CVE-2025-26356
Published: 12 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-26356 is a high-severity Path Traversal: '.../...//' (CWE-35) vulnerability in Q-Free Maxtime. Its CVSS base score is 7.2 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 17.3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly mitigates path traversal by requiring validation of inputs to the setActive endpoint to reject crafted paths that enable overwriting sensitive files.
Remediates the specific path traversal flaw in maxtime/api/database/database.lua through timely patching or code correction to prevent exploitation.
Enforces least privilege to restrict access to the high-privilege setActive endpoint, limiting who can attempt file overwrite exploits.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Path traversal enables arbitrary overwrite of sensitive files, facilitating exploitation for privilege escalation (T1068), data destruction through overwriting/corruption (T1485), and stored data manipulation (T1565.001).
NVD Description
A CWE-35 "Path Traversal" in maxtime/api/database/database.lua (setActive endpoint) in Q-Free MaxTime less than or equal to version 2.11.0 allows an authenticated remote attacker to overwrite sensitive files via crafted HTTP requests.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-26356 is a path traversal vulnerability classified under CWE-35, present in the setActive endpoint of the maxtime/api/database/database.lua component in Q-Free MaxTime versions less than or equal to 2.11.0. Published on 2025-02-12, this flaw enables an authenticated remote attacker to overwrite sensitive files by sending crafted HTTP requests, potentially leading to unauthorized modifications within the application's file system.
The vulnerability can be exploited by a remote attacker who possesses high privileges (PR:H), requiring network access (AV:N) with low attack complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N). Exploitation remains confined to the affected component (S:U) but yields high impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H), as reflected in its CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.2. Successful attacks could allow the overwriting of critical files, compromising system integrity and potentially enabling further malicious actions.
Mitigation guidance and additional details are available in the vulnerability advisory from Nozomi Networks at https://www.nozominetworks.com/labs/vulnerability-advisories-cve-2025-26356.
Details
- CWE(s)