Indico is an event management system that uses Flask-Multipass, a multi-backend authentication system for Flask. In versions prior to 3.3.12, due to vulnerabilities in TeXLive and obscure LaTeX syntax that allowed circumventing Indico's LaTeX sanitizer, it is possible to use specially-crafted LaTeX snippets which can read local files or execute code with the privileges of the user running Indico on the server. Note that if server-side LaTeX rendering is not in use (ie XELATEX_PATH was not set in indico.conf), this vulnerability does not apply. It is recommended to update to Indico 3.3.12 as soon as possible. It is also strongly recommended to enable the containerized LaTeX renderer (using podman), which isolates it from the rest of the system. As a workaround, remove the XELATEX_PATH setting from indico.conf (or comment it out or set it to None) and restart the indico-uwsgi and indico-celery services to disable LaTeX functionality.
| Software | Affected versions |
|---|---|
indico
|
< 3.3.12 |
| cern / indico | < 3.3.12 |
A vulnerability database tells you what is broken. Attack surface management tells you where it is running: it discovers your internet-facing assets and flags the ones affected by issues like this one.
What is attack surface management? →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.