Experience the impact of the Path Traversal Vulnerability to blame for the recent Apache woes
Experience the impact of the Path Traversal Vulnerability to blame for the recent Apache woes
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/63e39c32238181cf182bfb10_616982ed5ec81c5b6d7f4074_pexels-kevin-ku-577585.webp)
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/63e39c3223818110f92bfb11_616982ed5ec81c5b6d7f4074_pexels-kevin-ku-577585.webp)
At the beginning of October, Apache released version 2.4.49 to fix a Path Traversal and Remote Code Execution vulnerability and then subsequently 2.4.50 to address the fact that the fix in 2.4.49 was incomplete. Perhaps you’ve seen talk on social media about the importance of updating to the latest version to avoid these risks, given that Apache powers 25% of the internet by some estimates. But what’s the deal? How much risk exists here?
Why not try it out yourself?
We’ve built a mission to demonstrate the risks in a real-life environment and have made it public for everyone to try. In this Mission, we’ll walk you through how the Path Traversal Vulnerability can impact your infrastructure and applications. Click below to jump right in, or continue reading to learn more about the vulnerability in detail.
![Banner that says try out the Apache CVE-2021-41773 Mission](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/61697eae1486b1a63de1b935_Apache%20Mission%20blog%20banner.png)
About the Path Traversal Vulnerability
The vulnerability was introduced in the 2.4.49 release (due to a change to the URL normalization function), where a new path normalization function was introduced. Unfortunately, it failed to correctly normalize URL encoded paths. This makes it possible to conduct a path traversal attack if the following configuration is not present:
![Deny or permit access to directory file system](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/616d3fa81d962b1b02c99e57_carbon%20(23).png)
And if mod_cgi is enabled, it can also be leveraged into a Remote Code Execution vulnerability. But let’s first dig into URL encoding to better understand what went wrong.
URL Encoding
At its most basic, the vulnerability occurs due to a lack of consideration for URLs with URL encoding. The newly introduced path normalization function did not fully handle cases where dots were URL encoded.
Remember that to conduct a path traversal attack, you will need to traverse with the sequence ../. The normalization function, however, is smart enough to strip that out. So what do you do? You can URL encode a .(Dot) down to %2e, and use a sequence like .%2e/. That would work in many cases against Apache 2.4.40. But you can also go one step further and double encode it. The URL encoded version of .%2e/ is .%252e/. This was further able to bypass the attempted normalization by Apache.
But there's a catch
If someone wanted to try to exploit this vulnerability straight in their browser, they would not be successful. This is due to the fact that browsers also try to normalize URLs that are sent to servers. This means that even our double-encoded sequence will be removed. It also means that we can't simply use a browser to demonstrate this.
You can use cURL to demonstrate this by using the --path-as-is flag, which prevents it from normalizing the URL before sending it:
![Curl path as is code with link](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/616d3fff8180925670f4cac2_carbon%20(24).png)
Prevention and mitigation
To fully prevent the issue, it's important to keep up to date with the latest patches from Apache. Specifically, you will want to upgrade to 2.4.51 at a minimum. But it's a good practice to upgrade on a regular schedule to stay up to date.
To mitigate against this issue if you are running 2.4.49, ensure that you have included the following in your Apache configuration:
![Directory code tags with allowoverride none and require all denied rules](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/616d3fed785c15175cdc87cb_carbon%20(25).png)
And to prevent Remote Code Execution, disable mod_cgi if you do not utilize it.
Experience the impact for yourself
Interested in exploring exactly what happened and trying it out for yourself?
Resources to get you started
Trust Agent by Secure Code Warrior
Discover SCW Trust Agent, an innovative solution designed to enhance security by aligning developer secure code knowledge and skills with the work they commit. It provides comprehensive visibility and controls across an organization's entire code repository, analyzing each commit against developers' secure code profiles. With SCW Trust Agent, organizations can strengthen their security posture, optimize development lifecycles, and scale developer-driven security.
Resources to get you started
Women in Security are Winning: How the AWSN is Setting Up a New Generation of Security Superwomen
Secure-by-Design is the latest initiative on everyone’s lips, and the Australian government, collaborating with CISA at the highest levels of global governance, is guiding a higher standard of software quality and security from vendors.
Women in Security are Winning: How the AWSN is Setting Up a New Generation of Security Superwomen
Secure-by-Design is the latest initiative on everyone’s lips, and the Australian government, collaborating with CISA at the highest levels of global governance, is guiding a higher standard of software quality and security from vendors.
