; flow:to_server,established; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"upload.php"; http_uri; content:"../"; http_client_body; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the file upload functionality if not required.
2. Implement input validation to reject filenames containing ../ or ..\\.
3. Use a web application firewall (WAF) to block path traversal patterns.

Long-term Fix:

• Apply the conceptual patch shown above to sanitize file paths.
• Upgrade to a patched version if the vendor releases one.
• Conduct a security audit of the entire application for similar vulnerabilities.

Workarounds:

• Restrict access to the upload endpoint via IP whitelisting or authentication.
• Move the upload directory outside the web root and serve files via a proxy.

Valters IT – DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence Report