High

OpenRefine vulnerable to arbitrary file read in project import with mysql jdbc url attack

  • Disclosed: 12.09.2023
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 13:20

Summary

An arbitrary file read vulnerability allows any unauthenticated user to read the file on the server._

Details

Hi,Team, i find openrefine support to import data from database,When use mysql jdbc to connect to database,It is vulnerable to jdbc url attacks,for example,unauthenticated attacker can read the file on the server. There are some differences in utilization depending on the version of the mysql-connector dependency on the server side.

  1. mysql-connector-java version > 8.14 The default value of allowLoadLocalInfile on the server side is false in this case.We need to manually set this value to true in the connection string.
    Since the way to get the databaseurl in com/google/refine/extension/database/mysql/MySQLConnectionManager.java is to splice the individual configurations directly, we can set the allowLoadLocalInfile parameter after the other parameters(for example the databaseName parameter ).
    image
    image image
  2. mysql-connector-java version <= 8.14 The default value of allowLoadLocalInfile on the server side is true in this case.so wo don't need do anything,Just connect to our malicious server.

PoC

env:
centos 7 openrefine 3.7.4 jdk11 mysql-connector-java version 8.30.0

you can use the tool https://github.com/4ra1n/mysql-fake-server to running a malicious mysql server.
image
for example,to read the /etc/passwd file. image set the username to base64ZmlsZXJlYWRfL2V0Yy9wYXNzd2Q= and Database name to test?allowLoadLocalInfile=true# (for mysql-connector-java version <= 8.14,just setting the database name normally) and test to connect your malicious mysql server. you can get the file in your fake-server-files directory. image

Impact

An arbitrary file read vulnerability allows any unauthenticated user to read the file on the server._

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Java / Kotlin (Maven) org.openrefine:database < 3.7.5 3.7.5

References

CVSS score 7.5/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-89
Platform
Java / Kotlin (Maven)
Package
org.openrefine:database
Disclosed
12.09.2023
Updated
11.10.2026 13:20

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-qqh2-wvmv-h72m - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: org.openrefine:database

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

Total entries
4
First → latest
09.2023 10.2024
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 1
  • High 3

Disclosures per year

  1. 2023: 2
  2. 2024: 2
  3. 2025: 0
  4. 2026: 0
  1. High · 7.3 CVE-2024-23833 < 3.7.8 3.7.8
  2. OpenRefine vulnerable to arbitrary file read in project import with mysql jdbc url attack this entry
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-41886 < 3.7.5 3.7.5

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