CVE-2024-29180 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.4) Path Traversal vulnerability in webpack-dev-middleware. A fix is available for webpack-dev-middleware — see the affected versions and patch details below.
webpack-dev-middleware Path Traversal vulnerability
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-2024-29180.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2024-29180 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
webpack-dev-middlewarenpmDescription
Prior to versions 7.1.0, 6.1.2, and 5.3.4, the webpack-dev-middleware development middleware for devpack does not validate the supplied URL address sufficiently before returning the local file. It is possible to access any file on the developer's machine. The middleware can either work with the physical filesystem when reading the files or it can use a virtualized in-memory memfs filesystem. If writeToDisk configuration option is set to true, the physical filesystem is used. The getFilenameFromUrl method is used to parse URL and build the local file path. The public path prefix is stripped from the URL, and the unsecaped path suffix is appended to the outputPath. As the URL is not unescaped and normalized automatically before calling the midlleware, it is possible to use %2e and %2f sequences to perform path traversal attack.
Developers using webpack-dev-server or webpack-dev-middleware are affected by the issue. When the project is started, an attacker might access any file on the developer's machine and exfiltrate the content. If the development server is listening on a public IP address (or 0.0.0.0), an attacker on the local network can access the local files without any interaction from the victim (direct connection to the port). If the server allows access from third-party domains, an attacker can send a malicious link to the victim. When visited, the client side script can connect to the local server and exfiltrate the local files. Starting with fixed versions 7.1.0, 6.1.2, and 5.3.4, the URL is unescaped and normalized before any further processing.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | webpack-dev-middleware | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.1.0 | 7.1.0npm install webpack-dev-middleware@7.1.0 |
| 📦npm | webpack-dev-middleware | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.1.2 | 6.1.2npm install webpack-dev-middleware@6.1.2 |
| 📦npm | webpack-dev-middleware | all versions | 5.3.4npm install webpack-dev-middleware@5.3.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for webpack-dev-middleware, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update webpack-dev-middleware to 7.1.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-29180 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2024-29180 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-29180. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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.
The vulnerability in webpack-dev represents a important security issue due to its potential to expose sensitive files and compromise developer machines. By failing to validate URLs and normalize paths effectively, the middleware allows attackers to craft malicious requests that can retrieve arbitrary local files or…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Migration Toolkit for Runtimes 1 on RHEL 8 | webpack-dev-middleware | RHSA-2024:3920 |
| MTA-6.2-RHEL-9 | mta/mta-ui-rhel9:6.2.3-2 | RHSA-2024:3989 |
| MTA-7.0-RHEL-9 | mta/mta-cli-rhel9:7.0.3-16 | RHSA-2024:3316 |
| NETWORK-OBSERVABILITY-1.6.0-RHEL-9 | network-observability/network-observability-cli-rhel9:v1.6.0-66 | RHSA-2024:3868 |
| OpenShift-Pipelines-1.16-RHEL-8 | openshift-pipelines/pipelines-chains-controller-rhel8:v1.16.0-6 | RHEA-2024:7870 |
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4.4 | advanced-cluster-security/rhacs-central-db-rhel8:4.4.2-4 | RHSA-2024:2941 |
| Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 2.6.1 GA | webpack-dev-middleware | RHSA-2024:4873 |
| Red Hat Data Grid | webpack-dev-middleware | RHSA-2024:4460 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-29180 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-29180 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.