Flight vulnerable to sensitive information disclosure via default error handlerGHSA-qrch-52m5-vv85
HIGHFix: flightphp/core@b8dd23aGHSA-qrch-52m5-vv85 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-209 vulnerability in flightphp/core. A fix is available for flightphp/core — see the affected versions and patch details below.
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.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-qrch-52m5-vv85.
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
flightphp/coreReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
The default error handler Engine::_error() writes the full exception message, exception code, and stack trace (including absolute filesystem paths) directly into the HTTP 500 response, with no debug gating. Production deployments leak internal paths, any secret interpolated into an exception message, and full module structure — giving attackers primitives for chaining other weaknesses (LFI, path traversal).
Affected code
flight/Engine.php (≈ lines 678-704):
public function _error(Throwable $e): void
{
...
$msg = sprintf(<<<'HTML'
<h1>500 Internal Server Error</h1>
<h3>%s (%s)</h3>
<pre>%s</pre>
HTML,
$e->getMessage(),
$e->getCode(),
$e->getTraceAsString()
);
$this->response()->cache(0)->clearBody()->status(500)->write($msg)->send();
}
No flight.debug check, no environment gating.
Proof of concept
Any uncaught exception — including those auto-raised from handleError() — returns:
HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
<h1>500 Internal Server Error</h1>
<h3>secret path /var/www/config/db.yml; token=LEAKED123 (0)</h3>
<pre>#0 [internal function]: {closure}()
#1 /home/user/app/vendor/flightphp/core/flight/core/Dispatcher.php(361)...
#2 /home/user/app/vendor/flightphp/core/flight/Engine.php(...)
...
</pre>
Reproduced against the live PoC app at /poc5/error.
Impact
- Disclosure of absolute filesystem paths (primes weaponization of LFI / path-traversal vulnerabilities in the same application).
- Disclosure of secrets (DB credentials, API tokens) when exceptions are constructed with interpolated configuration values.
- Enumeration of installed vendor packages and internal application structure.
Patch (fixed in 3.18.1, commit b8dd23a)
A new flight.debug setting (default false) gates the verbose output. In production the handler now emits only <h1>500 Internal Server Error</h1>. Developers can set flight.debug = true in local environments to restore the full trace output.
Credit
Discovered by @Rootingg.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | flightphp/core | all versions | 3.18.1composer require flightphp/core:^3.18.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for flightphp/core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update flightphp/core to 3.18.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-qrch-52m5-vv85 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 GHSA-qrch-52m5-vv85 in your dependencies?
Find it across Packagist, including transitive dependencies.