Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-45312

Path Traversal in Overleaf 4.0.0 – 4.2.7

Published
02 September 2024
Modified
25 September 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0048 39th percentile
Risk Priority 46 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-45312 is a medium-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Overleaf Overleaf. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 39th 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 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Overleaf is a web-based collaborative LaTeX editor. Overleaf Community Edition and Server Pro prior to version 5.0.7 (or 4.2.7 for the 4.x series) contain a vulnerability that allows an arbitrary language parameter in client spelling requests to be passed to…

more

the `aspell` executable running on the server. This causes `aspell` to attempt to load a dictionary file with an arbitrary filename. File access is limited to the scope of the overleaf server. The problem is patched in versions 5.0.7 and 4.2.7. Previous versions can be upgraded using the Overleaf toolkit `bin/upgrade` command. Users unable to upgrade may block POST requests to `/spelling/check` via a Web Application Firewall will prevent access to the vulnerable spell check feature. However, upgrading is advised.

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.
T1221 Template Injection Stealth
Adversaries may create or modify references in user document templates to conceal malicious code or force authentication attempts.
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
T1674 Input Injection Execution
Adversaries may simulate keystrokes on a victim’s computer by various means to perform any type of action on behalf of the user, such as launching the command interpreter using keyboard shortcuts, typing an inline script to be executed,…
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-27787Shared CWE-22, CWE-74
CVE-2024-49381Shared CWE-22, CWE-74
CVE-2026-41885Shared CWE-22, CWE-74
CVE-2023-7114Shared CWE-22, CWE-74
CVE-2023-6458Shared CWE-22, CWE-74
CVE-2024-46986Shared CWE-22, CWE-74
CVE-2023-23749Shared CWE-74
CVE-2023-48835Shared CWE-74
CVE-2023-51939Shared CWE-74
CVE-2023-33242Shared CWE-74

Affected Assets

overleaf
overleaf
4.0.0 — 4.2.7 · 4.0.0 — 4.2.7 · 5.0.0 — 5.0.7

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
  • V1.2.1
  • V1.2.3
  • V1.2.5

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-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and sanitization to restrict resource names derived from untrusted data.

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.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging supports detection of injection attempts but does not prevent the weakness.

finds

Monitoring activities can identify active injection attacks after they occur.

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.

References