CVE-2023-24815 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.8) Path Traversal vulnerability in io.vertx:vertx-web. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for io.vertx:vertx-web — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Disclosure of classpath resources on Windows when mounted on a wildcard route in vertx-web
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-24815.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
io.vertx:vertx-webReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Vert.x-Web is a set of building blocks for building web applications in the java programming language. When running vertx web applications that serve files using StaticHandler on Windows Operating Systems and Windows File Systems, if the mount point is a wildcard (*) then an attacker can exfiltrate any class path resource. When computing the relative path to locate the resource, in case of wildcards, the code: return "/" + rest; from Utils.java returns the user input (without validation) as the segment to lookup. Even though checks are performed to avoid escaping the sandbox, given that the input was not sanitized \ are not properly handled and an attacker can build a path that is valid within the classpath. This issue only affects users deploying in windows environments and upgrading is the advised remediation path. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | io.vertx:vertx-web | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.3.8 | 4.3.8io.vertx:vertx-web:4.3.8 |
Affected Products
vert.x-webeclipseResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for io.vertx:vertx-web, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update io.vertx:vertx-web to 4.3.8 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-24815 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Cryostat 2 on RHEL 8 | cryostat-tech-preview/cryostat-grafana-dashboard-rhel8:2.4.0-2 | RHSA-2023:7669 |
| RHINT Camel-Springboot 3.20.1.P1 | vertx-web | RHSA-2023:3740 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-24815 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.