Overview
This report discusses the CVE-2025-54141 vulnerability, a severe security flaw that affects versions 1.1.0 through 1.1.31 and 1.2.0 through 1.2.3 of the ViewVC browser interface for CVS and Subversion version control repositories. This vulnerability matters significantly as it can potentially expose the contents of the host server’s filesystem, leading to data leakage and system compromise.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-54141
Severity: High (7.5 CVSS score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
ViewVC | 1.1.0 through 1.1.31
ViewVC | 1.2.0 through 1.2.3
How the Exploit Works
The exploit works by leveraging a directory traversal-style attack against the standalone.py script provided in the ViewVC distribution. An attacker can craft malicious requests that manipulate the script’s file fetching functionality, thereby gaining unauthorized access to the host server’s filesystem.
Conceptual Example Code
The following is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This could be a sample HTTP GET request, where the attacker attempts to traverse the directories and access a sensitive file:
GET /viewvc/standalone.py/../../../../etc/passwd HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
This request attempts to access the `/etc/passwd` file, which contains sensitive information about user accounts on a Unix-like system.
Mitigation Guidance
To mitigate this vulnerability, users are advised to apply the vendor patch as soon as possible. This is fixed in versions 1.1.31 and 1.2.4 of ViewVC. In situations where immediate patching is not feasible, deploying a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure.

