High

Path traversal in Reposilite javadoc file expansion (arbitrary file creation/overwrite) (`GHSL-2024-073`)

  • Disclosed: 02.08.2024
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 13:20

Summary

Reposilite v3.5.10 is affected by an Arbitrary File Upload vulnerability via path traversal in expanding of Javadoc archives.

Details

Reposilite provides support for JavaDocs files, which are archives that contain documentation for artifacts. Specifically, JavadocEndpoints.kt controller allows to expand the javadoc archive into the server's file system and return its content. The problem is in the way how the archives are expanded, specifically how the new filename is created:

JavadocContainerService.kt#L127-L136

kotlin
jarFile.entries().asSequence().forEach { file ->
    if (file.isDirectory) {
        return@forEach
    }

     val path = Paths.get(javadocUnpackPath.toString() + "/" + file.name)

    path.parent?.also { parent -> Files.createDirectories(parent) }
    jarFile.getInputStream(file).copyToAndClose(path.outputStream())
}.asSuccess<Unit, ErrorResponse>()

The file.name taken from the archive can contain path traversal characters, such as '/../../../anything.txt', so the resulting extraction path can be outside the target directory.

Impact

If the archive is taken from an untrusted source, such as Maven Central or JitPack for example, an attacker can craft a special archive to overwrite any local file on Reposilite instance. This could lead to remote code execution, for example by placing a new plugin into the '$workspace$/plugins' directory. Alternatively, an attacker can overwrite the content of any other package.

Note that the attacker can use its own malicious package from Maven Central to overwrite any other package on Reposilite.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Create a malicious javadoc archive that contains filenames with path traversal characters:
bash
zip test-1.0-javadoc.jar ../../../../../../../../tmp/evil.txt index.html

Make sure that ../../../../../../../../tmp/evil.txt and index.html files exist on the system where you create this archive.

  1. Publish this archive to the repository which Reposilite is mirroring, such as Maven Central or JitPack. For the test purposes, I used my own server that imitates the upstream maven repository: http://artsploit.com/maven/com/artsploit/reposilite-zipslip/1.0/reposilite-zipslip-1.0-javadoc.jar

  2. Start Reposilite with 'releases' repository mirroring to 'http://artsploit.com/maven/'

  3. Now, if the attacker send the request to http://localhost:8080/javadoc/releases/com/artsploit/reposilite-zipslip/1.0, the aforementioned archive will be obtained from the http://artsploit.com/maven/com/artsploit/reposilite-zipslip/1.0/reposilite-zipslip-1.0-javadoc.jar address and its 'evil.txt' file will be expanded to '$workspace$/tmp/evil.txt'. Note that to perform this action, an attacker does not need to provide any credentials, as fetching from the mirrored repository does not require authentication.

  4. Confirm that '$workspace$/tmp/evil.txt' is created on the server where Reposilite is running.

Remediation

Normalize (remove all occurrences of /../) the file.name variable before concatenating it with javadocUnpackPath. E.g.:

kotlin
val path = Paths.get(javadocUnpackPath.toString() + "/" + Paths.get(file.name).normalize().toString())

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Java / Kotlin (Maven) com.reposilite:reposilite-backend >= 3.3.0, < 3.5.12 3.5.12

References

CVSS score 8.8/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-22
Platform
Java / Kotlin (Maven)
Package
com.reposilite:reposilite-backend
Disclosed
02.08.2024
Updated
11.10.2026 13:20

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-frvj-cfq4-3228 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: com.reposilite:reposilite-backend

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
2
First → latest
08.2024 08.2024
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 2

Disclosures per year

  1. 2024: 2
  2. 2025: 0
  3. 2026: 0
  1. Path traversal in Reposilite javadoc file expansion (arbitrary file creation/overwrite) (`GHSL-2024-073`) this entry
    High · 8.8 CVE-2024-36116 >= 3.3.0, < 3.5.12 3.5.12
  2. High · 7.5 CVE-2024-36115 >= 3.3.0, < 3.5.12 3.5.12

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