CVE-2024-36857
Homebrew Jan 0.4.12
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2024-36857 is a high-severity Path Traversal: 'dir\..\..\filename' (CWE-31) vulnerability in Homebrew Jan. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 20% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
This vulnerability is AI-related — categorised as LLM Application Platforms; in the Privacy and Disclosure risk domain.
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.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
Jan v0.4.12 contains an arbitrary file read vulnerability in the /v1/app/readFileSync interface. The flaw is tracked as CVE-2024-36857 with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, reflecting network-accessible attack conditions that require no authentication or user interaction and result in high confidentiality impact without affecting integrity or availability. The affected component is the Jan application, which exposes this interface to external callers.
Unauthenticated remote attackers can invoke the readFileSync endpoint to retrieve the contents of arbitrary files on the underlying system. Successful exploitation grants direct access to sensitive data such as configuration files, credentials, or source code without any additional privileges.
Public references consist of GitHub repositories documenting the Jan arbitrary-file-read issue, but no vendor advisory, patch release, or mitigation guidance is provided in the available sources. The EPSS score has reached a peak of 0.5611 with a current value of 0.5147; no trajectory data from a low baseline is supplied.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-1932
Vulnerability Data
Jan v0.4.12 was discovered to contain an arbitrary file read vulnerability via the /v1/app/readFileSync interface.
- CWE(s)
AI Security AnalysisAI
- AI Category
- LLM Application Platforms
- Risk Domain
- Privacy and Disclosure
- OWASP Top 10 for LLMs 2025
- None mapped
- Classification Reason
- Jan.ai is an open-source desktop AI assistant application that runs LLMs locally and offline as a ChatGPT alternative, fitting the Enterprise AI Assistants category as an AI chat platform with API interfaces.
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires validation of path inputs, stopping the acceptance of backslash dot-dot sequences that escape the restricted directory.
Enforces authorization checks on file/resource access, blocking exploitation of a traversed path even if the malformed name is accepted.
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and path sanitization that block this weakness.
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.
Security testing can discover traversal flaws but does not prevent them at the source.
Secure development lifecycle mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly blocks directory traversal sequences.
Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against path traversal and other injection flaws.
Secure architecture principles reduce the attack surface but do not prescribe the specific coding fix.
Secure coding standards require canonicalization and whitelist validation that eliminate CWE-31.