SCW Trust Agent - Visibility and Control to Scale Developer Driven Security
SCW Trust Agent, introduced by Secure Code Warrior, offers security leaders the visibility and control needed to scale developer-driven security within organizations. By connecting to code repositories, it assesses code commit metadata, inspects developers, programming languages used, and shipment timestamps to determine developers' security knowledge.
Experience the impact of the Path Traversal Vulnerability to blame for the recent Apache woes
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/63e39c32238181cf182bfb10_616982ed5ec81c5b6d7f4074_pexels-kevin-ku-577585.webp)
At the beginning of October, Apache released version 2.4.49 to fix a Path Traversal and Remote Code Execution vulnerability and then subsequently 2.4.50 to address the fact that the fix in 2.4.49 was incomplete. Perhaps you’ve seen talk on social media about the importance of updating to the latest version to avoid these risks, given that Apache powers 25% of the internet by some estimates. But what’s the deal? How much risk exists here?
Why not try it out yourself?
We’ve built a mission to demonstrate the risks in a real-life environment and have made it public for everyone to try. In this Mission, we’ll walk you through how the Path Traversal Vulnerability can impact your infrastructure and applications. Click below to jump right in, or continue reading to learn more about the vulnerability in detail.
![Banner that says try out the Apache CVE-2021-41773 Mission](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/61697eae1486b1a63de1b935_Apache%20Mission%20blog%20banner.png)
About the Path Traversal Vulnerability
The vulnerability was introduced in the 2.4.49 release (due to a change to the URL normalization function), where a new path normalization function was introduced. Unfortunately, it failed to correctly normalize URL encoded paths. This makes it possible to conduct a path traversal attack if the following configuration is not present:
![Deny or permit access to directory file system](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/616d3fa81d962b1b02c99e57_carbon%20(23).png)
And if mod_cgi is enabled, it can also be leveraged into a Remote Code Execution vulnerability. But let’s first dig into URL encoding to better understand what went wrong.
URL Encoding
At its most basic, the vulnerability occurs due to a lack of consideration for URLs with URL encoding. The newly introduced path normalization function did not fully handle cases where dots were URL encoded.
Remember that to conduct a path traversal attack, you will need to traverse with the sequence ../. The normalization function, however, is smart enough to strip that out. So what do you do? You can URL encode a .(Dot) down to %2e, and use a sequence like .%2e/. That would work in many cases against Apache 2.4.40. But you can also go one step further and double encode it. The URL encoded version of .%2e/ is .%252e/. This was further able to bypass the attempted normalization by Apache.
But there's a catch
If someone wanted to try to exploit this vulnerability straight in their browser, they would not be successful. This is due to the fact that browsers also try to normalize URLs that are sent to servers. This means that even our double-encoded sequence will be removed. It also means that we can't simply use a browser to demonstrate this.
You can use cURL to demonstrate this by using the --path-as-is flag, which prevents it from normalizing the URL before sending it:
![Curl path as is code with link](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/616d3fff8180925670f4cac2_carbon%20(24).png)
Prevention and mitigation
To fully prevent the issue, it's important to keep up to date with the latest patches from Apache. Specifically, you will want to upgrade to 2.4.51 at a minimum. But it's a good practice to upgrade on a regular schedule to stay up to date.
To mitigate against this issue if you are running 2.4.49, ensure that you have included the following in your Apache configuration:
![Directory code tags with allowoverride none and require all denied rules](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5fec9210c1841a6c20c6ce81/616d3fed785c15175cdc87cb_carbon%20(25).png)
And to prevent Remote Code Execution, disable mod_cgi if you do not utilize it.
Experience the impact for yourself
Interested in exploring exactly what happened and trying it out for yourself?
Resources to get you started
Women in Security are Winning: How the AWSN is Setting Up a New Generation of Security Superwomen
Secure-by-Design is the latest initiative on everyone’s lips, and the Australian government, collaborating with CISA at the highest levels of global governance, is guiding a higher standard of software quality and security from vendors.
SCW Trust Agent - Visibility and Control to Scale Developer Driven Security
SCW Trust Agent, introduced by Secure Code Warrior, offers security leaders the visibility and control needed to scale developer-driven security within organizations. By connecting to code repositories, it assesses code commit metadata, inspects developers, programming languages used, and shipment timestamps to determine developers' security knowledge.
Trust Agent by Secure Code Warrior
Discover SCW Trust Agent, an innovative solution designed to enhance security by aligning developer secure code knowledge and skills with the work they commit. It provides comprehensive visibility and controls across an organization's entire code repository, analyzing each commit against developers' secure code profiles. With SCW Trust Agent, organizations can strengthen their security posture, optimize development lifecycles, and scale developer-driven security.