Cyber Resilience

CVE-2017-16720

Path Traversal in Advantech Webaccess ≤ 8.3.2

Public PoCHigh EPSSPath Traversal
Published
05 January 2018
Modified
21 November 2024
CVSS Score v3 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.50 99th percentile
Risk Priority 83 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2017-16720 is a critical-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Advantech Webaccess. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A Path Traversal issue was discovered in WebAccess versions 8.3.2 and earlier. An attacker has access to files within the directory structure of the target device.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI

Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.

T1083 File and Directory Discovery Discoveryconfidence: HIGH
Path traversal allows an attacker to discover and enumerate files and directories on the target system.
T1005 Data from Local System Collectionconfidence: HIGH
Path traversal directly enables reading arbitrary files from the local file system.
T1039 Data from Network Shared Drive Collectionconfidence: MEDIUM
If the web server exposes network shares, path traversal may allow reading files from those shares.
inferred from description + CWE · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-58423Same vendor: Advantech
CVE-2025-67653Same vendor: Advantech
CVE-2025-62630Same vendor: Advantech
CVE-2025-46704Same vendor: Advantech
CVE-2025-34238Same vendor: Advantech
CVE-2025-14850Same vendor: Advantech
CVE-2025-59171Same vendor: Advantech
CVE-2023-37218Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-41655Shared CWE-22
CVE-2025-7712Shared CWE-22

Affected Assets

advantech
webaccess
≤ 8.3.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-22

Validates pathnames and filenames to prevent traversal outside intended directories.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.AA-05 none match
prevents

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

detects

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References