CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2022-27905NVD status: Modified

Controlup: Unquoted Search Path or Element

CVE-2022-27905 is a high-severity unquoted search path or element vulnerability in Controlup, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.2 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an attacker with administrator privileges, without any action from a user. The record lists version 8.6 as the first without the flaw, so updating Controlup to that release or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 1.08% chance of exploitation within 30 days, higher than 66% of scored CVEs.

Next patch cycle

High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.

What to do

  1. Update Controlup to 8.6 or a later version.
  2. Read the advisory on controlup.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
ControlupControlupbefore 8.68.6

Version data comes from NVD's product matching. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Privileges required
HighAdministrator-level access is required first.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
HighData or code can be modified at will.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by NVD.

Scoring systemScoreSeverityScored by
CVSS 3.17.2HighNVD
CVSS 2.09.0HighNVD

Official description

In ControlUp Real-Time Agent before 8.6, an unquoted path can result in privilege escalation. An attacker would require write permissions to the root level of the OS drive (C:\) to exploit this.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Unquoted Search Path or Element

The product uses a search path that contains an unquoted element, in which the element contains whitespace or other separators. This can cause the product to access resources in a parent path.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Properly quote the full search path before executing a program on the system.
  • 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.

More Unquoted Search Path or Element vulnerabilities (CWE-428)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Recent Unquoted Search Path or Element vulnerabilities

Spotted an error? Tell us.