Executive brief
statics-server is a Node.js module used to serve static files from a specified directory. The module fails to properly restrict access to files outside its configured directory when symbolic links are used, potentially allowing unauthorized file access. An attacker can exploit this to read sensitive files on the server's filesystem beyond what should be publicly accessible.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a path traversal / symlink attack (CWE-22) in statics-server that affects all versions up to and including 0.0.9. The module does not properly validate or restrict access through symbolic links, allowing an attacker to traverse outside the intended served directory. The attack vector is network-accessible via HTTP requests containing symlink references. No authentication is required—any unauthenticated user can attempt to exploit this. A remote attacker can read arbitrary files from the filesystem that the Node.js process has permission to access. No fix is currently available according to the advisory; affected users are recommended to discontinue use or switch to an alternative module.
Affected products
- statics-server 0.0.9 and earlier
Timeline
- 2020-03-31: disclosed
- other: CVE-2019-15596 assigned