Description

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Software Technologies Research Institute pardus-boot-repair allows Path Traversal. This issue affects pardus-boot-repair: from 1.0.8 before 1.1.0.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "4.3",
  "pubDate": "2026-11-06T13:17:33.340Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-11-06T13:17:33.340Z",
  "executiveSummary": "The pardus-boot-repair utility, developed by TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Software Technologies Research Institute, contains a Path Traversal vulnerability classified as CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory).\nThis flaw allows an attacker to escape the intended directory structure and access or manipulate arbitrary files on the underlying file system.\nThe vulnerability affects versions of pardus-boot-repair ranging from 1.0.8 up to, but not including, 1.1.0.\nThe security impact is significant, as successful exploitation may permit unauthorized read/write access to sensitive system files, potentially leading to privilege escalation, configuration tampering, or system compromise.\nAttackers require the ability to interact with the input parameters handled by the affected software component.\nThis issue represents a failure in input sanitization, where user-supplied path data is insufficiently validated before being used in file system operations.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability exists within the pardus-boot-repair tool's file path handling logic, specifically where input provided to the application is used to construct file system paths without adequate validation of directory navigation sequences.\nAt its core, the root cause is the failure to neutralize 'dot-dot-slash' (../) sequences, which are interpreted by the operating system to traverse up the directory tree. Because the application fails to verify that the target path remains within the designated root directory, an attacker can supply malicious path strings.\nThe attack flow typically begins by identifying an input field or parameter within the pardus-boot-repair interface that accepts file paths or configuration targets. An attacker injects a crafted path string containing relative path traversal tokens (e.g., '../../etc/shadow').\nWhen the application processes this input, the internal file-handling functions concatenate the malicious input to a base path. If the application logic relies on naive concatenation, the resolution process escapes the restricted directory boundaries. Consequently, the application accesses files or directories that should be restricted from user interaction.\nIn the context of boot-repair software, this vulnerability is particularly severe because the tool often operates with elevated system privileges to modify boot configurations, GRUB settings, or disk partitions. A path traversal exploit could therefore be leveraged to overwrite critical system configuration files or binary loaders, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution during the boot process or permanent denial-of-service conditions.\nThe exploitation does not require advanced network-based techniques if local access to the tool is granted. However, if the tool is exposed via a web interface or a remote management utility, the attack vector can be exploited remotely. The vulnerability stems from a lack of canonicalization (e.g., using realpath() or similar functions) before verifying the integrity of the file path.\nPost-exploitation, an attacker can manipulate boot-related files, potentially compromising the integrity of the operating system's startup sequence. The lack of robust path validation in versions 1.0.8 through 1.1.0 allows for complete bypass of file-system-level access controls designed to protect the integrity of the boot process."
}