Description

Spring Framework versions 5.0 to 5.0.4, 4.3 to 4.3.14, and older unsupported versions allow applications to configure Spring MVC to serve static resources (e.g. CSS, JS, images). When static resources are served from a file system on Windows (as opposed to the classpath, or the ServletContext), a malicious user can send a request using a specially crafted URL that can lead a directory traversal attack.

Affected Spring Products and Versions

Spring Framework 5.0 to 5.0.4
Spring Framework 4.3 to 4.3.14
Older unsupported versions are also affected

Mitigation

Users of affected versions should apply the following mitigation:

5.0.x users should upgrade to 5.0.5
4.3.x users should upgrade to 4.3.15
Older versions should upgrade to a supported branch

There are no other mitigation steps necessary.

Note also that this attack does not apply to applications that:

Do not use Windows.
Do not serve files from the file system, i.e. not using “file:” for the resource location.
Use Spring Security with versions patched for CVE-2018-1199.

Credit

This issue was identified and responsibly reported by Orange Tsai (@orange_8361) from DEVCORE.

References

Example Spring MVC config that enables the serving of static resources.

History

2018-04-05: Initial vulnerability report published
2018-04-13: Removed “Use of Tomcat or WildFly” from the list of not affected

Reporting a vulnerability

The VMware Security Response team provides a single point of contact for the reporting of security vulnerabilities in VMware Tanzu products and coordinates the process of investigating any reported vulnerabilities.

To report a security vulnerability in a VMware service or product please refer to the VMware Security Response Policy.