Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-14306

Path Traversal in Robocode 1.9.3.6

Path Traversal
Published
09 December 2025
Modified
28 January 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v4 10.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:Y/R:U/V:D/RE:M/U:Red
EPSS Score 0.011 61th percentile
Risk Priority 49 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-14306 is a critical-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Robocode Robocode. Its CVSS base score is 10.0 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 39% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; 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.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

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

CVE-2025-14306 is a directory traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) in the CacheCleaner component of Robocode version 1.9.3.6. The recursivelyDelete method fails to properly sanitize file paths, allowing attackers to traverse directories and delete arbitrary files on the system. Published on 2025-12-09, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H).

An unauthenticated attacker (PR:N) can exploit this vulnerability over the network (AV:N) with low attack complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N) by submitting specially crafted inputs that manipulate the file path. Successful exploitation leads to unauthorized deletion of arbitrary files, causing high impacts to integrity (I:H) and availability (A:H) with no confidentiality impact (C:N).

Mitigation is provided via patches in the robo-code/robocode GitHub repository, including pull request #67 and commit 26b6ba8ed5b2a11a646ce2d5da8d42cd53574b1f. Security practitioners should update to versions incorporating these fixes and review the project blog at https://robo-code.blogspot.com/ for additional details.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access Control

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A directory traversal vulnerability exists in the CacheCleaner component of Robocode version 1.9.3.6. The recursivelyDelete method fails to properly sanitize file paths, allowing attackers to traverse directories and delete arbitrary files on the system. This vulnerability can be exploited by…

more

submitting specially crafted inputs that manipulate the file path, leading to potential unauthorized file deletions. https://robo-code.blogspot.com/

CWE(s)
CWE-22

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 →
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

robocode
robocode
1.9.3.6

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

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

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

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

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

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

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.

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

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

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

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.

A.8.3 Information access restriction partial match
mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References