EUVD-2025-208948
GHSA-q4rc-c232-4f3v
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 | This vulnerability presents a high real-world exploitation risk based on multiple threat signals. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) indicates network-based exploitation with low complexity requiring only authenticated access, making it highly automatable once credentials are obtained. The public availability of a proof-of-concept exploit at github.com/hx381/cspro-exploits dramatically lowers the skill barrier for attackers and accelerates weaponization timelines. Although not currently listed in CISA KEV, the combination of PoC availability, low attack complexity, and high impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability makes this a priority for immediate remediation. The vulnerability allows complete system compromise beyond just data access, as attackers could potentially read configuration files, application source code, or system files containing credentials. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker who has obtained legitimate low-privilege credentials to Census CSWeb (through phishing, credential stuffing, or insider access) authenticates to the web application over the network. Using the publicly available proof-of-concept from github.com/hx381/cspro-exploits, they craft malicious file path parameters containing directory traversal sequences to read sensitive files such as /etc/passwd, database configuration files containing credentials, or application source code, potentially escalating to full system compromise by accessing SSH keys or other authentication materials. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Mar 23, 2026
Census CSWeb 8.0.1 contains a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) allowing authenticated remote attackers to access arbitrary files outside intended directories through unvalidated file path input. A public proof-of-concept exploit is available on GitHub (hx381/cspro-exploits), significantly increasing exploitation risk. With a CVSS score of 8.8 and low attack complexity requiring only low-level privileges, this poses a critical threat to organizations running the affected version.
RemediationAI
Immediately upgrade Census CSWeb to version 8.1.0 alpha or later, which contains the security fix as documented in the GitHub commit at github.com/csprousers/csweb/commit/eba0b59a243390a1a4f9524cce6dbc0314bf0d91. Organizations unable to immediately patch should implement compensating controls including restricting network access to the CSWeb application to trusted IP ranges only, enforcing strong authentication mechanisms, enabling comprehensive file access logging to detect exploitation attempts, and applying principle of least privilege to the web application's file system permissions to limit the scope of accessible files. Review authentication logs and file access patterns for any suspicious activity indicating attempted or successful path traversal exploitation, particularly looking for unusual file access requests or attempts to read sensitive system files.
Affected VersionsENISA
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Technical ContextAI · show details
Census CSWeb is a web-based data management platform for statistical surveys and census operations, as identified by CPE cpe:2.3:a:census:csweb:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*. The vulnerability stems from CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory), commonly known as path traversal or directory traversal. The application fails to properly sanitize user-supplied file path inputs, allowing attackers to use special character sequences like '../' to navigate outside the intended directory structure and access sensitive files on the underlying operating system. This class of vulnerability typically affects file handling functions that construct file paths using untrusted input without adequate validation or canonicalization.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
4DescriptionCVE.org
Census CSWeb 8.0.1 allows arbitrary file path input. A remote, authenticated attacker could access unintended file directories. Fixed in 8.1.0 alpha.
Executive ViewAI
Census CSWeb 8.0.1 contains a path traversal vulnerability allowing authenticated users with low-level privileges to access arbitrary files on affected systems, creating unauthorized data exposure risk for organizations storing sensitive data in accessible directories. The availability of public exploit code increases the likelihood of rapid attack adoption. Immediate patching is required to prevent unauthorized file access by internal or compromised low-privilege accounts.
Apply vendor patch. Interim mitigations pending patch deployment: (1) Restrict network access to Census CSWeb 8.0.1 instances to trusted IP ranges only; (2) implement authentication monitoring to detect suspicious file access patterns by low-privilege accounts; (3) apply file-level access controls to restrict CSWeb process permissions to only required directories; (4) disable or restrict low-privilege user accounts with CSWeb access until patch is applied.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
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.
Census CSWeb 8.0.1 contains an information disclosure vulnerability where the app/config endpoint is reachable via HTTP
Census CSWeb 8.0.1 contains an arbitrary file upload vulnerability allowing authenticated remote attackers to upload mal
Census CSWeb 8.0.1 contains a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in user-supplied fields that allows authen
Exploit-DB