CVE-2023-50731 — mindsdb
CRITICALCVE-2023-50731 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.1) Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in mindsdb. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for mindsdb — see the affected versions and patch details below.
MindsDB has arbitrary file write in file.py
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
mindsdbReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
MindsDB is a SQL Server for artificial intelligence. Prior to version 23.11.4.1, the put method in mindsdb/mindsdb/api/http/namespaces/file.py does not validate the user-controlled name value, which is used in a temporary file name, which is afterwards opened for writing on lines 122-125, which leads to path injection. Later in the method, the temporary directory is deleted on line 151, but since we can write outside of the directory using the path injection vulnerability, the potentially dangerous file is not deleted. Arbitrary file contents can be written due to f.write(chunk) on line 125. Mindsdb does check later on line 149 in the save_file method in file-controller.py which calls the _handle_source method in file_handler.py if a file is of one of the types csv, json, parquet, xls, or xlsx. However, since the check happens after the file has already been written, the files will still exist (and will not be removed due to the path injection described earlier), just the _handle_source method will return an error. The same user-controlled source source is used also in another path injection sink on line 138. This leads to another path injection, which allows an attacker to delete any zip or tar.gz files on the server.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | mindsdb | all versions | 23.11.4.1pip install --upgrade 'mindsdb==23.11.4.1' |
Affected Products
mindsdbmindsdbResearch 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 mindsdb, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update mindsdb to 23.11.4.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-50731 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-50731 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.