CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-32317 — Autolab is a course management service that enables auto-graded programming assignments

High CVSS 7.2

Autolab is a course management service that enables auto-graded programming assignments. A Tar slip vulnerability was found in the MOSS cheat checker functionality of Autolab. To exploit this vulnerability an authenticated attacker with instructor permissions needs to upload a specially crafted Tar file. Both "Base File Tar" and "Additional file archive" can be fed with Tar files that contain paths outside their target directories (e.g., `../../../../tmp/tarslipped2.sh`). When the MOSS cheat checker is started the files inside of the archives are expanded to the attacker-chosen locations. This issue may lead to arbitrary file write within the scope of the running process. This issue has been addressed in version 2.11.0. Users are advised to upgrade.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.2 (3.1)
Published
2023-05-26
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-22

Affected products

  • autolabproject / autolab

Matched remediation archetype

Path traversal, unsafe upload, and file handling

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Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted filenames, archive entries, URLs, and path segments into read, write, include, extraction, and upload operations.
  • Identify filesystem roots, mount permissions, symbolic-link behavior, archive handling, and whether uploaded content is web-accessible or executable.
  • Review canonicalization and containment checks across supported operating systems and storage backends.

Remediate safely

  • Generate server-side storage identifiers and resolve paths beneath a fixed root using filesystem-aware containment checks.
  • Reject absolute, parent-relative, alternate-separator, device, link, and archive entries that escape the intended root.
  • Store uploads outside executable or served paths, validate type and size, and use private atomic temporary files.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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