Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-27081

Path Traversal in Esphome 2023.12.9

Public PoCPath Traversal
Published
26 February 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / 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 0.015 73th percentile
Risk Priority 59 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-27081 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Esphome Esphome. 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 27% 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

ESPHome version 2023.12.9 installed via the command line contains a security misconfiguration in the edit configuration file API of its dashboard component. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-27081 and assigned CWE-22, permits path traversal that lets an attacker read or write arbitrary files inside the configuration directory, which in turn enables remote code execution on the host running the dashboard.

An authenticated remote attacker with access to the dashboard API can exploit the misconfiguration to upload or modify files under the configuration path. Because the dashboard runs with sufficient privileges to execute configuration changes on ESP8266/ESP32 devices, successful exploitation grants the attacker the ability to achieve arbitrary code execution on the system hosting ESPHome.

The project addressed the issue in release 2024.2.1. The accompanying GitHub security advisory GHSA-8p25-3q46-8q2p and the linked commit d814ed1d4adc71fde47c4df41215bee449884513 describe the patch that restricts file operations performed through the configuration editor API.

The associated EPSS score remains low, with a current value of 0.0446 and a peak of only 0.0535.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

ESPHome is a system to control your ESP8266/ESP32. A security misconfiguration in the edit configuration file API in the dashboard component of ESPHome version 2023.12.9 (command line installation) allows authenticated remote attackers to read and write arbitrary files under the…

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configuration directory rendering remote code execution possible. This vulnerability is patched in 2024.2.1.

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-2025-21048Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-23939Shared CWE-22
CVE-2024-7145Shared CWE-22
CVE-2023-42225Shared CWE-22
CVE-2024-33109Shared CWE-22
CVE-2023-35016Shared CWE-22
CVE-2025-10723Shared CWE-22
CVE-2023-1163Shared CWE-22
CVE-2024-43996Shared CWE-22
CVE-2024-48510Shared CWE-22

Affected Assets

esphome
esphome
2023.12.9

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

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

Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.

Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.

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