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DSpace ItemImportService API Vulnerable to Path Traversal in Simple Archive Format Package Import

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jul 29, 2022 in DSpace/DSpace • Updated Jan 31, 2023

Package

maven org.dspace:dspace-api (Maven)

Affected versions

>= 4.0, < 5.11
>= 6.0, < 6.4

Patched versions

5.11
6.4

Description

Impact

ItemImportServiceImpl is vulnerable to a path traversal vulnerability. This means a malicious SAF (simple archive format) package could cause a file/directory to be created anywhere the Tomcat/DSpace user can write to on the server. However, this path traversal vulnerability is only possible by a user with special privileges (either Administrators or someone with command-line access to the server). This vulnerability impacts the XMLUI, JSPUI and command-line.

This vulnerability does NOT impact 7.x.

Patches

DSpace 6.x:

DSpace 5.x:

Apply the patch to your DSpace

If at all possible, we recommend upgrading your DSpace site based on the upgrade instructions. However, if you are unable to do so, you can manually apply the above patches as follows:

  1. Download the appropriate patch file to the machine where DSpace is running
  2. From the [dspace-src] folder, apply the patch, e.g. git apply [name-of-file].patch
  3. Now, update your DSpace site (based loosely on the Upgrade instructions). This generally involves three steps:
    1. Rebuild DSpace, e.g. mvn -U clean package (This will recompile all DSpace code)
    2. Redeploy DSpace, e.g. ant update (This will copy all updated WARs / configs to your installation directory). Depending on your setup you also may need to copy the updated WARs over to your Tomcat webapps folder.
    3. Restart Tomcat

Workarounds

As a basic workaround, you may block all access to the following URL paths:

  • If you are using the XMLUI, block all access to /admin/batchimport path (this is the URL of the Admin Batch Import tool). Keep in mind, if your site uses the path "/xmlui", then you'd need to block access to /xmlui/admin/batchimport.
  • If you are using the JSPUI, block all access to /dspace-admin/batchimport path (this is the URL of the Admin Batch Import tool). Keep in mind, if your site uses the path "/jspui", then you'd need to block access to /jspui/dspace-admin/batchimport.

Keep in mind, only an Administrative user or a user with command-line access to the server is able to import/upload SAF packages. Therefore, assuming those users do not blindly upload untrusted SAF packages, then it is unlikely your site could be impacted by this vulnerability.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

References

@tdonohue tdonohue published to DSpace/DSpace Jul 29, 2022
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Aug 1, 2022
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Aug 6, 2022
Reviewed Aug 6, 2022
Last updated Jan 31, 2023

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS score

0.178%
(55th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2022-31195

GHSA ID

GHSA-8rmh-55h4-93h5

Source code

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