A path traversal vulnerability exists in Riverbed SteelHead VCX appliances (confirmed in VCX255U 9.6.0a) due to improper input validation in the log filtering functionality exposed via the management web interface. An authenticated attacker can exploit this flaw by submitting crafted filter expressions to the log_filter endpoint using the filterStr parameter. This input is processed by a backend parser that permits execution of file expansion syntax, allowing the attacker to retrieve arbitrary system files via the log viewing interface.
The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.
There are many different kinds of mistakes that introduce information exposures. The severity of the error can range widely, depending on the context in which the product operates, the type of sensitive information that is revealed, and the benefits it may provide to an attacker. Some kinds of sensitive information include:
Information might be sensitive to different parties, each of which may have their own expectations for whether the information should be protected. These parties include:
Information exposures can occur in different ways:
It is common practice to describe any loss of confidentiality as an “information exposure,” but this can lead to overuse of CWE-200 in CWE mapping. From the CWE perspective, loss of confidentiality is a technical impact that can arise from dozens of different weaknesses, such as insecure file permissions or out-of-bounds read. CWE-200 and its lower-level descendants are intended to cover the mistakes that occur in behaviors that explicitly manage, store, transfer, or cleanse sensitive information.