Vulnerability Database

346,505

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2022-41720 — golang / go

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

On Windows, restricted files can be accessed via os.DirFS and http.Dir. The os.DirFS function and http.Dir type provide access to a tree of files rooted at a given directory. These functions permit access to Windows device files under that root. For example, os.DirFS("C:/tmp").Open("COM1") opens the COM1 device. Both os.DirFS and http.Dir only provide read-only filesystem access. In addition, on Windows, an os.DirFS for the directory (the root of the current drive) can permit a maliciously crafted path to escape from the drive and access any path on the system. With fix applied, the behavior of os.DirFS("") has changed. Previously, an empty root was treated equivalently to "/", so os.DirFS("").Open("tmp") would open the path "/tmp". This now returns an error.

  • Published: Dec 7, 2022
  • Updated: Nov 16, 2025
  • CVE: CVE-2022-41720
  • Severity: High
  • Exploit:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: High
  • Score: 7.5
  • AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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.