Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-27534

Path Traversal in Splunk Universal Forwarder 8.2.0 – 8.2.12

Public PoCPath Traversal
Published
30 March 2023
Modified
23 April 2025
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.022 81th percentile
Risk Priority 68 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-27534 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Splunk Universal Forwarder. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 19% 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 vulnerability exists in curl <8.0.0 SFTP implementation causes the tilde (~) character to be wrongly replaced when used as a prefix in the first path element, in addition to its intended use as the first element to…

more

indicate a path relative to the user's home directory. Attackers can exploit this flaw to bypass filtering or execute arbitrary code by crafting a path like /~2/foo while accessing a server with a specific user.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2021-41773Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2021-42013Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2023-27311Same product class: NAS / storage appliance
CVE-2025-54160Same product class: NAS / storage appliance
CVE-2025-62851Same product class: NAS / storage appliance
CVE-2019-7194Same product class: NAS / storage appliance
CVE-2024-47263Same product class: NAS / storage appliance
CVE-2025-62855Same product class: NAS / storage appliance
CVE-2025-33038Same product class: NAS / storage appliance
CVE-2023-41290Same product class: NAS / storage appliance

Affected Assets

haxx
curl
7.18.0 — 7.88.1
fedoraproject
fedora
36
netapp
active iq unified manager
all versions
broadcom
brocade fabric operating system firmware
all versions
netapp
h300s firmware
all versions
netapp
h500s firmware
all versions
netapp
h700s firmware
all versions
netapp
h410s firmware
all versions
splunk
universal forwarder
9.1.0 · 8.2.0 — 8.2.12 · 9.0.0 — 9.0.6

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.

finds

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