sniff_csv provides filesystem access even when enable_external_access is disabled in duckdbGHSA-w2gf-jxc9-pf2q
HIGHFix: duckdb/duckdb#13133GHSA-w2gf-jxc9-pf2q is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Information Exposure vulnerability in duckdb. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for duckdb — 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.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-w2gf-jxc9-pf2q.
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
duckdbReal-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
Summary
Content in filesystem is accessible for reading using sniff_csv, even with enable_external_access=false.
Details
During a pentest, a security researcher was able to access environment variable data and other system data by using the sniff_csv function, even though we set enable_external_access to false.
PoC
SET enable_external_access=false;
SET lock_configuration=true;
SELECT Columns FROM sniff_csv('/proc/self/environ');
Impact
Provides an attacker with access to filesystem even when access is expected to be disabled and other similar functions do NOT provide access.
For example select * from read_csv('/proc/self/environ') fails with a permission error.
There seems to be two vectors to this vulnerability:
- Access to files that should otherwise not be allowed. (We expect
Permission Error: Scanning CSV files is disabled through configurationand not to provide any access to the file or even acknowledge that it exists). - The content from a (non-csv?) file can be read (e.g.
/etc/hosts,proc/self/environ, etc) even though that doesn't seem to be the intent of the sniff_csv function (my understanding is it's intending to provide information about the shape of the data, but not provide the data itself).
Workaround
It is possible to work around the issue by disabling the local file system using the disabled_filesystems setting:
SET disabled_filesystems='LocalFileSystem';
SET lock_configuration=true;
SELECT Columns FROM sniff_csv('/proc/self/environ');
will result in Permission Error: File system LocalFileSystem has been disabled by configuration.
Fix
A fix has been merged into the main branch (https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb/pull/13133), and will be released with the next DuckDB release.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | duckdb | ≥ 1.0.0&&< 1.1.0 | 1.1.0pip install --upgrade 'duckdb==1.1.0' |
Affected Products
duckdbduckdbResearch 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 duckdb, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update duckdb to 1.1.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-w2gf-jxc9-pf2q is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Assume what was exposed is already known: rotate any credential, token or key that the affected component could return, restrict the endpoint to callers that genuinely need it, and strip sensitive fields from responses and error output at the boundary rather than relying on the client not to read them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-w2gf-jxc9-pf2q in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.