CVE-2023-39916

Path Traversal in Nlnetlabs Routinator 0.9.0 – 0.12.2

Path Traversal

Published

13 September 2023

Modified

03 October 2025

Patch / advisory

View advisory

CVSS Score v3.1 9.3

Click a component to see what it means

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0064 50th percentile

Risk Priority 66 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-39916 is a critical-severity Path Traversal: '.../...//' (CWE-35) vulnerability in Nlnetlabs Routinator. Its CVSS base score is 9.3 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked at the 50th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-43614

Vulnerability Data

NLnet Labs’ Routinator 0.9.0 up to and including 0.12.1 as well as 0.14.0 up to and including 0.14.2 contains a possible path traversal vulnerability in the optional, off-by-default keep-rrdp-responses feature that allows users to store the content of responses received…

for RRDP requests. The location of these stored responses is constructed from the URL of the request. Due to insufficient sanitation of the URL, it is possible for an attacker to craft a URL that results in the response being stored outside of the directory specified for it.

CWE(s): CWE-35 CWE-22

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control

Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.

attack.mitre.org →

T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control

Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access

Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.

attack.mitre.org →

Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-49233Same product: Nlnetlabs Routinator

CVE-2023-21415Shared CWE-22, CWE-35

CVE-2024-36991Shared CWE-22, CWE-35

CVE-2023-32714Shared CWE-22, CWE-35

CVE-2024-47170Shared CWE-22, CWE-35

CVE-2026-26124Shared CWE-22, CWE-35

CVE-2024-0067Shared CWE-22, CWE-35

CVE-2024-2863Shared CWE-22, CWE-35

CVE-2023-21417Shared CWE-22, CWE-35

CVE-2025-47176Shared CWE-22, CWE-35

Affected Assets

nlnetlabs

routinator

0.9.0 — 0.12.2

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.

SI-10 Information Input Validation

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

blocks

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.PS-06 partial match

blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and path sanitization that neutralize traversal sequences.

PR.AA-05 none match

blocks

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.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match

removes

A.5.15 Access control partial match

removes

A.5.16 Identity management partial match

removes

A.5.17 Authentication information partial match

removes

A.5.18 Access rights partial match

removes

A.5.5 Contact with authorities partial match

removes