Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-21545

Path Traversal

Path Traversal
Published
25 September 2024
Modified
15 April 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 8.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0036 29th percentile
Risk Priority 56 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-21545 is a high-severity External Control of File Name or Path (CWE-73) vulnerability in Proxmox Virtual Environment (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 8.2 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked at the 29th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A06:2025 Insecure Design

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Proxmox Virtual Environment is an open-source server management platform for enterprise virtualization. Insufficient safeguards against malicious API response values allow authenticated attackers with 'Sys.Audit' or 'VM.Monitor' privileges to download arbitrary host files via the API. When handling the result from…

more

a request handler before returning it to the user, the handle_api2_request function will check for the ‘download’ or ‘data’->’download’ objects inside the request handler call response object. If present, handle_api2_request will read a local file defined by this object and return it to the user. Two endpoints were identified which can control the object returned by a request handler sufficiently that the ’download’ object is defined and user controlled. This results in arbitrary file read. The privileges of this file read can result in full compromise of the system by various impacts such as disclosing sensitive files allowing for privileged session forgery.

CWE(s)
CWE-73

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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 →
T1083 File and Directory Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may enumerate files and directories or may search in specific locations of a host or network share for certain information within a file system.
attack.mitre.org →
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 →
T1574.007 Path Interception by PATH Environment Variable Stealth
Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking environment variables used to load libraries.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-27175Shared CWE-73
CVE-2026-42845Shared CWE-73
CVE-2024-20652Shared CWE-73
CVE-2025-2982Shared CWE-73
CVE-2026-2604Shared CWE-73
CVE-2024-12066Shared CWE-73
CVE-2025-58762Shared CWE-73
CVE-2024-7496Shared CWE-73
CVE-2026-39907Shared CWE-73
CVE-2026-3892Shared CWE-73

Affected Assets

Proxmox
Virtual Environment
inferred from references and description; NVD did not file a CPE for this CVE

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

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation directly rejects or sanitizes untrusted path strings before they reach filesystem operations.

AC-3 Access Enforcement partial match

Enforces authorization checks on the actual resource accessed, blocking unauthorized files even when a malicious path is supplied.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

Least-privilege limits the set of files or directories any subject can affect, shrinking the blast radius of a path-control flaw.

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-06 full match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices include input validation and path sanitization that eliminate this weakness.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Least-privilege file authorization directly limits damage from externally controlled paths.

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.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect path-traversal issues but does not itself implement preventive controls.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates input validation and path-handling controls that directly prevent external file/path manipulation.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against untrusted input influencing file operations.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe path construction but do not prescribe concrete file-name controls.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards require canonicalization, allow-listing, and bounds checks on file paths, directly eliminating CWE-73.

A.8.3 Information access restriction partial match
mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files can be reached, indirectly reducing impact of path manipulation.

References