Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-21518

Auth Bypass in Opencart ≥ 4.0.0.0

Public PoCAuth BypassPath Traversal
Published
22 June 2024
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.14 96th percentile
Risk Priority 63 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-21518 is a high-severity Path Traversal: '\..\filename' (CWE-29) vulnerability in Opencart Opencart. Its CVSS base score is 7.2 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access ControlA07:2025 Authentication Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

This affects versions of the package opencart/opencart from 4.0.0.0. A Zip Slip issue was identified via the marketplace installer due to improper sanitization of the target path, allowing files within a malicious archive to traverse the filesystem and be extracted…

more

to arbitrary locations. An attacker can create arbitrary files in the web root of the application and overwrite other existing files by exploiting this vulnerability.

CWE(s)
CWE-29CWE-22CWE-290

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.
attack.mitre.org →
T1557 Adversary-in-the-Middle Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to position themselves between two or more networked devices using an adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) technique to support follow-on behaviors such as [Network Sniffing](https://attack.
attack.mitre.org →
T1557.001 Name Resolution Poisoning and SMB Relay Credential Access
By responding to LLMNR/NBT-NS/mDNS network traffic, adversaries may spoof an authoritative source for name resolution to force communication with an adversary controlled system.
attack.mitre.org →
T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
attack.mitre.org →
T1036 Masquerading Stealth
Adversaries may attempt to manipulate features of their artifacts to make them appear legitimate or benign to users and/or security tools.
attack.mitre.org →
T1036.001 Invalid Code Signature Stealth
Adversaries may attempt to mimic features of valid code signatures to increase the chance of deceiving a user, analyst, or tool.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-2315Same product: Opencart Opencart
CVE-2025-43493Shared CWE-290
CVE-2026-8676Shared CWE-290
CVE-2026-33661Shared CWE-290
CVE-2025-56449Shared CWE-290
CVE-2026-45223Shared CWE-290
CVE-2025-13015Shared CWE-290
CVE-2024-20299Shared CWE-290
CVE-2025-56800Shared CWE-290
CVE-2025-46018Shared CWE-290

Affected Assets

opencart
opencart
≥ 4.0.0.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2
  • V6.4.3
  • V10.4.16
  • V10.5.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

IA-2 Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users) good match

Proper unique identification and authentication of users directly stops spoofing-based bypass of authentication.

IA-3 Device Identification and Authentication good match

Device identification and authentication before connection prevents spoofing of devices to bypass auth.

IA-8 Identification and Authentication (Non-organizational Users) good match

Authentication of non-organizational users blocks external spoofing attempts against the scheme.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.

IA-5 Authenticator Management good match

Authenticator management ensures credentials cannot be easily spoofed or reused to bypass authentication.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation directly neutralizes the '\..\filename' sequence before pathname resolution occurs.

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.AA-04 full match
prevents

Protecting, conveying, and verifying identity assertions specifically prevents the spoofing that enables authentication bypass.

PR.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

Requiring authentication of users/services/hardware directly counters spoofing-based bypass when strong methods are used.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and path sanitization that block this traversal vector.

PR.AA-02 partial match
prevents

Proofing and binding identities reduces spoofing opportunities during enrollment but does not address runtime authentication implementation flaws.

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.

A.8.5 Secure authentication full match
degrades

Secure authentication control directly mitigates authentication bypass by spoofing.

A.5.17 Authentication information mostly match
degrades

Authentication information management directly addresses credential handling that prevents spoofing.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can discover path-traversal flaws but does not itself prevent them in production code.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

Access control policy reduces spoofing opportunities but does not prescribe authentication mechanisms.

A.5.16 Identity management partial match
prevents

Identity management supports unique identities but does not guarantee resistance to spoofing.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
prevents

Access rights assignment limits exposure but does not enforce authentication strength.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-290
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
  • V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-290
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230492 RHEL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-290

References