CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2023-40274 — An issue was discovered in zola 0.13.0 through 0.17.2
An issue was discovered in zola 0.13.0 through 0.17.2. The custom implementation of a web server, available via the "zola serve" command, allows directory traversal. The handle_request function, used by the server to process HTTP requests, does not account for sequences of special path control characters (../) in the URL when serving a file, which allows one to escape the webroot of the server and read arbitrary files from the filesystem.
- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.5 (3.1)
- Published
- 2023-08-14
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- software/application
- Weaknesses
- CWE-22
Affected products
- getzola / zola
Matched remediation archetype
Path traversal, unsafe upload, and file handling
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
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
The detailed catalog view below loads this exact record, its source evidence, and the full seven-phase agentic change plan.