Pfsense
CVE-2019-16915
CRITICAL
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V5 - File Handling Path canonicalization, traversal prevention
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Discovery, Collection The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could access files and directories outside the intended path by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
An issue was discovered in pfSense through 2.4.4-p3. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Path Traversal vulnerability could allow attackers to access files and directories outside the intended path.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Validate and canonicalize file paths. Use chroot or sandboxing. Reject input containing path separators or '../' sequences.
Affects your stack
Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Path Traversal (CWE-22), which allows attackers to access files and directories outside the intended path. An issue was discovered in pfSense through 2.4.4-p3. widgets/widgets/picture.widget.php uses the widgetkey parameter directly without sanitization (e.g., a basename call) for a pathname to file_get_contents or file_put_contents. Affected products include: Netgate Pfsense. Version information: through 2.4.4.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
An issue was discovered in pfSense through 2.4.4-p3. widgets/widgets/picture.widget.php uses the widgetkey parameter directly without sanitization (e.g., a basename call) for a pathname to file_get_contents or file_put_contents.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Path traversal exploits occur when applications use user-controlled input to construct file system paths without proper validation.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in system_firmware_restorefullbackup.php in the WebGUI in pfSense before
A command injection vulnerability in the function restore_rrddata() of Netgate pfSense v2.7.0 allows authenticated attac
Improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts in the SSHGuard component of Netgate pfSense Plus software v22
pfSense pfBlockerNG through 2.1.4_27 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary OS commands as root via the HTTP Host
diag_command.php in pfSense 2.4.4-p3 allows CSRF via the txtCommand or txtRecallBuffer field, as demonstrated by executi
pfSense through 2.3.4 through 2.4.4-p3 allows Remote Code Injection via a methodCall XML document with a pfsense.exec_ph
An exploitable command injection vulnerability exists in the way Netgate pfSense CE 2.4.4-RELEASE processes the paramete
An exploitable command injection vulnerability exists in the way Netgate pfSense CE 2.4.4-RELEASE processes the paramete
An exploitable command injection vulnerability exists in the way Netgate pfSense CE 2.4.4-RELEASE processes the paramete
pfSense before 2.1.4 allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary commands via (1) the hostname value to diag_
pfSense v2.5.2 was discovered to contain a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the browser.php component. Rated
pfSense 2.5.0 allows XSS via the services_wol_edit.php Description field. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.1), this vulnera
Exploit-DB