CWEweakness

CWE-55 Path Equivalence: '/./' (Single Dot Directory)

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Abstraction
Variant
Structure
Simple
Status
Incomplete
Languages
Not Language-Specific
CWE version
5.0

Description

The product accepts path input in the form of single dot directory exploit ('/./') without appropriate validation, which can lead to ambiguous path resolution and allow an attacker to traverse the file system to unintended locations or access arbitrary files.

Common consequences

• Confidentiality, Integrity: Read Files or Directories, Modify Files or Directories

Potential mitigations

• [Implementation] Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174). Such errors could be used to bypass allowlist validation schemes by introducing dangerous inputs after they have been checked.

Observed examples

• CVE-2024-6091: Chain: AI agent platform does not restrict pathnames containing internal "/./" sequences (CWE-55), leading to an incomplete denylist (CWE-184) that does not prevent OS command injection (CWE-78) • CVE-2000-0004: Server allows remote attackers to read source code for executable files by inserting a . (dot) into the URL. • CVE-2002-0304: Server allows remote attackers to read password-protected files via a /./ in the HTTP request. • CVE-1999-1083: Possibly (could be a cleansing error) • CVE-2004-0815: "/./////etc" cleansed to ".///etc" then "/etc" • CVE-2002-0112: Server allows remote attackers to view password protected files via /./ in the URL.

Related

Observed example · CVE (6)

  • CVE-2024-6091 A vulnerability in significant-gravitas/autogpt version 0.5.1 allows an attacker to bypass the shell commands denylist settings. vulnerability
  • CVE-2004-0815 The unix_clean_name function in Samba 2.2.x through 2.2.11, and 3.0.x before 3.0.2a, trims certain directory names down to absolute paths,… vulnerability
  • CVE-2002-0304 Lil HTTP Server 2.1 allows remote attackers to read password-protected files via a /./ in the HTTP request. vulnerability
  • CVE-2002-0112 Etype Eserv 2.97 allows remote attackers to view password protected files via /./ in the URL. vulnerability
  • CVE-2000-0004 ZBServer Pro allows remote attackers to read source code for executable files by inserting a . vulnerability
  • CVE-1999-1083 Directory traversal vulnerability in Jana proxy web server 1.45 allows remote attackers to ready arbitrary files via a .. vulnerability

Child of · CWE (1)

  • CWE-41 Improper Resolution of Path Equivalence weakness

Referenced by CVE · weakness (1)

  • CVE-2026-79768 Path equivalence: '/./' (single dot directory) vulnerability in Apache HTTP Server's mod_userdir module when configured with absolute… vulnerability