Executive brief
Spring Cloud Config Server is a centralized service that manages configuration files for distributed applications. An attacker can bypass repository path restrictions and read configuration files outside the intended directory, potentially exposing sensitive data like database credentials, API keys, and other secrets used by applications.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a path traversal flaw in Spring Cloud Config Server's native environment repository handler that fails to properly validate and sanitize file paths. An attacker with network access to the Config Server can craft requests using path traversal sequences (such as `../`) to access configuration files beyond the configured repository boundary. No authentication is required if the server is network-accessible. This allows an attacker to read arbitrary configuration files on the system, exposing application secrets and sensitive infrastructure details. Patches are available in Spring Cloud Config 5.0.5, 4.3.5, and 4.2.9 or later.
Affected products
- Spring Cloud Config 3.1.14 and earlier, 4.0.0 through 4.2.8, 4.3.0 through 4.3.4, 5.0.0 through 5.0.4
Timeline
- 2026-08-27: disclosed